The lightweight women will be racing coxless pairs on the Monday of BUCs regatta. The regatta requirements for lightweight is that every crew member must be below 59kgs, there is no average for crews to meet. With multiple entries from a few universities, there is a total of eleven pairs racing such as: Cambridge entering three pairs, and Durham entering two, De Montfort, Imperial, Newcastle, Oxford, Surrey, and Warwick. With no pairs races at BUCs head, and results from BUCs small boat head not being published, it’s harder to ascertain the speed of the crews, however we can be sure it’ll be close.
With the Cambridge lightweights winning the boat race and probably creating these pairs, the Oxford boat will be aiming to beat them and settle a score. This will guarantee tight racing and stiff competition. With Cambridge entering three pairs, they are really showing off their depth and strength, so all three will surely be quick and competitive and most likely contain the King twins, maybe Imogen Grant and new team mate Brigid Kennedy.
Durham have seen some lightweights racing at GB trials just gone and so will also have a decent speed to them. Also racing in other categories, Durham have had a strong lightweight section over the past years and will be aiming to build on this further this 2021/2022 season. Much like Cambridge, Surrey have their own set of lightweight twins, the Kennedy twins, who tried their hands at GB selection over this past year. We can presume that this pair would at least have one of the twins in, perhaps both.
Both Imperial and Newcastle have a strong squad when it comes to sweep rowing and will be putting in strong competitors for this event. With lightweights racing for both of these universities consistently over the past few years, both of these crews and university squads will be aiming high as they always do. Imperial lightweights did well for BUCs head this year in the coxless four so the coxless pair could be equally as quick.
For the final prediction, there will be hot competition for the six slots for the ‘A’ final. For the gold medal coming in first, Cambridge. Then for the silver we could expect to see Imperial. For the bronze spot, a tight fight between Durham and Oxford. Having said that, all the crews racing for this event will be quick and also incredibly determined. With the wind hopefully being a tail wind, we are all expecting big things and wish every crew the best of luck for this race.
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