The lightweight categories are often filled with plenty of high calibre athletes, andften they will double up to enter a few categories. As usual, all these event will have a main 1500 metre time trial to then be put A/B major finals or minor finals. With BUCS events, there is no crew weight average, all athletes need to be under 59 kilograms.
Championship Double
With last year’s champions from Cambridge absent, the front of the field is open for any of the 14 entered crews to seize a chance at a podium finish. Reading University always catch the eye with their venerable history of lightweight sculling success making them red-hot favourites for the win. They’ll be joined on the lake by an Oxford University double looking to right the wrongs of the Lightweight Boat Races, along with entries from Durham, Exeter, Surrey and Queen’s. Given this event doesn’t race at BUCS Head, there’s little to draw a pecking order from ahead of the weekend, but with an entry dense in talent, there’s sure to be hard-fought racing.
Championship Single
There’s a clear favourite here: Nottingham University’s Olivia Bates returns to BUCS having beaten Imogen Grant in the A Final here last year. She’s recently come back from coming third in senior lightweights at April trials. Also competing in this event will be athletes such as Gemma King from Cambridge University, who has previously won medals in this category and won the Women’s Reserve Boat Race this year.
Intermediate quad
Though a time trial will be run to decide lane order, the Intermediate Quad will be a straight final with only six crews entered. Cambridge University won this event last year, and returns with a crew fresh off a Lightweight Boat Race win; Nottingham University also returns having failed to make the A final last year, and will be joined by the likes of Surrey, York and Cardiff who will all look to take the crown from Cambridge.
Intermediate Single
The largest lightweight event for women, the Intermediate single always brings together previous top finishers along with so-far unseen dark horses looking to disrupt the established order. Queen’s, Surrey, and Birmingham rounded out the podium last year, and indeed both Erin Meredith of Birmingham and Leonie Kennedy of Surrey return in an attempt to claim a spot on the podium once again. Other names to watch out for will include those from Reading, Exeter, DeMontford and Cambridge. There are two clear favourites for this year, but the field truly is wide open.
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