On Saturday the senior squads from UYBC travelled down to the Olympic Rowing Lake at Dorney for the Metropolitan Regatta, one of the largest domestic races of the year. With the stands for the Olympics under construction the club looked forward to some tight racing at a venue where Team GB are looking for a large haul of medals this summer.
Firstly, the senior men’s eight took to the quarter final of IM2 eights; this was a comfortable row sitting just behind club crew Vesta, until York squeezed through in efficient style in the last 500m, winning the quarter final – a good way to start the day.
Following this, the senior women’s eight came fourth in their women’s IM2 eight’s heat putting them into the repecharge. The final first round was in im3 coxed fours for the fresher four who all started rowing this year, they raced well just losing 2nd place in the last 500m meaning they too were through to a repecharge.
The senior men’s eight were doubling up for the day, also racing in im1 eights, against some of the top club crews in the country. Once again York had the better of Vesta and came in 3rd, making the final, and leading an irate coach to ask his crew who York Uni even were (politely paraphrased).
This race was followed by the semi-final of the men’s im2 eights, which was an incredibly close race, with York given the victory over University College Dublin in the same time. The same Vesta crew came 4th in this race, by now surely aware of who York were.
Shortly after, the women raced in their repecharge in which they got off to a good start which they were happy with but couldn’t make it stick finishing in 6th. The fresher four were next up in their repecharge, which they won in convincing fashion over some experienced crews and putting them in the final.
Despite the women’s squad not making the final, Pip Maloney, Senior Women’s Captain said: “I’m proud we got through to the repecharge race; competition was really tough this year. The 2 races gave us a chance to see what needs working on for Henley and adapt our race plan and training accordingly, as well as to see where our strengths lie.”
The first final for York was the im1 eights, with the men having just raced in the im2 semi the race was beyond tired legs and the crew finished in 6th – having never reached top gear – still a fantastic result.
A couple of hours later was the im2 final, with York looking to win having won both the quarter and semi final. It turned out to be a two horse race, with York and Reading University being the only two who ever looked like winning. York pushed Reading hard the whole way down the course but Reading had too much speed out of the start on the day.
This was still a great result with the top crews from Bristol and Southampton Universities being beaten by a fair margin, boding well for York’s Henley campaign. The fresher four were last off, again racing superbly and beating a crew from the prestigious Molesey Boat Club.
Sam Agass, the Senior Men’s captain was very pleased with the days racing, saying: “The top (Mens) 8 raced against some very competitive crews this weekend and have some great results to show for it. Bristol Uni and Southampton Uni are amongst some of the top Uni crews in the country and we comfortably beat them which was very pleasing.
“We’ve come a very long way as a squad since the start of the year and its so gratifying to race well and put UYBC on the rowing map. I’m also very proud with the fresher 4 that raced and beat some experienced crews today and reaching the final was a brilliant result for them.”
Overall, it was a successful weekend for the club, with some promising results making the four hundred and eighty mile round trip seem saner. Next up for the club is Durham Regatta on the 9th.