BUCS Regatta
Three days of racing, 53 boats entered, 27 A finals, 19 medals, the Men’s Victor Ludorum, joint Women’s Victor Ludorum and the overall Victor Ludorum make this one of the most successful weekends in Boat Club history.
Saturday
The lightweight men kicked off the medal haul on Saturday with Matt Day and Jack Smith getting silver and bronze, respectively, in the Men’s Intermediate Lightweight Single. Jen Peacock continued the strong start to the weekend with a silver in the Women’s Beginner Single. More lightweight success followed with the Women’s Championship Double of Lucy Stanhope and Phoebe Truett getting bronze.
Next down the course for Newcastle were the two Men’s Championship Lightweight Coxless Fours, the top ranked boat of Fred Beaty, Ryan Ballantine, Rob Fuller and Oli Varley took the gold medal with the second ranked boat not far behind in fourth.
In the Women’s Quads the Intermediate boat of Megan Barry, Chloe Deyermond, Lydia Davis and Hannah Cowie came away with the silver medal while the Championship boat of Frances Russell, Lola Anderson, Amy Bowman and Fiona Chestnutt got Gold in front of strong boats from the University of London and Reading University.
In the Men’s Heavyweight Eights, the boats from Oxford Brookes, the University of London and Imperial College London showed their talent with our Intermediate Eight of Freddie Allinson, Harry Oliver, Ed johnson, Henry Lambe, David Willcox, Freddie Strawson, Tom Long, Jack Lewis and Cox, Will Burden finishing in fifth. Our Championship Eight of Will Stewart, Will New, Dan Graham, James Robson, Barnaby Stroud-Turp, Cormac Molloy, Dom Jackson, James Stevenson and Cox, Alex Turner finishing in fourth.
Sunday
The first medal of the day once again came from the Lightweights with a first place for the Lightweight first Eight of George Nelson, Alex Laws, Dom Jackson and James Stevenson along with the members of winning lightweight Four from the saturday. The second Lightweight Eight finished fourth in a strong field showing the fantastic depth of our Lightweight squad. The Women’s Beginner Quad of Nadia Ashbridge, Isabelle Souchard, Matilda Ross-Smith and Jen Peacock won Gold by a huge margin of 9 seconds over Northern rivals Durham University.
For the Heavyweight Men, the Intermediate Coxed Four of Freddie Allinson, Jack Lewis, Tom Long, Harry Oliver and cox, Will Burden came through with a second-place finish between two Oxford Brookes Fours.
In the Women’s Eights the pressure was on for the Intermediate Eight of Lydia Davis, Phoebe Truett, Anna Van De Braak, Gabby Munyard, Kat Bulmer, Harriet Aubrook, Lucy Stanhope, Lauren Kay and cox, Sofia Turner after a disrupted few weeks of preparation and the history of Newcastle winning this event for the last two years. A gutsy performance saw them come back on the University of London in the last 500 metres to take Gold for the third consecutive year. The Women’s First Eight of Megan Barry, Rachel Webb, Frances Russell, Amy Bowman, Hannah Cowie, Lola Anderson, Fiona Chestnutt, Chloe Deyermond and cox, Immy Rooney followed this up with an equally impressive performance, taking the Bronze medal in the Championship Eights event.
Monday
As the temperature hit the high 20’s, the third day of racing, would show how effective the Newcastle training program is.
To start the last set of finals at BUCS Regatta 2018 it was the Lightweight Men once again getting the Gold medals, this time in the Men’s Championship Lightweight Quad. Next up was the Women’s Championship Lightweight Pair of Lucy Stanhope and Phoebe Truett who went one better than their result in the double by coming second. The Women’s Intermediate Coxed Four’s came second and fifth.
After jumping out of the pair without receiving their medals, Lucy Stanhope and Phoebe Truett joined Fiona Chestnutt and Chrisy Castledine in the Women’s Championship Lightweight Quad to get third place.
The Women’s Championship Coxless Four of Megan Barry, Lola Anderson, Amy Bowman and Frances Russell finished the Women’s sweep events off with a silver medal. The Men’s Intermediate Quad of Cormac Molloy, Dan Graham, Will New and Barnaby Stroud-Turp completed the medal tally for the Men’s squad with a second-place finish. The final event of BUCS Regatta 2018 for Newcastle was in the Women’s Intermediate Double of Fiona Chestnutt and Lydia Davis who rounded the weekend off with a Bronze medal.
Newcastle University Boat Club President, Alex Turner said this about the weekend - “Winning the Men’s, Women’s and overall Victor Ludorum is very special, and something that the club has never done before. In what was my fourth and final BUCS, I could not have been prouder or more impressed by the spirit shown by everyone racing and supporting. This success is only the beginning of what will definitely be a great summer.”
All of the photos from the weekend can be found here.
Full results can be found here.
Words and Photos by David Stephenson
