Last weekend, DUBC travelled down to Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham, to compete at the annual BUCS Regatta. We had a record number of boats and crews entered into the event, with 3 full trailers being driven down. Historically, DUBC had seen great success at the event, winning the Victor Ludorum in multiple consecutive years on both the men and the women’s side. The regatta is always an important event, as it gains the university valuable BUCS points which helps to solidify its position on the national sporting scene. Success at the regatta also aids the boat club financially as it proves to the university that we are still the premier sporting team.
This year was perhaps the most successful regatta that the boat club has had in over a decade. We won the overall Victor Ludorum by 80 points, which has not been done since 2015, and also the women’s Victor Ludorum by 16 points, which was a massive achievement for our women’s squad and pays testament to the hard training they have been taking on over the last few months. We also medalled in both the men’s (silver) and women’s (bronze) Championship Eights, arguably the blue riband event of the entire regatta, which is something that also has not been achieved in many years.
Our day by day results became more and more impressive as the weekend went on, with Saturday seeing success in events such as a gold in the Women’s Championship Lightweight Double, a silver in the Men’s Championship 8, and a silver in the Women’s Championship Pair. There were a number of close 4th place finishes in the Men’s Intermediate Eight, the Women’s Championship Quad and another of our Women’s Championship Pair.
Sunday saw gold in the Women’s Intermediate Lightweight Single for Carrie Rijkse, who went on to win 5 medals over the course of the weekend. There was gold in the Women’s Championship Lightweight Four, bronze in the Women’s Championship Eight, the Men’s Championship Coxless Four, the Men’s Championship Coxed Four and the Women’s Championship Lightweight Single. A strong middle day for DUBC.
Monday was certainly our most successful day. We picked up medals in events such as gold and silver in the Women’s Lightweight Intermediate Pair, a gold in the Women’s Championship Coxed Four, a gold and silver in the Men’s Intermediate Pair, a gold and bronze in the Men’s Championship Pair, a gold in the Women’s Lightweight Intermediate Quad and a silver in the Women’s Championship Double. A huge well done to all of the lightweight athletes who competed, who doubled up on events on all of the days, rowing in up to 6 races per day.
This success allowed us to regain the Victor Ludorum after a long 8 years of falling short. It truly marks DUBC’s resurgence onto the national stage. We’d like to say a massive thankyou to all of the parents who helped out with the food tents. The provision of food for our athletes was absolutely essential and undoubtedly played a huge role in the club’s success over the weekend.
