Coming off very strong performances at Met Regatta, the women’s squad stayed down south to compete in Henley Women’s Regatta. Eights racing was put to one side as the two boats split up into various small boats to compete in the regatta. DUBC entered 4 boats: three into champ events; a champ coxless four, quad and lightweight double, as well as an aspirational double. All boats would have to qualify to progress, so a good time trial was crucial. All boats put in strong performances and progressed to the side-by-side racing.
Racing was kicked off on Saturday by the Champ quad who would come up against Thames ‘A’. In a race which would come down to the very last stroke, Durham went out hard and took an early lead, but in the middle of the course Thames came back and the crews were level coming into the finish with Thames winning by only one foot. The Aspirational double were next coming up against Upper Thames ‘A’ who proved no problem for the Durham double, taking a commanding 3 1/2 length win. The double would then go on to race DSRV Laga from the Netherlands later the same day in another close race, but despite a gutsy row from Durham they came up short, losing by only 3/4 of a length. Despite having a bye from the first round, the Champ 4- would kick off their campaign on Saturday and comfortably beat University of Pennsylvania ‘A’ with a margin of over 3 lengths.
Sunday saw two Durham boats remaining in the regatta. The Lightweight double kicked off their regatta in a semi-final race against the University of Wisconsin. Durham stormed to victory putting a huge gap on their opposition, winning by a verdict of “easily” to progress to the final. The Champ 4- would then race in their semi-final against Leander ‘B’, in yet another close race which went all the way to the line Durham came out on top and won by a canvas, meaning that Durham would have two crews in finals of championship events – a monumental achievement for the club as well as the athletes. The four would be up first and were set to come up against the might of Leander once again, going out of the blocks hard Durham held Leander ‘A’ to just under a length, however a huge push from Leander in the second half sealed the race with the Durham four coming up short. Next was the Lightweight double, who came up against Reading University. Durham led the race from the outset and again won by a huge margin of 5 lengths taking the Haslam Trophy. This is the first time since 2015 that a Durham crew has won an event at the regatta and is an outstanding achievement for the club and athletes. Congratulations to Carrie and Izzy.
This was one of DUBC’s most successful Henley Women’s Regattas in history, testament to the strength and depth of the women’s squad. They looked to carry on this form back into the eights for Henley Royal and into the upcoming year where they look to mirror this success.