A week after our success at Kingston Regatta, CUWBC Development Squad descended upon Molesey Regatta and left again with an impressive haul of pots.

First up was the ‘B’ IV in an exciting first round race against Poplar. The two crews remained close down the course but in the end the CUW IV stole the victory by just half a length. Both the ‘A’ and ‘B’ IVs made it through the semis ‘easily’ and so racing for the two IVs culminated in a final against each other. There wasn’t much between them off the start but the ‘A’ IV moved away steadily down the course and finished 4 lengths ahead.

By mid-morning it was getting quite warm and Lizzie, who was entered both in her single and in the ‘A’ IV, used the first 1x round as an opportunity for a refreshing swim. In their first ever sculling event, Marthe and Elly won their first round comfortably – 3 ¼ lengths ahead of their competition – but were then knocked out in the semis.

In the IM3 VIIIs category, the ‘C’ VIII were the first to take to the course and strolled through to the next round. The Scullers VIII, a fairly scratch crew made up of those that had spent the week learning to scull, came together admirably and also won their first round comfortably. The ‘C’ VIII was knocked out in a very close semi final by a strong Molesey crew on home water. The Molesey crew was then up against the mighty CUWBC Scullers VIII in the final and this time CUW came out on top, winning the final by 3 ½ lengths.

Our two Novice VIIIs both made it through the first round comfortably and so came up against each other in the second CUW-CUW final of the day. ‘D’ triumphed over ‘E’, but it was up no means a walk-over. As they crossed the finish line, the distance between the two crews was 1 1/3 length.

A befitting end to an excellent Dev Squad – bring on next year!

Thirty seven rowers, five coxes and three coaches set off at the crack of dawn for Kingston with a flotilla of eights, fours, singles and doubles, ready for a days racing.

This year, with a slightly new format for development squad, we decided to enter two fours, three eights and then a further two scratch fours made up of people who had spent the week learning to scull. With only a week training together in these crews, and three weeks together as a squad, we were a little apprehensive about how it would go.

The morning division started the day well, with two Cambridge-Cambridge finals in IM3 fours and novice fours, all winning their heats and semi-finals with ease. We also saw two of our girls enter their first sculling race in a double, with only two weeks sculling experience and coming second in a three person heat.

The afternoon continued the trend, novice eights ended in yet another Cambridge-Cambridge final, the IM3 eight came second in a three person final and Lizzie won novice singles comfortably, despite being warned by the umpire “Cambridge, the river is straight”.

So, a successful day! We left with twenty pots and the Victor Ludorum trophy for being the most successful club at the regatta, we just wish they had more categories for us to enter so we didn’t have to race against our own crews.

A good start to another year with CUWBC, bring on Molesey Regatta next week!