The finale of the women’s season brought with it yet another first for the Club, when all of our women’s boats qualified for Henley Women’s Regatta. Having moved down to Henley earlier in the week, the 3 coxed fours were raring to go come Friday morning and the time trials. Both Academic 4s qualified in their category which was an impressive feat considering there were 31 crews fighting for only 16 spots. The Senior 4 meanwhile, had a slightly less competitive time trial with 17 crews for 16 spaces, however the crew had a good row and it was a great start to the weekend for them.

The Academic 4s had their first race later that afternoon and whilst the A-boat had a straightforward win over Downing College, Cambridge with a verdict of 3 lengths, the B-boat unfortunately had a collision with their opponents UWE before the end of the island resulting in their disqualification and a row-over. It was a real shame that they didn’t get to race, however it was still a brilliant achievement to have qualified in such a competitive field, especially given 2 of the rowers in the boat had only started rowing back in September 2014.

Saturday saw the Senior 4’s first race in the heats against London/Vesta which they won with a verdict of 1 length; they got up off the start and then stayed out in front, knowing that the real challenge would come from Newcastle in the quarter finals that afternoon. That race was a different story unfortunately and it was Newcastle who jumped out to lead the race from the beginning, and despite a great row from the crew and a gutsy race, it was not enough to catch them up and they won by 1 1/3 lengths.

The Academic 4 A-crew had only the one race on Saturday and it was another comfortable win in their quarter final against UWE, with a verdict of 3 ½ lengths. The stage was then set for a formidable race between them and rivals UL in the semi-finals the next day.

UCL and UL had faced each other once before at MET Regatta and UCL had come out on top. Having been down off the start throughout most of the regatta season, the team had worked hard in the run up to Henley on their first 500m. It seemed to pay off as UCL stuck with UL as they came off the start; then a strong mid-race pace saw UCL pull away from UL in the middle section of the race, however they just couldn’t quite do enough to gain clear water and keep the strong finish from UL at bay. The verdict at the line was a win for UL of ½ a length. It was a fantastic race and UL went on to beat Newcastle University in the final by 2 ½ lengths and take home the Lester Trophy.

Although it was a disappointing finish for the girls, the overall UCL performance at HWR this year was one to be proud of and plans are already in the making to build on those results for next, where hopefully it will be UCL bringing home some of the medals!

Crews:

Senior 4+

• S:Louisa Bolton
• 3: Claire Garnett
• 2: Jess Rankine
• B: Louis Blaire
• Cox: Steph Stokes

Academic 4+ A

• S: Georgia Statham
• 3: Marijne Mak
• 2: Holly Exton-Smith
• B: Lucy Ellis
• Cox: Florrie Beard

Academic 4+ B

• S: Zoe Watson
• 3: Inga Sagolla
• 2: Tamsin Howard
• B: Gemma Wells
• Cox: Sophie Schuman

Coaches

• Jamie Smith
• Alan “Woody” Sherman
• Alan Sinclair
• Chris Au