Last weekend saw 14 crews from Loughborough Boat Club racing at the Peterborough Spring Regatta on a purpose-built 4-lane 1,000 metre rowing lake. This venue differs from the Club’s more familiar river courses, and provides the opportunity to compete alongside multiple opponents simultaneously: think ‘Olympics’ as opposed to University Boat Race!  However, the lanes which are edged by buoys on a lake are narrow and allow little room for deviation from the centreline.  Erica and Charlotte, rowing the Loughborough Women’s IM3 Double Scull, found this to their cost after winning through to the final and crossing the finish line narrowly ahead of crews from Warwick and Lincoln, only to be disqualified for fouling their opponents early in the race. 

Saturday’s racing also saw the Loughborough Ladies IM2 Eight fight hard the whole length of the course alongside Cambridge 99 Boat Club, frustratingly losing by the narrowest of margins, just 0.4 seconds or ‘a canvas’.  However, the ladies posted the Club’s fasted time of the weekend, an impressive 3mins 30 seconds, and were also several seconds faster than Queen’s College Cambridge.

The highlight of Sunday’s racing and the Club’s only trophies came from a straight win for the Loughborough Masters ‘D’ Coxless Four, crewed by club captain Keith together with Charlie, Andrew, and Jerry.

A close race from start to finish saw opponents from Broxbourne and Norwich edging alongside, but Loughborough’s relaxed technique helped them across the line half a second ahead.

Rowing an eye-catching vintage wooden boat, to complement their ‘Over 50’ age category, the Loughborough crew proved that the craftsmanship of yesteryear can still be used effectively against modern plastic boat designs.