Burton Sprint, one of our local regatta’s had a large entry from Loughborough with 19 crews on Saturday for the 1100m course and 17 for the shorter 700m on Sunday. With so many entries, we would hopefully come away with some trophies.

Yet again the sun came out and made it a beautiful weekend for watching the racing and a rather hot and sticky one for competing. However with sun cream slapped on, emergency sunshades erected and a plentiful supply of beer and water everyone was set to have a good time.

Saturday was kicked off by the juniors with Oisin in his J15 1x racing Warrington, but despite being in the lead, hopes were dashed when he crashed into Dead Man’s Reef only 150m from the end. Shortly after, Alex H rowing up a year at J13 1x, narrowly missed a win losing by a canvas to Warrington. Isabelle & Alex rowing in a J13 2x only just missed out on a pot by coming second to Warrington by a canvas yet again. Cathal sadly also missed out in his J14 1x against Trent, as did Beth and Lucy in their W.IM2 2x, however Emily and Matilda had success winning by 4 lengths against Trent in their WJ14 2x in the first Heat and taking the final, beating Newark by 3 lengths.

Brave attempts were made by Tim, Dave and Adam at IM3 1x all losing out to Trent on their home waters, with Adam taking a very exciting course on the outside of the bend. The men’s Nov 2x won their first two heats easily against Trent and Warrington but lost out to Northwich in the final.

The W.IM3 8+ had a cracking row in the first heat against Devil’s Elbow, winning by half a length following a problematic start, sadly to miss out in the final to Burton Leander (a crew half our age!). Tom had a close win of half a length in a straight final against Burton Leander in his ELI.1x and also found success in the MxIM3 4+ beating Leicester easily in another straight final. The final win of the day was between two Loughborough mixed Mas.C 4+, the winning crew consisting of Emma, Linda, Richard and Keith, coxed by Oisin. Disappointed by the medals, they helped themselves temporarily to a rather more spectacular prize! The Mas.D4+ also had a successful outing beating a Peterborough/Lincoln composited crew, and this time were more than happy with the medals they received.

Sunday brought yet more sunshine and with it very strange tan marks from the day before. Hopes were high again, and this time there were more success stories.

Cathal set off first for the juniors against his nemesis Scott from Trent, but unfortunately didn’t quite make it in his J14 1x. Katie and Becky did well in their WJ15 2x, winning their first heat by 2 ½ lengths against Trent before being knocked out in the second heat. Having a bye in their first round, Beth and Lucy took Trent in their W.IM 2x by 2 ½ lengths in the final, but unfortunately couldn’t emulate it in their W.J17 2x against Bradford, missing out by only half a length. Alex H did well beating Warrington in his first heat and taking the WJ12 1x pot by 2 lengths in the final against Derwent.

Oisin had a very close race against Derwent in his J15 1x, missing out by only half a length. Isabelle successfully took on Warrington in her first heat in the W.J12 1x, but missed out by 1 ½ lengths to Boston in her final. Izzy and Hannah also had a close race rowing up at WJ13 2x, but lost out to Warrington by only a length.

With the adults and in the IM3 1xs, Adam took a very scenic route missing out to City of Cambridge and Tim and Dave to Burton Leander. Dave and Adam beat Bradford in their first IM3 2x heat by a comfortable 2 lengths and took the final from Trent easily. Tim and pair’s partner had success in their IM3.2- beating Lincoln by three lengths and the men’s MasD.4+ also took a pot against Bewdley by 3 lengths. Yet another win was had by the MxMasC4+ in the Loughborough v Loughborough in a very close final, but sadly the W.IM3 8+ couldn’t hold off Burton in one of the last races of the day.

A pleasing weekend overall – pots, sunshine, beer tent and rowing!

Burton 1 Burton 2