The 1100 metre Burton Regatta dawned with the beginning of a blazing hot day. With deck chairs, picnics and rugs, gazebo’s and even umbrellas for the sun, Loughborough Boat Club was ready for the day. The smell of sun lotion permeated the air and the first crews were up.Overall wins that were achieved were had by Isabelle Senior in her WJ13 single in a straight final against Warrington where she took the medal with an “easily” verdict. Our two mixed IM1 doubles ended up racing each other yet again with Tom Scholefield and Erica Gummery beating Andrea Bundon and Dave McCaughan by one length. Our Masters C four with Keith Hudson, Charlie Henry, Andy Martin and Nick Maker coxed by Mike Targett made it look easy by taking an impressive win of three and a half lengths against Trent. Junior girls Alex Abrahams and Becky Mills rowing at IM3 in a double raced Boston in a semi-final to end up racing another Loughborough crew of Annie and Cathy Beaumont in the final. Annie and Cathy managed to pull ahead and won the medals by a couple of lengths in their first win in a double. Lastly, success was had by our mixed IM1 coxless quad of Dave, Andrea, Erica and Tom who beat Trent in a straight final.

Other small successes for the day included Emily Senior in her WJ15 single who beat Lincoln RC in a quarter final by two lengths and Alex Henry who won easily in his quarter-final against Hollowell Scullers and semi-final against Queens Park High School to sadly be beaten by Warrington in the final following a disastrous start. The WJ18 quad of Bethan Henry, Lucy Agar, Alex Abrahams and Emily Senior had a great win against Burton in their semi-finals, but were suffering the effects of the sun quite badly for the final and sadly lost out to Trent. Dave McCaughan had a great semi-final against Derwent winning by a couple of lengths to take on a second Derwent crew in the final. Victory was not to be though, but a tremendous effort made.

The shorter Sunday Sprint of 800 metres proved to be an even more successful day, and although still rather warm, the cooler breeze brought much more comfortable rowing conditions.

First of the wins came from the Juniors again with Isabelle Senior and Alex Henry racing in a double together at J13. A resounding win of three lengths against Trentham in the semi-finals had them facing North Staffs in the final and yet again they managed to win by a good two lengths. The Mas.C fours event had Mike as cox with Keith, Charlie, Andy and a different bow man of Ian Hepworth racing against Trent in their semi-final. Winning comprehensively they then faced Ancholme RC in the final and won by one and a half lengths. Our two mixed IM1 doubles faced each other yet again with this time a very tough contest with only one foot separating the winners. Erica and Tom took the medals again, but Andrea and Dave were a very close second in an exciting final.

Juniors, Bethan Henry and Lucy Agar won their straight final against Burton Leander at the Women’s Senior level by an easy three lengths and also won by one length in the Women’s IM1 coxless quad with fellow juniors Emily Senior and Matilda Haines again in a straight final against Trent. This brings Beth and Lucy, our two oldest juniors, to only one point below elite status and was a welcome return for Matilda following a substantial time away from the sport through illness. For the more mature ladies, our Women’s Mas.C 4+ of Vicky Haines, Vic Steele, Heidi Janicke and Emma Heygate coxed by Jen Smith had a fabulous win against Leicester RC by three quarters of a length to take the medals.

Juniors, Isabelle and Alex H raced again to victory but this time in their singles. Isabelle faced Doncaster Schools in her quarter-final beating them by a distance to take on Warrington in the semi’s. Winning that, Isabelle then faced a second Warrington competitor in the final to take the medal easily. Alex, facing the Warrington competitor that had beaten him the day before, had decided that today it would be his turn and won the semi-finals by a very close foot. Moving into the finals, he won the medal beating Doncaster by an easy margin.

Dave McCaughan had another great effort in his IM3 single beating Bradford ARC in the quarter-finals and Nottingham in the semi’s to unfortunately meet the same Warrington competitor from the day before in the final and sadly losing out.

A great effort also to Make Targett and Karen Senior in their first outing together in their mixed IM3 double and to the W.MasC eight of Vicky Haines, Emma Heygate, Karen Senior, Kate Henry, Sandra Martin, Jen Smith, Heidi Janicke and Vic Steele being coxed by Matilda Haines. Although wins were not to be achieved in these crews, a great time was had by all.

Over the course of the weekend a total of 36 individual medals were won by 13 crews. A fabulous effort from everyone.