CCBC - News - Durham City

Great Success at Durham City Regatta

12th-13th May 2001

The sun was out and exams beckoned, so what better a way to avoid revision than messing about in boats. Despite the best efforts of some people to undermine the no work ethic by revising in the shade when they weren't racing, (and Curly issuing an edict forbidding the use of the radio), the rest of us drew ourselves up to our full height and stared down at the beast that is assessment.

The day failed to get off to a good start with the Novice Men's coxed IV loosing in the first round. Luckily their sacrifice in getting up so early spurred the rest of us on to even greater efforts. Our illustrious Captain, Robin Collings, was victorious in the Senior 4 and Elite single sculls, and impervious to the "encouraging" insults hurled at him from the bank. Clearly long hours spent alone in a scull leads to a man made of sterner stuff. Clever shuffling on the part of Men's Captain Neil meant that we we're able to stretch three men's coxed IV crews out of only eight people. Also the unfortunate defeat of the Novice coxed IV meant that Sam and Tom were able to give their all hauling Neil and I along to victory in the Senior 4 event.

Sweeter than this victory, however, was the "comfortable" win in the semi final over last term's CCBC arch rivals - Castle College 1st IV. The buzz of this admittedly unexpected win ("We'll call today a training outing boys" - Neil) carried us through the final, and gave that extra bit of encouragement to the 1st IV. The number of races and the heat were taking their toll on the rowers who were doubling up and unfortunately an extra shove was needed in the Senior 3 final where we lost out narrowly to Hild Bede.

The men's Novice Restricted coxed IV then set out and eventually became the most successful crew of the weekend. Victory on both days secured a huge haul of pots for them. They were also clever enough to win in races that allowed them to keep their Novice status, which bodes well for more silverware at Durham Regatta.

The girls were equally successful with the 1st coxed IV's winning in Senior 4 and the coxed VIII making it to the final of the Senior 4 event. For the VIII this should have been a straight final against St Andrew's, who were defeated in the first round, but a dastardly late entry by St Aidan's and the luckless Neil's inability to pick the right name out of the hat meant St Aidan's were given a bye to the final.

Sunday saw a rather reduced entry and Saturday's success meant some desperate crew shuffling to make crews eligible for the various categories. As mentioned, the novice boat of Andy, Alex, Sam and Tid continued their unbeaten run, but otherwise the day was less successful. The fact that exams started the next day perhaps provided some distraction.

We returned home sunburnt (except for Rich and Curly, whose antics with sun cream don't bear mentioning in a family publication) and laden with tankards. Hopefully though this was just a training day, and we'll really be able to pull out the stops for Durham Regatta!

Ed Haines

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