Cambridge rowers make impact on national stage

Busy spell continues with Henley Royal Regatta and Power8 Sprints

Cantabrigian Rowing Club will be well represented in British Rowing’s inaugural Power8 Sprints in Bristol.

The event will feature eight regions going head to head over 350m in Bristol, and Cantabs will have six rowers in the Cambridge women’s eight.

Cantabs’ Tom Copeland is coaching the crew, with Paralympic and world champion James Fox the Cambridge ‘champion’.

Andrea de Bruin, Ellie Darlington, Jessie Spivey, Ann Laube, Bailee Stratton – who missed out on the final at Henley Women’s Regatta by a foot last month – are joined in the city’s eight by clubmate Harriet Cross, who was in the quad at Henley.

Completing the Cambridge eight are Norwich RC’s Samantha Redgrave, and Lea RC’s Amanda Benson-Skailes and cox Jess Bell.

The Power8 Sprints will be held in Bristol on Sunday, July 22.

The event is another date in a busy rowing calendar.

Cambridge 99 showed their development on the national scene by qualifying for Henley Royal Regatta.

The eight of Adam Wright, Karel Kabelik, Friso Van Gent, Alex Shaw, William Young, Matthew Moore, Robert Sargent, Nicholas Thorn and cox Sammi Tarling warmed up in style by finishing third in the Tier II eights at Marlow Regatta.

Having qualified in one of 10 positions available to 26 crews in the Thames Challenge Cup, Cambridge 99 were drawn against Agecroft Rowing Club in the first round at Henley.

They stayed in contact with their rivals for the majority of the 2,112m course, eventually finishing just five seconds behind Agecroft.

There was success at Henley for former Cambridge University Women’s Boat Club rower Melissa Wilson.

She was part of a composite crew with Mathilda Hodgkins-Byrne, Jess Leyden and Zoe Lee in the Princess Grace Challenge Cup, and they earned a three-length victory over Norway’s Christiania Roklub crew in the final.

Fellow Light Blue Holly Hill was in a British eight in the Remenham Challenge Cup, but they were defeated by two-thirds of a length by Australia’s Georgina Hope Rinehart National Training Centre.

Cambridge University Boat Club’s Goldie crew also suffered final defeat, being beaten in the Prince Albert Challenge Cup by three-quarters of a length by Imperial College, London.