Cambridge ‘99 Rowing Club’s Autumn Regatta on the River Cam returns in impressive fashion
The latest edition of Cambridge ‘99 Rowing Club’s Autumn Regatta on the River Cam has been branded an “absolute success”.
Crews came from far and wide to attend Sunday’s event, which is the only one of its kind in Cambridge where competitors can earn themselves national rowing points.
The youngest competitor to feature across a card of more than 110 races was aged just 12, with the oldest being 80 years of age.
And it is that varying degree of experience that was a particular source of delight for competition chair Lianne Stanford, who also hailed the job done by volunteers.
She said: “It was an absolute success. The spectators, umpires and competitors all seemed to have a really good time.
“Because it’s a British Rowing event we invite clubs and rowers from all over the country so we had crews from the likes of Leicester, Loughborough, Marlow and Maidenhead.
“Our sport is now just recovering from being floored by Covid. Some regattas ran last year but under very specialist restrictions.
“Competitors had to go straight to their car after rowing and there were no spectators, so to get everyone back to together was a big thing.
“We had one guy (Edward Gardner) who qualified for the Henley Rowing Regatta and then other youngsters who were competing for the first time.
“I can’t think of another sporting event that can have a competitive field of people aged from 12 to 80, and we pride ourselves on finding the right balance.
“It’s a big undertaking from everyone involved, especially the volunteers who really stepped up to the challenge.
“We lost a lot of knowledge during Covid but people took on the challenge brilliantly.
“The competitors were great as well and when you throw in a bit of sunshine it made for a great day.”
In terms of the local clubs, Cantabrigian were the most successful with seven victories to their name, while crews from City of Cambridge, Addenbrooke’s and X Press also enjoyed some success.
For a full list of results from the competition visit cambridge99.org.
