Two days of success in the sun for York City Rowing Club

It was another sunny weekend on the rivers for York City Rowing Club, with York Summer Regatta taking place on the Ouse and crews in action on the Thames at Henley Women’s Regatta (June 23-24).

Held in the centre of York, York Summer Regatta saw nearly 200 crews from clubs from as far afield as Cambridge come together for a day’s worth of racing in the glorious sunshine.

YCRC crews had a fantastic day, winning 23 out of the 51 events. Many wins came from our strong squad of junior rowers some of whom took on, and won against, senior rowers of all ages.

Not to be outdone by the young ’uns, masters rowers from the YCRC ‘leisure and progression’ group proved themselves not so leisurely on the water by taking wins in the Men’s Masters D and Women’s Masters D quadruple sculls events.

Run entirely by volunteers from YCRC and the wider rowing community, handling everything from umpiring races to baking cakes for the legendary cake stall, the day was a great testament to the power of volunteering.

Excellence at Henley

Meanwhile, two YCRC crews had travelled to race at Henley Women’s Regatta, an ‘Aspirational’ quadruple scull of Sophy Nicholson, Helen Waller, Helen Sneath and Louise Hawkyard, and a Junior double scull of Lucy Edmunds and Katarina Bonner.

Due to the number of entries, both crews had to first battle through a time trial qualification to reach the knock out rounds of their events, which they did in style.

The senior crew were drawn against Imperial College in the first round, a club with a strong rowing pedigree. Despite giving it their all, the YCRC quad was knocked out by two lengths.

Having also cruised through the time trials, the double scull comfortably beat Canford School in the first round, coming up against Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School in the quarter final on Sunday.

By halfway, Lucy and Katarina were a good length and a half down, but a brilliant push over the last 500m saw them grab the victory by three feet.

In the semi-final, they faced a much heavier City of Oxford crew, and despite being down by two lengths at half way, put on another fantastic sprint to close down the Oxford crew in the last 50m, missing out on the final by only one-third of a length.

Both crews did themselves, their coaches, and YCRC proud, and have blazed a trail for the junior boy’s quadruple sculls who will represent the club at the world’s most famous regatta, Henley Royal Regatta this coming week.