This past weekend of 2nd through 4th July saw the women’s squad competing at Henley Women’s Regatta. After a strong performance at the 2019 regatta, where the aspirational academic four lost out narrowly by 1/2 length to the winners in the semi final, this year’s crew were hungry to go one further.
A strong performance by the crew of Lizzie Witt, Gled Musollari, Laura Ellington and Daisy Bethell put them at the top of Friday’s time trial, giving them a bye to Sunday’s racing. They first faced Oxford Brookes in the semi final, where they found an early lead of just under a length by the barrier, extending this advantage to a length of clear water as they came past the Henley Women’s enclosures. This allowed them to settle into a more comfortable rhythm to take them through the line 4 1/2 lengths ahead of their opposition.
The crew then faced ULBC in the final. In contrast to their earlier semi, UL led out the end of the island to sit around one length up in the early stages of the race. The crew maintained their composure to row through the UL boat in the middle portion of the race, finishing a length up to take the win in their event.
Imperial College Boat Club Head Coach, Peter Hardcastle, was delighted with the result:
It has been great to see the women’s squad develop over the years. The last win we had at HWR was in 2015 in the Parkside Trophy (Elite Lightweight Pair). Winning The Cathy Cruickshank Trophy is a mark of our strength in the academic category and demonstrates good development for future seasons to come. Winning HWR was a continuation from the good results we got at BUCS Regatta.
Alongside the four, we had a crew of both current and future students racing in the aspirational quads event. Although there was limited preparation time following BUCS Regatta, the athletes worked well together to make improvements through the week leading up to the race and put in a great effort in the time trial. This will hopefully stand them in good stead for future Henley Women’s Regattas.