University Rowing Club earns a BUSA boost! – University of Reading
16 May 2006
The University of Reading Rowing Club (RUBC) had a fantastic start to the summer with a terrific performance in the 2006 British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) Rowing Championship held in Nottingham. The club returned to their Caversham Thames-side home with an impressive medal haul of 13, including five gold, four silver and four bronze. Over 950 crews from 62 Universities made their way to the National Water Sports Centre over the May Bank Holiday. The competition was fierce but fair as crews fought it out in what is one of the biggest events on the University rowing calendar. The club's extremely demanding Easter training camp paid off with a string of superb results. Alex Gregory retained his BUSA singles title in style, beating some tough competition from Cambridge. Atlanta St John won the women's junior singles, a fantastic effort as she is only in her first year at Reading. Both the men's and the women's quads showed their strength by winning gold in the sprint events. The most unexpected and gutsy performance of the weekend came from the men's junior coxed four. The crew raced superbly to make the final but found themselves behind from the first stroke. However, they battled back brilliantly, beating Durham by less than 0.2 of a second! All Reading racers recorded hugely impressive results throughout the three days. Just some of the other very notable performances include Natasha Page, who competed in the women's championship singles and came a way with a silver medal. Sam Townsend picked up a bronze in the men's junior singles event, a fine achievement considering it was his 6th race of the day! A shock bronze medal came from Vikki Rickwood, who until a few days before was not going to be able to take part due to illness, an amazing effort. One of the best performances of the regatta came from the men's eight. RUBC have not raced an eight at the championship for four years. With only two practice outings and a heavy few days of racing, the RUBC Eight claimed a terrific bronze medal. University of Reading Director of Rowing Will Rand said the results did not surprise him: "Everybody at the club works extremely hard and it's fantastic to see those efforts rewarded. Our showing this year was tremendous. The senior men's squad is doing extremely well and large improvements have been made in the senior women's squad too. The men's and the women's novice squads are also progressing nicely. "Success at the championship is not only great for the club but also for our University as reaching the finals ensures more valuable BUSA points for us. We all want to see Reading riding high in the overall BUSA league. Congratulations to everyone for another fabulous result." End For more information about RUBC contact Will Rand, the Director of Rowing at the University of Reading. Mob: 07989 972 594 Email: w.rand@reading.ac.uk Website: www.rubc.net