Last Sunday (6th June) M1 and W1 competed in their first off-Cam regatta for quite a long time, just up the road in Peterborough. In rowing, a regatta means side-by-side racing, and Peterborough City Rowing Club have their very own 4-lane rowing lake to hold races on! Each race was 500m, which means it really is just a sprint.

Both M1 and W1 took part and both did pretty well. The full results will hopefully be up on the Peterborough website shortly. Here is M1's report from the race:

May term got off to a rocky start for M1 this year, as two of the more experienced oarsman from Lents dropped out due to other commitments. The start of term saw some shaky outings as the new crew adjusted to each-other, but we trained hard and have come a long way in only eight weeks. Our improvement is epitomized by our recent performance at Peterborough Sprint on June 6th.

Churchill entered the full M1 VIII and a IV+ consisting of the M1 stern four for the 500m 4-lane regatta. The Eight was competing against several Cambridge college M1 crews near us in May bumps: Clare, Christ’s and Magdalene (who we chased on day 1). Given the earlier results of the term, these colleges were probably expecting little competition from us. But we won every round we competed in for the heats and semi-finals in both the VIII and the IV+, earning a place in both finals. This is a massive achievement and something the crew should take great pride in. Our semi-final time in the VIII of 1:26 over 500m is the fastest time in this year’s IM3 division and the IM3 course record for Peterborough Sprint. It is also 7 seconds faster than the winning time for the IM3 division at Peterborough Sprint last year, which was won by Churchill M1 with a time of 1:33.

The VIIIs final was close between us and Magdalene, both finishing with a time of 1:27 to the nearest second, but with Magdalene fractions of a second ahead taking the victory. It undoubtedly surprised the other Cambridge colleges that Churchill did so well, coming 2nd in both the VIII and the IV+ IM3 divisions. This was a great psychological boost, and even though we did not win the final, it bodes well for bumps, where hopefully the crew will continue to show how far we have come this term.