The University of Birmingham Boat Club began their preparation for both the Henley Women’s and Henley Royal Regatta’s in style, with wins at the Metropolitan and Reading Amateur Regatta.
In a bid to qualify for the prestigious events, the Birmingham’s team set up a number of boats capable of representing their university at undoubtedly the most famous boat meetings in the world.
On the weekend of June 2, the team travelled to Dorney Lake, which will hold the Olympic and Paralympic boat races this summer, to compete in the Metropolitan Regatta.
The weekend got off to the perfect start as the Men’s Coxed 4, consisting of James Manfield, Andrea Ferrazzo, Mark Jinks, Alex Meigh and their cox Katherine Eyles, stormed down the course on Saturday despite a strong head wind to win their IM2 4+’s event by 10 seconds.
Sarah Lonergan also impressed that weekend, managing to qualify for the IM2 1x’s finals on both days, finishing in a magnificent second place on Saturday, and fourth on Sunday.
The following weekend, the Birmingham team headed to Reading to compete in the Reading Amateur’s.
Once more, the Men’s Coxed 4 stole the show, reaching the finals of the Elite 4+’s on Saturday and winning the Senior 4+’s on the Sunday by a large margin.
Unfortunately for the Birmingham team, Lonergan had taken ill so was unable to compete over that weekend, but will be fit for the Henley Women’s Regatta beginning June 15.