Sudbury Regatta 2021
The first Saturday of August 2021 saw the long-awaited return of Sudbury Regatta to Friars Meadow.
Saturday was a fantastic day despite the weather delivering alternating bouts of wind and rain with blazing sunshine and even thunder at one point. Needless to say it gave the rowers some challenging conditions to deal with.
Once again the meadow filled up with the many visiting clubs, competitors, boats, trailers, tents and spectators.
We were privileged that so many fellow rowers wanted to return to competition after over a year at our unique regatta.
Racing got underway at 9am and although Sudbury crews were limited to just one event, the club saw some good results, with competitors delivering some excellent racing and race wins along with a couple of new course records.
In the Women’s 1x Amelia Maskell won her final by two and a half lengths in a time of 2:48.
The Women’s Masters D/E double of Sophie Lovegrove and Jen Ward also won their final race very convincingly. The Women’s Junior18 2x of Antonia Mitchell and Elodie Nicholson won their final by 1 length in a time of 2:48.
The Mixed double of Victoria Burgess and Morgan Moriarty won their final in a time of 02:20, breaking the course record and in the Women’s double, Amelia Moule and Martha Bullen also broke another course record winning their final in a time of 02:27.
A fantastic result for both crews!
Sudbury had several novice crews enter their very first race. The Women’s novice Coxed quad of Debbie Nott, Amanda Ashton, Rachel Bassett and Jess Brown (coxed by Pippa Kerry) won their qualifier easily in a time of 2:59 and in the Open 1x, Karl Hillman won his qualifier easily in a time of 03:29.
Good qualifying wins were also seen from Jessica Wilby and Emily Norfolk in the Women’s Junior 16 2x; Byron Bullen in the Op1x and Harry Moule in the Op.J16 1x.
Well done to all of our competitors.
After having to cancel the Sudbury Regatta in 2020 due to Covid we were delighted to be able to run this year’s event on Saturday after concerns over recent months that we would be able to go ahead.
Over 250 competitors participated in 166 races on Friars Meadow and the club members turned out in numbers to ensure the whole day went smoothly despite the wind and rain. Thanks are due to all those who volunteered to plan the event and help on the day to make it such a resounding success’.