By Maddie Angwin
BUCS 25, which happens to also be our Varsity match, saw CUCC put out 26 riders. On a variety of begged and borrowed (no stolen) equipment our riders were ready to face the infamous botty triangle. In typical Cambridge style, the morning of the race was wet and windy which led to a few of our rowers getting confused into thinking that botty was a river and therefore turning up in wellies.
After Miranda Clements had realized that she was in fact racing a bike not a boat, she rolled over to the start line as the first woman off. I feel bad for her minute man as she put in a staggering time of 01:00:40. Up next for Cambridge women was Imogen Grant. After storming round the course in 01:01:41 she dashed off to commentate the Boat Race, leaving all of us wondering whether rowing at the Olympics or smashing it around botty for an hour is more enjoyable. Maddie Angwin was up next, putting in a strong performance for 01:04:54, knocking 5 minutes off her time from last year’s race. President Zoe Burrell, sped round in style for 01:04:08, with Women’s Captain Phoebe Barker following on with a 01:02:37, taking 2 minutes off her time from last year. Last but not least, Jo Matthews smashed round the course in 01:00:37 to claim 3rd overall. An incredibly strong performance from the women’s side led to Miranda Clements and Jo Matthews coming 2nd in BUCS 25. Imogen Grant’s impressive performance meant that the women’s side (Jo, Miranda and Imogen) won the women’s Varsity match for the first time in 9 years. Maybe rowers do make good cyclists after all.
The men’s side saw equal success, but unsurprisingly more CUCCups as well. Tom Hale was the first rider off for Cambridge putting in an impressive time of 56:31. In fact 56 appeared to be a popular number for CUCC with Tim Welsh (56:16), Tom Wade (56:20) and Matt Rizzo-Naudi (56:36) creating a CUCC cluster high in the results table. Joe Adlam-Cook decided he didn’t want to be part of the 56 gang, digging deep to achieve a 54:07, taking nearly 2 minutes out of his time from last year, and gaining the coveted award of fastest CUCC.
The road (bike) men put in a strong showing – so aero Dan Bigham would eat his heart out – with Colin Krawchuk putting in a 01:01:27 to become the fastest CUCC roadman. Special mention must go to our speedy freshers Harry Weedon (59:49), Louis Stuart (01:06:14) and Lucas Beghein (01:08:14) for their first whack round the triangle. The biggest CUCCup must go to Lucas for arriving 45 minutes late to the start after a delayed train and a puncture, but what’s a CUCC race without a bit of stress?
Congratulations to the men’s team of Joe Adlam-(over)Cook(ed it), Dr Quadzilla (Tim Welsh) and Thomas (the Tank Engine) Wade for their third-place team medal. It was a great day to be part of CUCC. The full results can be found here.
