Loughborough Boat Club
Loughborough Boat Club's hopes of winning the Britannia Challenge Cup at the Royal Henley Regatta were sunk by eventual champions Oxford Brookes University at the Quarter-Final stages. The coxed four were not too disappointed with the result as they had put Loughborough back on the National map.
This was the first time since 1948 that a crew from the town had qualified for Henley and the four - Andrew Wilbram, Jerome Mason, Alex Smith, Keith Hudson and cox Charlie Horner - were very pleased with what they achieved. Bowman Keith Hudson said "Just qualifying was a major breakthrough, but to get two wins, only to lose to the winners was absolutely outstanding". He said their success had lifted morale at the club and he thanked all those who travelled to Henley and gave them tremendous support.
Their week began with a one and a quarter length win over local rivals Nottingham Trent University in the first round in a time of 8:18 minutes. Next up were Belfast Rowing Club who were beaten by two thirds of a length in 8:14 minutes.
In both these races Loughborough built up their lead by starting fast and then really pushing to the line. They adopted this tactic in the quarter-final and at the first marker had a two third length lead over Oxford. The experienced Oxford crew proved too powerful and they closed the gap, took the lead on the second stage and were pulling away at the line.
