Milton Keynes Regatta

By Emilia Bramwell 

It was a super Saturday for Peterborough City rowers as they competed down a 500m course on Caldecotte lake in Milton Keynes. City rowers raced down the course side by side against 14 other rowing clubs, some even coming from as far away as London. 

City Rowers smashed this regatta with a total of 17 wins across the whole day and a total of 34 city rowers returning home with at least 1 pot in their hand. 

Although everyone did amazingly well in their events on Saturday, Anna Rowbotham should be named the star of the event as she came home with more pots than she could carry, collecting an impressive 3 wins in total, winning each of her events. She started off winning the women’s pair with teammate Sarah Watson where they beat their competition by a grand 11.5 seconds. Rowbotham and Watson later teamed up again to gain a winning streak in their women’s (band 1 ) double where they completed the 500m course in a smashing time of 1:56.3. Finally, Rowbotham joined Bianca Manganiello, Gina Gould, Keely Watson, Josh Seagrave, Chris Elder, kristian Woolf, Dean Gosling and cox Lucy Gauntlett in the Mixed eight where there was a dramatic City vs City final against the Peterborough City juniors Mixed eight.  Rowbotham and her teammates beat the Juniors by only 0.8 seconds making it an immensely close final. 

A grand total of 14 of the City rowers that participated on Saturday returned home with 2 pots in hand. Emma Dennis and Anouk Bosma gained their first pot after competing in the Womens junior 16 double where they not only beat their competition by 1.5 seconds, they also completed the course in an impressive time of 1:58.5. They both later gained their second pots when they joined forces with James Goodchild and James Garfield in the mixed four where they beat there competition by a breath-taking 8.5 seconds. 

Evelina Xanthopoulou was another City rower to gain 2 pots, winning her first in the Womens junior 16 single where she beat fellow City teammate Florence Lillywhite by 2.6 seconds. Xanthopoulou impressively went on to compete two age groups up in the Womens junior 18 doubles with teammate Esme Gilbert. Gilbert and Xanthopoulou completely smashed their competitors, beating them by an outstanding 35.2 seconds. 

Joining the juniors, Master, James Marshall also won two events with his first being his Open masters A single. Marshall then later went on to join Dean Gosling, Josh Seagrave and Chris Elder in their Open four where they completed the course in a time of 1:46.2 and beat Junior City crew by quite a large gap of 7.2 seconds. 

Four juniors shone together as teammates, winning all their events. These were: Erin Ansell-Crook, Emily Fitzjohn, Sophie Bicknell and Emma Calver. The fabulous four won their first event together in the Womens four where in a tight final they beat senior City crew by 2.7 seconds. They later went on to win their second event in the Womens eight. They were joined by Lottie Tasker, Kaia Campo, Wiktoria Szubzda and Alice Dovey. Hannah Fitzjohn showed her impressive skills as a cox on Saturday as she won two pots as well in the Womens eight and the Womens four. 

Seniors, Dean Gosling, Josh Seagrave and Chris Elder also all gained two wins on the 500m course. They gained their first victory alongside James Marshall and cox Natasha Cutmore in their Open four and the later joined Anna Rowbotham and others to win their mixed eight against the Junior city crew. Another senior who came home with two wins was Sarah Watson who joined her teammate Anna Rowbotham in both her events, the women’s pair and the women’s  double. 

A large majority of City rowers came home with one win from the successful Saturday. These included: Jasmin Chesher ( women’s junior 15 single ) Roland Christopher and Leo Esposito ( Open junior 15 double ) Charlie Whitty and Matas Lebed ( Open junior 14 double ) James Goodchild and James Garfield ( mixed four ) Esme Gilbert ( women’s junior 18 double) Molly Gilbert and Bea Gregory ( women’s junior 14 double ) Billy Hynes ( Open junior 16 single ) Bianca Manganiello, Gina Gould, Keely Watson, Kristian Woolf and cox Lucy Gauntlett ( mixed eight ) Natasha Cutmore (cox) (Open four) and finally Lottie Tasker, Kaia Campo, Wiktoria Szubzda and Alice Dovey ( women’s eight(band1))  

Some City rowers just narrowly missed out on a win but still gained an impressive second place. These were: Hannah Fitzjohn (women’s junior 15 single) Evelina Xanthopoulou, Florence Lillywhite, Skye Collard and Rosie Ackerman and cox Jack Bosma ( women’s junior 16 quad ) Kristian Woolf (open single(band1)) Florence Lillywhite ( women’s junior 16 single) Hannah Fitzjohn and Jasmin Chesher ( women’s junior 15 double) Charlie Whitty, Matas Lebed, Jack Bosma, Will Gilbert and cox Anouk Bosma ( open junior 14 quad) Billy Hynes and Lewis Barber ( open junior 15 double) Jack Bosma and Will Gilbert ( open junior 14 double ) Roland Christopher, Billy Hynes, George Dennis and Leo Esposito and cox Jack Bosma ( open junior 15 quad )Emma Coxall and Susan Genever-Jones ( women’s masters C/D double ) Keely Watson, Gina Gould, Sarah Watson and Bianca Manganiello ( women’s quad ) James Garfield, James Goodchild, Oliver Barber, Harry Evison-Williams and cox Jack Bosma ( open four ) Debbie Hunt-Pain and Anne Grange( women’s master E/F double) and finally Sergio Read Moreira Lima, Nick Bosma, Oliver Barber, James Goodchild, Lottie Tasker, Alice Dovey, Kaia Campo, Wiktoria Szubzda and cox James Barber ( mixed eight )