In bright sunshine at Dorney Lake, the 2026 Met Regatta delivered strong results for Cambridge, with the Club bringing home five medals.
The Cambridge men made it three wins in a row in the Open Championship Eights, finishing ahead of Leander and Oxford Brookes with a composite crew of Blue Boat and Goldie athletes. They enjoyed further success, winning the Open Coxless Four, claiming third place in the Open Academic Eight, with a blend of openweight and lightweight rowers, and taking fourth in the Open Coxed Four. Nikita Mohr, 4-man of the winning 2026 Lightweight Boat Race men’s crew, added a silver medal in the Open Single.
For the women, Cambridge secured eighth in the Women’s Championship Eights, with a crew drawn from across the Blue Boat, Blondie and Third Eight, and produced an excellent performance to win the Women’s Academic Eights in a tightly contested event.
Congratulations to all involved on an excellent regatta.
Men
Championship Eights 5:35.38🥇
Race report: Simon Hatcher
It was a beautiful day at Dorney Lake and the eight was ready to turn up the heat. We launched for our time trial as bow number 278, feeling fresh and ready to take on the challenge. After a great warmup, stroke man Matt Edge and 7 man Will Klipstine built the crew to a fast, aggressive rate and crossed the line at blistering speed. Following a ripping first 500 meters, some wind gusts came in and knocked the boat off slightly, but strong, powerful strokes pushed us back to a steady rhythm, and we crossed the line at good speed. We came in third among the times, just behind the London RC crew and 4 seconds back on the rapid Brookes G crew.
After a quick rest, some food, and some shade, it was already time for the final. We were confident that we could bring a new level to the side by side racing. Right at the start, a gust of wind blew us off point, but quick navigating by cox Freya Jenkinson minimized the disruption. The Brookes crew jumped out to an early 2-seat lead. The middle four (Pat Wild, Simon Hatcher, Noam Mouelle, and Max Deering) came alive, driving the crew onto a powerful, dynamic beat, and held them. By 750 meters in, we began to eat into their lead, taking a couple of inches each stroke. Despite a bobble near the 1k mark, we were even by 1100 meters in, and The Boat Race season fitness began to carry us through them. Momentum built, and soon, we were nearly half a length up on Brookes G, with a length on the rest of the field. Confidence and excitement built throughout the crew. With 400 meters left to go, the Leander crew to stroke side, who’d been sitting nearly a length down, started to lift the speed. Stern pair raised the rate, and the bow pair of Milo Taylor and Alex Finger lifted the bow out of the water. Leander’s move was impressive, and they continued their charge, but it was too little, too late to challenge the lead, and we crossed the line in 5:35.38, a second ahead of Leander and 2.8 seconds ahead of Brookes G. Many thanks to the other crews for fantastic competition. It was great race and an honour to win the title for the third year.
Crew:
Cox: Freya Jenkinson
Str: Matt Edge
7: Will Klipstine
6: Pat Wild
5: Simon Hatcher
4: Noam Mouelle
3: Max Deering
2: Milo Taylor
Bow: Alex Finger
Academic Eight 05:50.80🥉
Race report: Josh Moore
CUBC men’s B crew at Metropolitan Regatta was comprised of six athletes from the 2026 Men’s Lightweight squad, two members of the Openweight Squad and cox Lidya Acar who raced in the Lightweight Women’s Boat Race. As the crew develops in the run up to Henley, racing at the Metropolitan Regatta was a great opportunity to build trust and test our speed. In the time trial, we produced a 5:30.3 over 1900 meters only a second behind Durham A and beating a number of respected crews. This seeded us 6th in the B final.
In the final, we were in lane two. Sunny weather provided good conditions for fast racing; we were pleased to achieve a time of 5:50.8 placing us 5th in the B final and 3rd overall in the Academic Eights category. While this was a marginally slower split time than we had produced in the time trial, it was excellent to race side-by-side and with more practice on our start and transitioning to rhythm, we believe we can shave a number of seconds off of our time in the next few weeks.
Crew:
Cox: Lidya Acar
Stroke: Freddie Challacombe
7: James Richards
6: Alex Geddes
5: Josh Moore
4: Jeremy Wilkinson
3: Alex Myhill
2: Will Woodard
Bow: Victor Viennot-Bourgin
Coxless Four 06:15.00 🥇
Race report: Kyle Fram
Firstly, I want to say thank you to all the fans for supporting, and to the race officials for running a great regatta. The day started early with a 5:05am departure from Goldie boathouse. We arrived, rigged, and launched almost immediately, with a short warmup before the time trial over glassy water. We started 11th, and gave ourselves as much time as possible after the preceding crew, but nonetheless began to hear their calls within 500 meters. By the 1k, we hit a significant patch of wash from the crews ahead of us, but we pressed onward and finished strong for 1st overall in the time trial, beating Oxford by about a second.
We had a short cooldown and before we knew it, the race was on again. We warmed up quickly and got aligned, sitting in lane 5 with Oxford to our right and Leander to our left. After a rough start, we finished the first 100 meters level with the entire field except Oxford, who sat about a length up on us. We reached the 250 and solidified our contact after striding out, slowly inching back the margin on the Oxford crew to our right, while leaving Leander and the rest of the field behind. At the thousand, we reached level, I called to move through them and then we suddenly had a ¾ length lead. We pressed out to about a length of clear water by the final 500, and while they executed a sprint to nearly regain contact with us, strokeman Calvin Tarczy drove us to a comfortable margin of victory in the red buoys.
Crew:
Str: Calvin Tarczy
3: Simon Nunayon
2: Kyle Fram
Box: Lexi McClean
Coxed Four 4th 06:27.39
Race report: Gil Dexter
Saturday at Met Regatta was the first test for the open 4+ before Henley Royal Regatta, and marked a return to racing for former Goldie members Matt Morgan and Sean Hayes. The combination displayed their speed in the time trial, laying down a strong rhythm from start to finish and securing the top seed in final A. But margins were slim: 1st and 4th were separated by less than 2 seconds.
In the final, after a fast and furious start, Cambridge battled Brookes on either side all the way down the course. Brookes B found another gear with 750 to go, pulling away despite the light blue’s best efforts. The crew held off Brookes A with a strong last 500, securing a 4th place finish.
Crew:
Cox: Alex Taylor
Str: Raph Berz
3: Matt Morgan
2: Gil Dexter
Bow: Sean Hayes
Single 07:08.53 🥈
Race report: Josh Moore
Nikita raced in the four seat of the victorious Lightweight Men’s Boat Race 2026 but is now focussing on the single in the run up to Henley Royal Regatta. Nikita has quickly made the transition back to sculling from sweep. In the time trial he completed the 1900 meter course in a time of 6:56.8. This left him seeded 3rd in the B final.
The final was an extremely tight race. A photo finish meant Nikita narrowly placed second after an exciting sprint to the line. Completing in a time of 7:08.53, just 0.2 of a second behind the first-placed sculler, was a positive result and represents a good marker from which to progress from in the coming weeks.
Women
Championship Eights 7th 6:33.02
Race report: Matt Moran
This past weekend CUBC travelled down south to kick off our summer racing campaign. In a new look line-up featuring athletes from across the Blue Boat, Blondie and the Third Eight, we looked to test our speed against the best that the country has to offer.
The day started with a competitive 1900m time trial. Given the depth of entries, we knew it would be crucial to attack this piece from the outset – the crew did just that, sneaking into the A final in 8th place, with less that 2.5 seconds separating us and the crew that came 3rd.
Determined to improve upon this ranking, and to make a real statement of intent ahead of Henley, the crew looked to take a hold of the final early. Despite a shaky start that left us out the back of the field, the crew demonstrated excellent mid-race pace, gradually working our way back through the field into 5th place by the 1500m mark. As other crews surged, we couldn’t quite hold onto this position, but still managed to improve upon our time trial placing.
With the four university crews in the A final being separated by less than 1.5 seconds in the end, there is surely some exciting racing on the horizon for this newly formed unit. Onwards and upwards to Henley Royal Regatta next.
Crew:
Cox: Matt Moran
Str: Eloise Etherington
7: Mia Freischem
6: Mathilda Kitzmann
5: Alex Wiley
4: Aidan Wrenn-Walz
3: Charlotte Ebel
2: Phoebe Pryce
Bow: Gemma King
Academic Eight 🥇 06:38.19
Race report: Lauren Schneidermann
Met Regatta marked the beginning of our summer racing campaign, with the Women’s Academic 8+ traveling to Dorney Lake on Saturday for a day of racing against a strong field of women’s eights. The crew first took to the water for the morning time trial to establish ourselves among a competitive field.
In the time trial, the crew had a solid first race with a time of 6:12.3, placing 10th overall across all women’s 8s across all categories. We were pleased to discover that this made us the fastest academic women’s eight in the field. The result secured a place in Final B, and gave the crew confidence heading into the afternoon.
With a slight tailwind for the final, Cambridge lined up in lane 4 between Edinburgh University Boat Club in lane 3 and Leander Club in lane 5. After a clean start, the crew shifted quickly into their rhythm, focusing on staying internal and executing the race plan.
The majority of the field remained tightly packed through the opening stages, with Cambridge and Edinburgh level through the first 500m. By around 600m, every crew was still firmly in contention. The race would be decided by who could sustain their speed deepest into the second half. The crew continued to row effectively through the middle, maintaining contact with the field and responding well to pressure from the surrounding lanes.
In the final 500m, four of the crews remained within a seat of each other. Edinburgh launched a move as the race tightened further. Cambridge responded immediately, maintaining our rhythm and accelerating through the closing stages. The crew found another gear in the sprint for the line, surging through the finish and securing fifth place in Final B, and first in the academic category, with a time of 6:38.90. After Leander, four boats crossed the line within a second of one another, making it some of the closest racing of the day.
Met Regatta was an exciting start to our summer project and provided valuable racing experience against a highly competitive field. With Henley Royal Regatta on the horizon, we look forward to building on this performance over the coming weeks and continuing to develop our speed as a crew. Congratulations to all women’s eight crews.
Crew:
Cox: Lauren Schneidermann
Str: Bella Munro
7: Fizz McNally
6: Nicky Wojtania
5: Imogen Breeze
4: AnnaLinda Elvre
3: Katarina Finney
2: Anna Golbus
Bow: Hannah Warren