By Will Miller
With Regatta season having arrived, DMU Rowing teams have been competing against the likes of Oxford and Cambridge, as well as universities all across the country, and standing victorious on many occasions.
These victories included thrashing University of Leicester in the DMU vs UOL Varsity races, boasting a 12-2 win against UOL, and kicking off the season with Leicester Regatta at the end of April.
President of the club, Emma Padfield, said there are some clear reasons for the club’s successes.
“I think a lot of it has been Izzy (Competitive Coach),” she said.
“She’s technically a really good coach and she’s built a really good training programme. I think our training plan is one of the best in the country in the sense that it can’t get that much better.
“There’s a really good balance of strength and conditioning and we build really well towards races as well.”
While regattas such as Leicester and the British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) Regatta are important races for the club, the big races are Henley Women’s Regatta (June 16 to 18) and Henley Royal Regatta (June 27 to July 2).
Ms Padfield added: “We relaxed for about a week after BUCS and now basically all of our races building up to Henley Women’s and Henley are basically training races.
“We have Metropolitan Regatta which is this weekend(JUNE2-3), and obviously a lot of clubs treat this as a peak race but for us, it’s a huge race, but first it’s a training race and an opportunity to learn for Henley Women’s and Henley.
“Our women’s crews are going to race at Henley Women’s and that’s a big aim for us, if we’re quick enough we might try and enter Henley Royal but for the men obviously Henley Royal is their only option so they’re going to try and qualify, which will be a really big achievement in itself.”
