Cardiff Met Rowing marks BUCS Regatta return with every athlete reaching a final

Cardiff Met Rowing made an impressive return to BUCS Regatta this year, competing at the event for the first time since 2022 and delivering a hugely encouraging weekend for a programme that has been rebuilt from the ground up this season.

After restarting in September, the original aim was simply to take one crew to the regatta. Instead, Cardiff Met travelled with 14 athletes, and every rower who attended going on to compete in a final across the four-day event.

It marked a significant step forward for the club and highlighted the progress made in a short space of time, with Cardiff Met crews competing strongly against some of the biggest and most established university rowing programmes in the UK.

Among the standout performances was the Women’s Beginner Double Scull, with Rae Bennett and Maddie Jones finishing fifth in the A final. Grace Chaffey also delivered an excellent performance in the Women’s Beginner Single Scull, placing sixth in the A final.

There was further success in the Open Beginner Coxed Four, where Igoa Bilbao, Jacob Buckner-Rowley, Oliver Nathan, Ollie Adamson and cox Anastasia Cicek finished third in the C final. The crew also produced one of the weekend’s memorable moments for Cardiff Met, edging out Oxford Brookes University in a competitive race against one of the country’s leading university rowing programmes.

Tommy Dack continued the strong beginner performances by winning the D final in the Open Beginner Single Scull, while Amelia Eldridge placed third in the E final of the Women’s Intermediate Single Scull.

Eldridge then teamed up with Grace Chaffey in the Women’s Intermediate Double Scull, where the pair finished first in the F final. Cardiff Met also featured in the Open Intermediate Quad Scull, with Zachariah Salmon, Oscar Phillips, Matt Honor and Tommy Dack finishing fifth in the F final, while Salmon later placed fourth in the G final of the Open Intermediate Single Scull.

The results reflect the hard work and commitment of the athletes, coaches and wider support network who have helped re-establish rowing at Cardiff Met this year. With limited resources and a newly rebuilt programme, the club’s performances at BUCS Regatta demonstrated both the potential within the squad and the growing momentum behind the sport at the university.

For Cardiff Met Rowing, the weekend was about more than results alone. It was a statement of progress, resilience and ambition, with the club showing that it can compete confidently on a national university stage.

Having risen quickly since September, Cardiff Met Rowing now has a strong platform to build from as it looks ahead to the next stage of its development.