Information on Loughborough

Loughboroughs lightweight pair win at Henley Womens Regatta

Posted on 27/12/2008

Loughborough University Website

Loughborough’s lightweight pair win at Henley Women’s Regatta

A Loughborough duo have helped the University rowing club to its best ever result with a winning performance at the Henley Women’s Regatta.

Sports Scholar Laurien Pepper and rowing partner Ruth Hobson won two races on the way to the elite lightweight pair final where they easily beat Kingston Rowing Club to take the Parkside Trophy.

The pair achieved the fastest time of the field in the first round, clocking 6.25 minutes in choppy conditions against the current and into a headwind.

Pepper and Hobson have been training together for the last 12 months, during which time they have also won the British Universities (BUSA) title, and Sunday’s win is testament to a year of hard work.

“At the start of the year it was our aim to win at Henley and to achieve it is a great reward for the hard work we’ve put in,” said Pepper. “We’re up at 5am and back in the gym again at 5pm so the effort has paid off.

“We won at a regatta two weeks earlier against the same opposition so we were in a strong position, but we also knew they would go back and know what they had to do to beat us. We were drawn against the second fastest boat from that event in the first round, but we beat them convincingly.”

Loughborough’s women’s eight were also in action at Henley, competing in the Intermediate PricewaterhouseCooper Cup. The crew won the qualification round to be entered in one of 30 spots, and went on the beat the Royal Veterinary College Boat Club in the first round before losing out to Putney Town in round two.

Head Coach Mitch Rosenlund, the man behind Loughborough rowing’s impressive improvements since his appointment 12 months ago, was delighted with the weekend’s results.

“To win our first ever event at this regatta in the pair and to reach the final 16 in the eight is an outstanding achievement,” he said. “It’s the best ever result in the history of the University’s rowing club.”