Medal Rush at the World Masters for YCRC

Nine YCRC members made the journey to the World Rowing Master’s Regatta held on Lake Velence, near Budapest, Hungary from 11-15 September. YCRC has become a regular competitor in this international regatta, attended by over 3200 athletes from around the world aged from 27 to 80+ and held in venues across the world.  The previous best WRMR achievement from York City was two gold medals, in Lake Bled, Slovenia in 2017, but this year’s small but perfectly formed squad managed an unprecedented four wins!

The gold rush was kicked off by YCRC’s Colin and Roger, joined by Piet (former YCRC member) and Thomas  from Grasshopper Rowing Club in Switzerland in the I category quad sculls (av 75yrs+). They lead all the way but were pushed hard to the line by a Norwegian crew, winning by 0.5sec.

Next up was the Women’s D Coxed 4 (av 50yrs +) of Anne, Ali, Lucy , Kate and cox Mike  who lead all the way, beating a German crew by 4.7 seconds.

The Women’s E Coxless Pair (av 55yrs +) of Philippa and Karen also won in commanding style, beating a crew from Latvia by 3.7 seconds.

The final win came on the last day when Anne, Karen, Kate and cox Mike were joined by Nottingham rower Helen to win the Women’s E Coxed 4s in a very exciting race where the crew from Germany was in close contention until York pulled away in the second half of the race.

Well done to all those who raced and put in such great performances after all those hard miles on the ergs and in the water. The event was brilliantly organised with great camaraderie and high standards of racing across the board, and the crews are already looking forward to building on this success at next year’s event – watch out Linz!