IC Rowers take on World U23s in Trakai

The Under-23 World Championships were held in Trakai, Lithuania between 11th- 15th July. This year medic Tim Richards and biochemist Wilf Kimberley donned the triple hooped vests to represent their country and defend Imperial’s honour which they did in style.

The road to Trakai was by no means easy for Richards, who was rowing the lightweight quad. In spite of injuries to other athletes who may have strengthened the crew, the foursome of Tim, Rupert Price (Cambridge Uni), Kieren Brown (Edinburgh Uni) and Alex Robertson (Leander) finished a respectable 9th overall in an event where the standard was at an all time high. The crew placed a disappointing 5th in a tough opening heat, with last year’s bronze medallists Switzerland only a second in front, forcing them in to the repechage. In spite of giving their all in the rep, the quad missed out on qualifying for the A-final by less than three seconds behind the Netherlands. Forced into the B-final, the crew battled it out to finish just the wrong side of the Brazilians whom they had narrowly beaten the day before in the repechage.

Meanwhile, Kimberley was put in to the lightweight pair, in what was a previously unthinkable partnership with Matt Bedford from arch-rival boat club University of London. However, the two managed to put their differences aside and the partnership worked remarkably well with wins at Metropolitan Regatta and the Hollandbeker Regatta in Amsterdam, before finishing the domestic season at Henley with a nail-biting half-length defeat by the Greek U23 heavyweight pair.

The Regatta started strongly for the guys, winning their heat with no great difficulty to progress directly to the semi final two days later. Despite a sub-par race they finished second, being overtaken by the French crew whom they had beaten two days previously, but this still meant progression to the A final. A World Championship final is a rather nerve-racking situation to be in, and it can cause one to do some rather silly things as Wilf found out way back in his junior days when, getting into his boat raring to go, he completely forgot his oars. However this time it was his crewmate in the wrong, and the pair were swiftly awarded a yellow card on the start line due to Bedford wearing the all-in-one he was meant to change out of after weighing in two hours before the race. The pair had a strong race but narrowly missed out on a podium finish to come in 4th over all after being rowed through in the second half of the race.

With the new season now well underway, the two IC rowers will now join forces for the pair’s head of the river. With a strong intake and several returners for ICBC, it looks like this year’s going be a good one.