[CUCBC Captains] CUCBC Proposal for Easter Term Racing

[Dr David Munday]

 Dear all,

Thank you to everyone who filled in the survey. We had responses from 30
colleges, representing a hugely diverse range of club sizes (2-12 crews)
and preferences for racing. We acknowledge questions, concerns and
suggestions to bumping races, and we will clarify and explain our position
on Easter term racing at the beginning of the Captain’s meeting tomorrow.

Having considered the responses and the current and likely BR Guidelines,
we believe that it is feasible to run a multi-day event in eights,
hopefully during the original Mays week (W/C 14th June), but we’d like to
wait for the exam timetable (due to be released at the start of term)
before confirming proposed dates.

However, we must stress that the possibility of running any event at all is
contingent on several factors outside our control, including the Government
continuing to implement their roadmap, local authorities such as the Cam
Conservancy and the City and County Councils approving such an event, and
the availability of First Aid cover. We have started talking to the local
authorities etc. but it will require a period of dialogue with them as we
proceed to plan the event and undertake our duty of care to ensure the
safety of our volunteer umpires and marshals, entrants and spectators.

>From the responses to the survey, it appears there may be around some 80
novice crews, 40 senior men’s crews and 40 senior women’s crews who wish to
compete this term, although some of these have expressed a preference for a
time trial format only. There are some clubs who may not be able to field a
senior eight at all, and so we believe it would be beneficial to also offer
the opportunity for people to race in smaller boats.

We therefore would like to plan to hold two separate events, as follows:

1. A combined Small Boats Regatta / University Fours competition, to
provisionally take place in the week commencing Monday 7th June, either
over the usual ‘chasing’ format or side by side on the long reach.

The idea behind this is to provide an event for seniors who would not be
able to race in the June Eights Regatta, whether that be due to exam
clashes or because their club isn’t able to field an eight.


2. An Eights Regatta, to provisionally take place in the week commencing
Monday 14th June, over the Pembroke Regatta course.


Dependent on the numbers of entries, we would hold knock-out side-by-side
races in Novice and Senior, Women’s and Open categories. We would envisage
32 crews drawn in each of the four categories. All crews would first be
required to complete a timed head race to qualify for side-by-side racing.
Crews which wished to compete in this head race for time only would be
allowed to do so for a reduced entry fee, as would be usual for the
Getting-on Race.

University Medals would not be awarded at either of these events, but we
would source alternative one-off prizes. No results from this year will
affect the starting order for the 2022 Bumping Races. These proposed dates
would not clash with BUCS regatta on Thurs 24th - Sat 26th June, nor Henley
Women’s at the start of July, and ensures that racing takes place within
term time when boatmen & women will definitely be available.

In response to these proposals, we would like to ask the Captains for their
input on the following points at tomorrow's Captain’s Meeting:

   1. Is there appetite to run a ‘Smaller Boats Regatta’ as in (1) above?
      1. Is there sufficient interest to run events for both fours and
      small boats, or should we focus on just one or the other?
      2. Would people prefer the usual SBR course, line astern, or 1k
      side-by-side?
   2. For the June Eights Regatta, would people prefer to have a plate
   competition, where the losers of each first-round race are entered into a
   separate competition, or to have separate divisions for the top 16 crews
   and second 16 crews in the time trial?
   3. Would there be interest in a separate category for mixed eights
   (either novice, senior, or both), with up to four male rowers permitted?
   4. Should the novice races be run over a shorter course?

With all best wishes,
Dr D J Munday, Chair, on behalf of the Senior Committee
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