Where are the girls I hear you ask? While BUBC had featured in several composite women's crews racing at HRR over the years, our first full crew to qualify was in 2017 in the Women's Double Sculls! A huge achievement from Steph, Laura, and coach Dan Harris.
"It was a boat that just clicked, and both Laura and I were incredibly excited to see what could happen when we got to race. We'd hoped for a debut at BUCS but a back and rib injury on my part meant Laura got to speed down Nottingham with Carlotta to qualify for EUSA.
By the time we got to decisions about Henley, myself, Laura and Dan all agreed that we wanted to give the double a shot. We were having a lot of fun and the boat was moving well, so it made sense to carry it through to Henley Women's and try to qualify for Henley Royal. Much to our disbelief (mine and Laura's that is, Dan was confident) we came away with an incredible win at Henley Women's which filled us with so much confidence for qualifiers a few days later.
Still, anything can happen at Henley so to find out we'd done enough to qualify, and that we would get to race on the Friday, was incredible. We were also the first full Crew Bath women's boat to race at the regatta, and the support we got from everyone at the club lifted us down the course. Drawing the Dutch national double was always destined to be a one boat race, but it was great fun to push ourselves one last time down the full course, experiencing the enclosures, and just enjoy racing together for the last time.
Crew:
S: Steph Clutterbuck
B: Laura Macro"
Steph Clutterbuck, Class of 2017