Aachen Rowing Eight Successful in Split
RWTH rowing team on 2nd and 6th place at season opener in Split
On May the 20th and 21st, the RWTH top rowing teams went to Split for the season opener. There they met the best university eights from around the world. These included the Blue Boats from Cambridge and Oxford, who faced each other a few weeks earlier in the historic Boat Race. This is held annually between Oxford and Cambridge Universities on the River Thames in London and is one of the most famous rowing races in the world. In addition to the home teams from Split and other Croatian universities, teams from Johannesburg, Korea, Krakow and Imperial College London were also present. The fact that non-European teams participated in the regatta was a novelty in this edition of the regatta.
On Saturday, the Aachen eight started the race over 1000m. After a strong pre-run, the team managed to enter the final in third place behind Cambridge and Korea with a safe distance to the rest of the field.
In the final, despite a successful start, the eight had to let the other boats go on the more wind-prone outer lane, who eventually won the race. Considering the strong field, however, sixth place is a very successful start to the season.
On Sunday this year an "Exhibition Race" took place, in which first Aachen, Imperial College and Krakow started in the "European Race". The winning team then qualified for the "intercontinental race" against teams from Korea and Johannesburg. The team that won two races first was the winner. On the 220m course, the Aachen team was able to row to a strong second place just behind Imperial College and well ahead of Krakow. The following "intercontinental race" was also won by Imperial College.
After this successful start, the RWTH eight is highly motivated for water training in order to be best prepared for the season's highlight, the German University Championships in Cologne at the beginning of July.