The 2025 BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) Regatta saw the University of Nottingham Rowing club deliver a standout performance at Holme Pierrepont, for three days on the 2nd of May, marking the official start of the regatta season. As their first side by side event of the year, Nottingham students secured an impressive nine podium finishes overall at the meeting.
The regatta, one of Europe’s largest student rowing events, pressured Nottingham to take on a thorough training plan behind the scenes. Training through Easter break, Nottingham covered hundreds of kilometres on all different boat classes. Starting most mornings at 6:30am, with time for weights and studying, they really put the work in - a true reflection of the team’s dedication.
This preparation and commitment resulted in the University of Nottingham standing on the podium on nine occasions. These included finishing 1st and picking up gold medals in the Championship Lightweight x1 & Championship Lightweight x2, whilst silvers were won in the Championship Lightweight 4- and Open Intermediate Lightweight 4x. Nottingham rowers claimed bronze in the Women’s Championship singles, Women’s Lightweight doubles, and Women’s Beginner 8+.
Amongst the highlights of the three day event, final year student Lucas Salmon Hernandez registered impressive results across all of his races. Competing in three events, Lucas placed in each, taking home two silver medals and one gold. As an extremely impressive and lightweight athlete, Lucas has raced at U23 Worlds for Peru in 2024, and this weekend he showed brilliant form in both sculling and sweep disciplines.
Reflecting on his 2025 BUCS Regatta appearance, Lucas said: “Coming into my last BUCS Regatta, I felt more pressure than in previous years to perform well. Winning gold in the single after finishing 6th and then 2nd in the past two years was the perfect start to the weekend. Adding two more medals in crew boats and especially earning my first ever BUCS medal in a sweep event, made it an unforgettable way to finish my BUCS journey. None of it would have been possible without the incredible support from my coaches, teammates, friends, and the whole squad at the University of Nottingham Boat Club.”
Men’s Captain, Dylan James, commented on Nottingham’s performance: “BUCS regatta is a great way for our squad to kickstart the regatta season, showing what we’ve built in the winter against the other big university names. We showed signs of good speed and depth within various disciplines, and we are excited to use it all to bring the fight to other clubs and universities through to Henley Royal Regatta.”
Women’s Captain, Isabelle Frampton, added: "BUCS was a great way to mark the beginning of an incredibly exciting regatta season for us as a club. With a collection of BUCS medals and performance to be proud of, I can’t wait to see this group perform over the next few months. Winter training can be long and brutal but weekends like BUCS make it all feel worth it and I’m incredibly proud of the squad for the way they held themselves.”
But this event is only the start for Nottingham rowers, as the season heats up and all attention turns to the Metropolitan and Women’s Henley Regatta in June, and Henley Royal in early July.
Congratulations to everyone involved in these performances on an outstanding BUCS Regatta, and we look forward to more brilliant results as they head to Henley.
To find out more about the 2025 BUCS Regatta, please visit the official web page here.
To keep up to date with our University of Nottingham Boat Club's successes, you can follow them on social media here.