Cakeland eat up the opposition

Explore co-ordinator Lizzie Wyatt reports on the penultimate event of this year’s series, hosted by Windermere RC.

The Cakeland squad (from left): Jayne Gissing, Ian Stanistreet, Vix Gibson, cox Heloise Brown, Lizzie Wyatt and Sharolyn Parnham

Lakeland’s Cakeland Explore squad had an excellent trip to our county neighbours, with a mix of returners and new rowers.

We started as we meant to go on with butties and coffee before opening the day’s racing against a strong Warrington crew. It was a close loss, but Cakeland put in a balanced effort, with new Explorers Ian Stanistreet and Jayne Gissing showing their power and skills, despite some breaking wake over the boat mid-race. 

After refuelling from the excellent range of homemade cakes, we took to the water once more for back-to-back races against Grosvenor and another Warrington crew. Good starts put us in the lead right away, and tidy bladework from everyone throughout meant we held both crews off for convincing boat-length-plus wins. 

Another opportunity to sample the baking followed, before a final effort against Ladies Who Launch, of Sheffield, a crew who have put in consistent performances across the season.

Quick off the line again, Cakeland had a small early lead. A rapidly recovered crab by Jayne spurred her to push hard for the line, and with a big kick from the whole crew, we finished with three convincing victories and one close loss.

A great day was had by all – especially Ian and Jayne, for whom it was their first taste of racing.