Last year, the Women’s Championship Lightweight Singles saw just six entries, resulting in a straight A-final. Despite lightweight rowing now being virtually erased from the international rowing scene, the British Universities and Colleges keep it very much on the agenda, with 22 female scullers under 59kg battling it out for the Championship Lightweight Singles title this weekend.
Anna Bradley, Bath University
2025 sees Anna Bradley return to the UK Universities rowing scene, having spent the last academic year racing both in Europe and at home for Marlow Rowing Club during her year abroad. Bradley has already seen BUCS success since her return, picking up a bronze medal in the openweight intermediate quads at BUCS Head in February, and now returns once again to the single. Having qualified for the Fiona Dennis trophy at Henley Women’s Regatta last year, only to be knocked out in the fastest of the first round heats by the eventual winner, Bradley is no stranger to side-by-side racing in the single. I’m excited to see what she can pull off in this event, especially given that this will likely be her final BUCS.
Erin Meredith, Birmingham University
Having taken home gold in both the Intermediate Lightweight Single and Championship Lightweight Double in 2024, Erin Meredith will be looking to complete the set with a win in the Championship Lightweight Single this weekend. With an incredibly impressive rowing CV that also includes bronze medals at EUSA in both openweight and lightweight doubles, a Metropolitan Regatta win in the lightweight double, and a Henley Women’s Regatta semi-final, I’m really looking forward to seeing what this Birmingham talent can pull off at Holme Pierrepont.
Claire Cooper, Cambridge University
Fresh from another light blue victory in this year’s Women’s Lightweight Boat Race, Claire Cooper is becoming a familiar name on the University lightweight sculling scene. Like her Oxford counterpart, Cooper raced in the Championship Lightweight Single at Henley Women’s Regatta, pitching 1.6 seconds ahead of the dark blue offering in the time trial, before both were knocked out in the quarter finals. Here, we see the battle of the blues once again. Cooper placed sixth in the A-final of the Intermediate Lightweight Singles at BUCS Regatta 2024, so a step on will certainly be needed to replicate this in the Championship event.
Kirsty Dalzell, Nottingham University
Veterinary student Kirsty Dalzell is no stranger to BUCS lightweight events, having picked up a silver medal in the Intermediate Lightweight Quad and a bronze in the Championship Lightweight Four in 2024. Once again racing on her home training ground, Dalzell now takes to the single in an attempt to add a gold medal to her growing collection. The Coleraine sculler may not have quite the extensive racing experience in the single of some of the women that she’ll be lining up with, but her knowledge of Holme Pierrepoint conditions and experience of side-by-side racing in this format will no doubt be invaluable on the day.
Hazel Wake, Oxford University
Oxford PhD student Hazel Wake is the Dark Blue’s standout sculler. Despite racing for City of Oxford RC for the rest of the year, we see the Yarm School alumni don the racing colours of OUBC once every season for BUCS Regatta, and this time around to defend her title in the Championship Lightweight Single. Wake went on to race at Henley Women’s Regatta, and narrowly missed out on qualification for the Princess Royal Challenge Cup at Henley Royal, before racing at EUSA, finishing fourth in the lightweight single. No doubt, Wake will be looking to take up a qualification spot again this year in the hope of picking up a medal, and last year’s dominant performance, I’d be surprised to see there be too much challenge for this Oxford sculler for the gold.
Freya Spurling, Surrey University
Spurling is another athlete with multiple BUCS lightweight medals to her name, now turning her hand to the single. As well as success at BUCS, the fourth-year Surrey athlete also made the final of the Parkside Trophy for Championship Lightweight Pairs at Henley Women’s Regatta 2022 with Sacha Kennedy, only to lose out to Cambridge University. This loss will only have stung again when Spurling & Kennedy picked up a silver medal in the Championship Lightweight Pair at BUCS 2024, again losing out to a classy Cambridge outfit. Now turning her hand to sculling, I hope to see Spurling climbing the ranks to pick up a spot in the A-final at the very least, if not challenging some of the bigger names in this field.
Notable Mentions
It’s great to see so many scullers entered into this event, and I’ll be interested to keep a close eye on Amelia Moule (Loughborough) and Heidi Taylor (Gloucestershire) in particular. Both have raced this event at BUCS in the past, and I hope to see them having stepped on to challenge some of the bigger names in the field. Sam McCormick of Queen’s University Belfast is another familiar name on the lightweight scene, having narrowly missed out on Henley Women’s Qualification, so again I hope to see her approach this with a new drive to succeed and put herself in the mix for an A-final spot. It’s also great to see names from a range of universities here, including Bournemouth, Portsmouth and Harper Adams.
Prediction
There are certainly some accomplished scullers in this group, and I’m excited to see how the racing will unfold this weekend. For the top two spots I think it’ll likely be a two-horse race between Meredith of Birmingham and Wake of Oxford, possibly with Spurling of Surrey and Cooper of Cambridge fighting it out for bronze. The field really is wide open, and it’d be great to see some of the lesser-known scullers in this field step up and challenge the bigger universities.
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