Karlsruhe rowers in Nantes, France

As every year, 18 university athletes accepted the invitation of the Université Nante Aviron on the first weekend in May and traveled to France for the 34th international university regatta "Régataïades internationales de Nantes".

Traditionally, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology took part with the men's eight. What was special this year was that for the first time in the history of university rowing, a women's eight also competed in Nantes. On Saturday, the races were held over 1000m and on Sunday over 500m, against competitors from France, Spain, the Netherlands and Turkey.

The first timed races on Saturday already showed that the KIT teams had a strong team. The two boats remained true to their role as favorites and came first in both the intermediate heats and the 1000m finals.

The 500m finals on Sunday were a little more exciting at first. However, both teams again showed their best side and were able to beat their competitors.

This meant that both the newly formed women's eight was able to celebrate its premiere with two trophies and the men's eight was able to defend its title in Nantes.

It was a successful start to the new regatta season for the entire rowing team from Karlsruhe, which gives them hope for the DHM in Brandenburg at the beginning of July.

A big thank you goes to our sponsors Agosi and Thost for their financial support, to the Karlsruhe rowing club Wiking for the loaned boat material and of course to the Université Nante Aviron, which has been inviting us to this event for over 20 years now and will hopefully continue to do so, because we don't want to miss this wonderful regatta.