TEENAGE scull sensation Toby Rudkin (17) continued his winning streak at the Peterborough Summer Regatta this weekend, smashing two records and competing in an adult category.
Up against 1,000 competitors from across the UK, the King’s Ely student was the fastest single sculler for the whole weekend in all categories in both the 1,000 and 500 metre events.
Due to his success at the St Neots Regatta two weeks ago, the number of racing points he now holds meant that Toby had to be moved up into the adult Intermediate Level 1 (IM1) category for Sunday’s 500 metres event.
Not only did he win the J18 Single Scull 1,000 metres final on Saturday, beating a total of eight competitors from around the country, he also set a new course and event record by 9.4 seconds with a time of 3 mins 35. The previous record had stood since 1990, six years before Toby was born.
He then went on to win the 500 metres Single Scull in the adult IM1 category on Sunday in what was the closest race of the day, winning by just eight hundredths of a second, yet claiming the course record for the IM1 category by two seconds with a winning time of 1 min 39.8. This is particularly impressive considering that Toby had only intended to use his experience of racing in the stronger adult category to identify his strengths and areas to be improved over the coming winter months.