Bedford Autumn Fours & Small Boats Head 2009

Bit of a funny day, really. We came away without any wins (unusual) but with most of the crews happy with their rows and no real sense of disappointment. For the Womens’ squad, it was very much a case of mixing and matching, with a total of three IM2 4+ and two IM3 4+ boats going out. It also saw the Vet Quad and Double back in action plus a début for a new pairing of Josh and Paul as a Novice double. After some time out, the Juniors were also present, putting out four boats.

W.IM2 4+
Three crews out in this category, showing the increasing standard and depth of the Womens’ squad. The top placed crew came second, beaten by the St. Neots crew they’d pushed into second the previous week by just eight seconds. The other two boats finished 9th and 10th of the ten entries but still posted very respectable times.

W.IM3 4+
Third and fifth for the two boats at this level, although the winning Cantabs crew were clearly ahead of all of the other crews.

Nov 2x-
First time out for Josh and Paul saw an encouraging performance which put them fourth overall but the highest placed club crew. They even prevented the dominance of Bedford School taking the top four places, despite a couple of close encounters with hard stuff on the edge of the river…

IM3 4x-
Rowing at IM3 rather than Vet C, a good (probably best to date) performance by the Quad put us third of four, although the winning Bedford School crew were streets ahead. The quad sat midway between the two Guildford crews, again showing progress, just three seconds behind the crew in second place. Big plus – we were the fastest MK crew of the day!

Vet D 2x-
Initially disappointed when we looked at the results as we were last of four, but then realised that no handicapping had been applied (and the category was Vet B-D), we were only eight seconds or so behind Paul and Josh AND we beat the juniors, so not so bad after all. Don’t know about Steve but I was absolutely shattered at the end of this one (my second and his third race of the day)

Mixed Vet C 2x-
Only the second outing for Steve and Clare and a reasonable time, finishing second behind St. Ives. No steering dramas today, either!

J18 2x-
Ryan and Tim still learning the ropes, so no surprise that they finished well down, especially after a couple of unscheduled stops. Much more to come from them, I’m sure

J18 1x
Three of the juniors out in this category, with John and Tim showing a big improvement, placing in the middle of the division. Ryan’s put in a good effort but his lack of race experience left him trailing the others

Results, inevitably, on-line almost immediately, are at Bedford RC

My photos from the day now loaded as well at the MKRC Fotopic site

Bedford Quarts 2009

Another regatta, another win for the Women. Despite losing Lindy (back to Zimbabwe for a holiday), the Women’s squad showed their strength in depth as Paula stepped in to win another event. They had to do this the hard way, being the only crew of the five in their category that had to row three times. First up were Star Club – a good start and the first push saw our crew well clear and able to sit on Star through to the end, winning by three lengths. The second round pitted them against Bedford; a poor start this time saw the girls behind but a hard push saw them row clean through Bedford, this time to win by a length and a three quarters. Their opponents in the final were Broxbourne; again, a strong start saw them pull away steadily (despite being hit by a huge gust of wind by the weir) to run out overall winners, this time by two lengths.
A hugely well deserved win, to take home those huge Bedford Quart pots plus a point all round.

Our other crews didn’t do as well, though. Steve and I were totally outclassed in the double being beaten easily by Cambridge. Although de-novicing at Peterborough was great, my extra point now puts us at IM2 if there’s no Vet events and we just aren’t up to that level.

The Quad also lost, this time by one length to Lincoln. This despite it being a fairly scrappy row with a new line up – Pierre-Yves was away, so Tim stepped in (for his first competitive row for MKRC) at two with me moving to stroke.

Results are on-line at Bedford RC site and my photos at the MKRC fotopic site

Star Regatta 2009

It’s that time of year with events coming thick and fast. This week-end saw us competing at two separate events, the local Star Regatta on both the Saturday and Sunday and, for the first time, the National Veteran’s Regatta on Sunday (new post to follow).

Star Regatta saw four wins over week-end, two on each day. Showing a major step up, three of these were from the Junior squad.

Saturday

Both of today’s victories came courtesy of the Junior squad, with wins in the J17 1x and J17 4x- categories. The only two (disappointing turnout) senior crews both lost their straight finals. Steve and I lost (at IM2 2x-) to two huge “kids” from St. Paul’s School, by seven seconds (which we thought wasn’t bad as we were about three times thier age!) while Paul and Nick lost out to a very strong Star boat in the IM2 2- category.

As well as the Junior wins, John also managed to capsize while leading his final, having won two rounds to get there!

Sunday

The wins today came from Salv at J17 1x and the Mixed IM3 4+ crew. Again, far more junior boats out today (although us Vets were up at Nottingham). The Mixed crew was almost the ultimate “scratch” crew; two of the crew had never met before, they had to borrow blades (thanks Nicky at Star for sorting this out) and use three seats from the Junior’s quad plus one borrowed from Bedford School! Still despite this, they clearly gelled as a crew and dominated their final to pick up the nice Star medals.

Results already on-line at Star Club

Bedford Amateur Regatta 2009

Three womens’ boats out today, all rowing at IM3 (shows the growing strength and scale of the ladies squad though). In the inevitable good weather (OK, just HOW do Bedford do this), all three crews had second round races within minutes of each other – as one of the crews joked, just like buses, none for ages then three come along together.

The first crew off had a hard fought, close race, losing to the eventual winners, St. Edwards School (given as one length but I’m certain we had an overlap on them!) – disappointing especially as this was far from their best performance, also not helped by my steering them into a couple of buoys. The second crew off were more successful, beating Champion of the Thames by two lengths before the last boat off also lost out, against the losing finalists from Dame Alice.

In the third round the ladies went down to the Dame Alice crews, this time by (allegedly) 3 1/2 lengths – we were very surprised at this as it certainly seemed a lot closer.

Not as successful as previous events this year but some strong performances. All crews agreed that lack of starts in real events didn’t help, neither did being behind on the stagger.

No photos from me today – coxing in the first race and, hate to admit it, forgot my camera! Well, Steve and I had sneaked in a practice at Caldecotte first thing as we didn’t have to be at Bedford until quite late (made a VERY nice change).

However, some photos now available, courtesy of Charlene’s husband Rob. These are in the usual place, mkrc.fotopic.net

Great to see Bob all togged up in his finery as he attended his first event as an umpire. Well done to him – although a bit miffed he wouldn’t let me have a head start in our race…

No mens crews out – ominously, no competition for either the Vet C quad or the J18 quad. First case of the new rules killing competition?

Bedford Regatta results can be found here

Bedford Spring Fours & Small Boats Head 2009

A bit of a mixed day over at Bedford yesterday, for the Spring Fours and Small Boats Head. Somehow, Bedford RC managed to conjure up a really nice spring day, bright and sunny and virtually no wind. The river conditions were pretty near perfect, flat with very little stream running.

We put in a gratifyingly large entry, no less than sixteen crews being entered. These came from all the squads and had a good mix of sweep and scull, singles, doubles, pairs and fours.

Top results of the day came in the Women’s Intermediate 3 Coxed 4s. Not only did we win the category, but also came second, sixth and eighth (out of ten entries). Really good stuff, illustrating the strength of the ladies squad. The other results were:

IM2 4+ 6th (of 11)
J18 4x 5th (of 5)
J16 2x 4th (of 6)
IM2 2- 3rd (of 4)
J18 2x 4th (of 4)
VetD 2x 3rd (of 5)
J16 1x 5th and 7th (of 11)
VetD 1x 3rd (of 4)
J18 1x 8th and 9th (of 9)
Nov 2x oh dear….

Overall, pretty good and showing some good progress by the various crews. The Junior results look a bit disappointing in some events, but these crews included a couple of guys in their first ever events, so not unexpected. The IM2 4+ crew may have rowed together once before but I wouldn’t swear to it; certainly Rick hadn’t been in any boat for about six weeks, so their row (which they described as “chunky”) was pretty impressive.

The Novice 2x of Will and I failed to finish the course. In fact, we didn’t get past the first bridge… and found out the hard way that a bridge is an awful lot harder than our boat. I managed to get the line all wrong and we hit a pillar at race speed; this resulted in a very interesting new shape for my bowside rigger and left us limping back to Bedford Rowing Club to get out and carry the boat back to the trailer park. Not a good race. And on my birthday too.

Double rigger after losing argument with bridge

A special mention for Jo – having put in two hard races she then stepped in for a third when Terri was unable to row through injury.

As usual, Will Everitt at Bedford has excelled himself and the full results are already online here. My photos are also now on line at mkrc.fotopic.net and for the juniors at mkrowing-juniors.fotopic.net

Evening training again!

A combination of clocks going back and a nice day allowed us to escape the “joys” of circuits last night and get in our first water session in the evening this year. Nice to see so many small boats out, a four, a dobule and no less than four singles. Mind you, spotting the singles (and our “stealth” double – see pictures to see what I mean) in the gloom at the end was quite challenging.

A good extra session ahead of Bedford this week-end, allowing Will and I to get out in the double AHEAD of the race (not like usual) and Steve to dust off his single.

Can certainly tell it’s coming up to the Easter break as well. Suddenly our ranks are swollen by the (very welcome) return of the tax dodgers.

For info really, if you’re reading this and aren’t a member but would like to learn to row and/or scull, MKRC are running our first ever “Learn to Row” course, starting tomorrow morning. So, if you fancy a go, e-mail bob@mkrowing.org or just pitch up.

Bedford Autumn Fours & Small Boats Head

A great day out at Bedford in the warm autumn sunshine was topped off by the first ever MKRC Junior win!

Kieran and John took the honours in the J16 2x, posting a respectable time of 7:42 to beat Bedford Modern School by six seconds.

We had quite a few crews out today, a couple of Womens 4+ boats, three senior doubles and the (now usual) good showing from the juniors. The doubles were quite tiring as three of us (Steve, Pierre and I) mixed up, doing two races each. Steve and Pierre won this particular battle, followed by Pierre and I and then Steve and I. Pierre and I had the fun of being chased down the river by Kieran and Salv – good motivation to keep going and we beat them by miles (well, two seconds – but we did have an encounter with a bridge and Pierre did stop to beat up a swan, en route). I don’t know about Steve, but I was really feeling this by the end, after yesterday’s little outing on the Tideway!

John’s good day was complete when he won the fight between the J16 singles, seeing off Kieran by just one second. The two Women’s fours were remarkably consistent, just two seconds between them.

As ever, the results service and organisation were brilliant.

Photos now on line as well at mkrc.fotopic.net

Star Regatta

Not a good day at the races for the club. None of the five boats entered managed a single win, coming up against good opposition all round. The three juniors (Curt, Luke and Kieran) performed well, especially considering it was Luke and Kieran’s first single race and both Luke and Curt went out to the eventual winner (how big was this “kid” from Peterborough!).

The Women’s S3 4+ boat was beaten in a straight final by Star Club as was the Parent/Child 2x+ of Steve and James, coxed by yours truly.

Photos now on-line at http://mkrc.fotopic.net

Bedford Amateur Regatta

Only one crew entered today (the rest of us saving ourselves for tomorrow – see later post) this being the Men’s S2 4+ boat. They beat Kingston A crew fairly convincingly in the first round (2 lengths) before going out to Lea by 3 lengths in the second. Interestingly, the same Lea crew beat Star Club B crew by 4 lengths – this is the crew containing our club coach – so this avoided a real grudge match.

Full results as ever at the BRC site

Bedford Small Boats Head 2008

A good turn out of crews today, although without a great deal of success. Highest placed crew was the Mens’ S2 4+ crew who placed second in their category and eighteenth overall; not a bad result given the very limited water time we’ve had recently (see last post!) and that Rick hadn’t rowed for a couple of months at all. Really pleasing was the number of juniors that we put out. This was the highest by some distance and included two rowers in their first event. The Womens S3 4+ placed well in their category – especially considering they are rowing this high up because of Karen’s points (rant time: why, when she hasn’t rowed for 20 years can she only regress to four points – this automatically puts her up against current high level rowers) and again, limited training. The other crews all struggled to make any impact which isn’t surprising given the calibre of the event and that most of the crews were first time out.

I don’t know what it is about this Head and the weather though. The first three divisions were in bright sunshine, a nice spring morning. However, as our quad rowed down to the start, the clouds built up and while we were waiting to spin and start, the hail started…

2K is bad enough at the best of times but when its in a torrential downpour, that really isn’t fair. And it was the first time I’d stroked the boat in a race.

A special mention has to go to Will Jordan though. He raced in no less than three events on the day, as part of the second S2 4+, with Matt (in his first ever race) in a N2x- and finally with us in the S3 4x-. The scary thing is that he seemed to be the least shattered of the four of us at the end of the race in our quad!

Full results for the day can be found at the excellent Bedford Rowing Club results site and my photos are on-line at http://mkrc.fotopic.net