Upper Thames Head 2009

Yuk. The only way to describe the conditions for yesterday’s Upper Thames Head. Heavy rain and driving winds for the first division with at least the rain holding off in the second division. This made for a very hard race, with a strong, gusting head/cross wind and a fast stream running.

W.IM1 4+
Although really an IM3 level crew, the ladies put in a strong performance in the worst of the weather in Division 1. Not surprisingly finishing last in their section, it was still a good time.

W.IM2 4+
Swapping Becks and Yemin from rowing to coxing was the only change for the IM2 boat in the second division. Again, still and IM3 crew, they did well to finish sixth of eight crews. Much praise for Becks’ coxing in this one, avoiding the carnage by Temple Island

IM3 2x-
Still gaining experience in the double, Josh and Paul found the rough conditions very hard going, finishing well behind the other IM3 double. They weren’t helped of course by the coming together with another crew…

Vet D 2x-
Despite coming together with another crew (yes, we did clash with Paul and Josh, but only as we were forced over into them by an UTRC double who needed at least half of the river to pass us) Steve and I put in a good row. The rough water allowed us to overhaul Paul and Josh off the start although they then came back at us as we tired and the water calmed by Temple Island. On the final straight, we managed to push past them again as their lack of experience told – in the conditions they had been tensing their arms so much they could hardly feather at the end! We finished well off the UTRC double, although losing time because of the coming together with the other two didn’t help.

Overall, very hard racing in very poor conditions. This one is a real test of endurance and technique.

Must comment on the (lack of) organisation. Firstly, the parking arrangements had cars parked nice and close to the boating area and the trailers parked about half a kilometre away; not fun carrying boats and blades that distance, weaving in between parked cars. Then, the marshalling (especially in division one) was almost non-existent and finally, there was the game of spot the start post! Considering this is one of the most expensive heads and UTC are a “big” club, not impressed. Oh, and the marshall shouting at Paul and Josh to come in from the far bank when we were being pushed across into them; had they done so, we would have had a major collision. I guess there’s no way they are going to yell at one of their own crews…

Photos are already on-line at the MKRC photo site and results are up at the UTRC results page

Cambridge Autumn Regatta 2009

The last regatta of the season saw the Women’s Squad bow out in fine style, taking the honours in the CRA Eight with two of this crew in the other winning boat of the day, a Mixed Coxed Four. The other crews didn’t fare as well, but another enjoyable day’s racing at Cambridge.

Mixed IM2 4+
A bit of a scratch boat (they’d rowed once together) but a very powerful crew saw off another X-Press crew in their straight final. A good hard race from start to finish saw our crew taking the honours by a length. A couple of firsts as well, with Tim getting his first rowing pot at MKRC after his move from Star and Steph picking up her first coxing pot. The crew didn’t have time to catch their breath before four of the crew had to leap straight out of this boat into the Women’s Eight for the final!

Women’s CRA Eight
The first round saw a comfortable win (four lengths) over X-Press Boat Club, with a strong performance from the crew in their first race together. Crew positions were rejigged from St. Neots, with Helen J taking up stroke duties from Charlene, to allow more conventional rigging of the boat. The final saw Champions of the Thames putting up a harder fight but again the strength and technique of our ladies proved too much and they pulled away for a one length win. Deserved pots all round, all the better as, being a CRA event, it was non-qualifying, so no points! A notable first was Tim coxing his way to his first coxing pot – a good day for him following rapidly on from the Mixed boat. All credit to Jo and Lindy who’d just raced in the winning mixed crew.

This second win allowed Lindy to bow out on a real high before departing to Derby Uni, with two pots from the day. We’ll miss you!

Women’s IM3 4+
A narrow defeat for this crew, losing out by under a length to a Peterborough boat. A good result considering this was this crew’s first race and they had to wait an extraordinarily long time for the race and consequently were very, very cold. This delay was unfortunate as Peterborough had their steering fail at the start and had to row back to get it fixed. I guess the lesson is that if this happens again, go back with the competition and not sit around getting cold.

Women’s Novice 4+
Knocked out in the first round by the eventual winners, Maidstone Invicta. Definite progress by the novice ladies though, tough luck getting such strong opponents in the first race.

Mixed IM3 4-
Yet another new crew combination, with Pierre-Yves making his steering debut in a quad. Despite a good start, against a strong looking Guildford quad, we dropped behind and lack of practice on a river course led us to steer across to the bank. After rattling a few blades on some of the crews heading for the start we then clashed heavily with a double that obviously didn’t feel keeping to the bank was an instruction for them and had strayed into the racing lane. This stopped us dead and, although we got going and sculled very well after this, we were to far adrift and had an “easily” verdict against us.

Vet C 2x-
This was Pierre-Yves’ and my first outing since our win at Peterborough and a combination of lack of outings and a very big and strong crew from Poplar Blackwell saw us drop away (although we did hold them for the first couple of hundred meters) to finish 3-4 lengths down.

Overall
Despite a big entry from the Juniors, a mix up on dates led to the whole lot scratching. Sorry Cambridge!

Very pleasing was the large number of supporters we had, so real thanks to Tom, Barry and Rob for braving the cold and wind to come along and cheer us on!

The organisation at the event is getting better each year – the delays this year were down to “incidents” (such as the Peterborough four losing their steering and a couple of capsizes) and a large number of river craft. Particular mention to the arrogant house boat who “couldn’t hear” calls to stop because there was a race on the course – fortunately the single scullers managed to avoid this moron.

A couple of great examples of coxing muppetry illuminated the day – one junior coxed quad so busy chatting amongst themselves that they ignored all the marshals and umpires telling them to keep in but award of the day was the eight at the end of the day. Despite two eights coming down the course their cox thought the appropriate line was 90 degrees to the bank! Fortunately, he managed to just get out of the way – just as well it wasn’t a close race as the losing crew had to switch lanes. The idiot then, despite being told to keep in, let his stern drift out again, right in front of the next race. His excuse – he didn’t expect there to be any races on the course….

Results and Photos

Results on line at the Cambridge 99 website

Photos on line at the MKRC photo site, including some extra ones from Barry Rivett

Warwick Regatta 2009

Not sure but this may have been our first appearance at the Warwick Regatta. Anyway, whether it was or not, it was a well worthwhile day out. Not only was it such a nice regatta, well organised but very laid back, the women returned to their winning ways, taking home pots for the IM3 4+. The other two boats (a J16 1x and IM3 2x-) didn’t fare as well, neither getting through to the final.

Womens IM3 4+
A new combination today, with Jo stroking, Paula, Steph and Lou making up the crew, with yours truly coxing. First race saw a good start, holding Evesham A to around halfway before a good push saw us draw well clear to finish with clear water and bag three points. Second race pitted us against Evesham B (although it looked like their top crew); a closer race this one with us pushing away at the end to win by a third of a length (seemed more and was given as a full length initially). This gave us one point and, being unbeaten, put us into the final. This was to be against the Evesham B boat again, who had finished runners up in the group. Another good, close race but the same power at the end of the race saw us win again, by an increased distance. Unfortunately, the Evesham crew then objected, claiming we had taken their water and forced them off line. The umpires disagreed and overruled the objection (not surprisingly as I hadn’t received any warnings on the course) – however, Evesham then appealed this decision and it was only when they were told fairly curtly that this second appeal had been overruled that we were able to celebrate a hard fought and deserved win.

IM3 2x-
Tim and I’s first competitive outing in the double wasn’t a great success. First race saw me confuse the edge marker buoys for the centreline ones and make an unplanned inspection of the reeds. This rather gave the opposition crew from Ross an easy ride! Second race wasn’t much better; we knew from practice that we tend to pull to stroke side and we managed to scrape the stroke side bank – despite starting on the other side of the river. Another easy win for our opponents from Leicester. Needless to say, this was not enough to put us through. Back to the training to try and sort out our pull.

J16 1x
John was unfortunate to come up against a very good sculler from King’s School Ely in his first race, losing by a couple of lengths. His second race was much closer, with him losing by just two feet – this may have been better had John had more than just 40 minutes between his two races.

Overall, a really good event and one that we’ll add to our list for next year, for sure. One of the highlights has to be sitting on the start line and looking up at the imposing battlements of Warwick Castle; it really is that close. A challenging course but a good, friendly event.

Results at up at Warwick Boat Club but these show the winners only.

Photos now on line at the usual place, mkrc.fotopic.net

St. Neots Regatta 2009

I guess it shows how far we have progressed, especially the Women’s squad, that coming away from St. Neots without a single win feels really disappointing. There were some very good races and close finishes across both days plus a really good social evening on the Saturday but not a successful week-end overall.

Saturday
First crew out was the Womens IM3 4+. This was a slight change from Bedford with Yemin replacing Charlene (both availability and points!) and they went out (most surprisingly!) in the first round to the Broxbourne crew they had beaten the previous week. Broxbourne went on to win the event – typically, ours was the closest race they had all day. Next up was John Cunningham – no, not JC in person but the boat, racing with a Mixed IM2 8+. Despite a TOTAL lack of practice they gave Lea a hard row, losing by just one and a third lengths over the 1K course. Some very interesting comments from the marshals about it being unusual to see John’s name on anything other than a bar tab….

Following this was the biggest mismatch of the day. Having entered our Vet C quad and agreed to switch to IM3 if no competition, we were not impressed by finding we were racing instead at IM2. The race would have been a walk over for Star even if we hadn’t had two boat stopping crabs. Our annoyance at this was then compounded by not being entered at IM3 on Sunday although there was opposition. The whole draw process was a complete joke – wake up SNRC and join the 21st century and use OARA! As it was, we might as well have not raced it was so one sided.

Final race of the day was Steve and I in the Vet D 2x. Racing against the losing finalists from Henley Vets was always going to be a tall order but we were pleased with our row, even though we lost by a couple of lengths.

Following the day’s racing we retired for a few beers and a barbie (one of dozens, despite the insistence that no clubs were to have a barbie – there was a haze of smoke hanging over the field!)

Sunday
So to the 500m sprints on Sunday. The first boat out was the Womens Novice 4+. Despite being drawn against Barnes Bridge Ladies, their opposition was Doncaster. Apparently, the event was re-drawn as one crew had scratched the previous evening, so we were moved – only for another crew to scratch leaving us disadvantaged. And I thought draws were fixed and if a crew scratched that was your good fortune. Anyhow, our novice women rowed a stormer, despite being off line at the start, to come through for a win. Next up was (can’t figure this out) Barnes Bridge Ladies. A real disappointment here, as one of the crew caught a boat stopper when they were leading comfortably, handing the race to BBL on a plate. A real pity as they looked well on top and who knows where they would have finished.

Second crew of the day was a Mixed Quad, with Steve and I being joined by Clare and Bex. Seeing as we had never rowed as a crew before, losing to Doncaster by a length wasn’t bad!

Next up was what was described by the race commentator as the Women’s Blue Riband event – the IM3 8+. Really, really nice to see us able to put out a ladies eight – and a very strong one at that. They had Maidstone Invicta in the first round and once they settled and got the power on, rowed through the other crew for a comfortable win. The final saw an epic race, again with Barnes Bridge Ladies. Steve and I had a grandstand view of the finish of this one, having just boated for our Vet D 2x race. The boats were pretty level over the last 100m, with both crews clearly giving it everything. BBL had just enough though, pipping our crew by just a third of a length. Credit to the BBL crew, they had only de-noviced the previous day and look like a class act – very gracious in victory as well.

Steve and I had a re-run of the previous day’s race, against the same Peterborough pair. Whatever the reason, it just didn’t come together and we wound up losing by a bigger margin over 500m than over 1000m the previous day! Oh well…

Photos on-line at MKRC Photo site but no results from SNRC yet.

We do like St Neots week-end but this year was, I’m sorry to say, an organisational shambles. Our Novice 4+ was “missed” from the Saturday draw, the quad bumped to IM2 without consultation and dropped from IM3 on Sunday and many of our boats just dropped completely. By the way, we are still waiting for a refund on these events – as a small club, we can’t afford to subsidise big clubs like SNRC and will have to think long and hard about racing there next year.

Peterborough Spring Regatta 2009

Following last week-end’s glorious weather at Dorney, for the Met, the Peterborough Spring Regatta took place in more typical British Spring weather. Cold, grey and wet, especially Sunday. Still, the racing more than made up for it, with some excellent races on Saturday, culminating in two wins on Sunday.

Saturday

First up were the Women’s IM3 4+ crew (Helen J, Paula, Becks and Clare with Lindy making a coxing début). Despite a very early clash of blades with Parr’s Priory they kept their nerve to finish second and secure a place in the repêchage. Next up were the Men’s IM3 4+ crew, a first outing together for Henry, Will, Dan and Pete, Karen coxing them. This was a really exciting race with a the guys making an incredible last charge to force a photo finish with Norwich – that last effort was worth it as they took the heat win and progressed to the final.

The W.IM3 4+ crew were then back in action in their repêchage, but were dropped to third place behind strong crews from Broxbourne and Trafford. Quite a hard race for the spectators with both us and Trafford in virtually identical black/green kit!

In the IM3 4+ final, the guys trailed in last – still, a good showing in their first race together (especially as Dan was trying so hard he came off his seat!).  Lots of potential here.

The last races of the day were the IM3 4x- boat (Pierre-Yves, Simon, me and Steve); a good start kept us in contention early on but we fell away in the latter stages of the race to finish last in a straight final. This race also took the edge off of Steve and I who raced just 40 minutes later in the Vet D 2x-, again trailing in last. Our final crew of the day were Nick and Paul as an IM2 2- pair, finishing second in their final (OK, only three boats and one was disqualified, but they were second!

No wins today but some very good performances, especially from the men’s four.

Sunday

Another Women’s IM3 4+ crew out today, this time the crew that finished fourth at the Met, Charlene, Jo, Lindy and Steph, with Paula making her coxing bow. Quite a surprise for some of the crews from yesterday as they thought it was the same boat (especially one Uni crew overhead saying they had an easy run as they’d beaten MK the day before…). This crew just blew away the opposition in the first round, finishing very clear of the others to move through to the semi-final. Putting down a marker, they were the only crew below 2 minutes in this round.

The second round race was pretty much a repeat of the first; dominating the race from the start to finish at least a length clear of second; again, the only boat under 2 minutes in the semis, this put them into pole position for the final.

Pierre-Yves and I took advantage of a break in our crews racing to get out for a quick practice session. We figured this was a good idea as we’d not raced together before and hadn’t been out in a double together for many months. A good session with quite a few starts thrown in – this was to pay dividends later.

We returned to the course to go out in the IM3 4x- crew that had raced the previous day; another good start saw us in early contention but our lack of race practice as a crew showed and after a couple of mistakes we dropped back to third. This was good enough to see us through to the final though, the first time we’d not finished last so another indicator of progress.

Straight out of the quad and into the double saw Pierre-Yves and I going off as a Vet Novice 2x-. The practice really paid off as we hit an almost perfect start which took us a couple of lengths clear. We were then able to sit on the other crews through the race, finishing first easily. A very nice feeling, watching the other crews trying to hunt us down – not been there before!

Just 40 minutes to recover and Pierre-Yves and I were back in the final of the VN 2x-. Another great start put us in the lead, although Beccles pushed us very hard over the first 200m we powered away to win and de-novice. Pretty proud of our time as well, at 1m 52s in the final. A really great feeling coming through the last 100m knowing we’d got this in the bag (barring any coconut related incident).

Having abandoned Steve for Pierre-Yves, he’d entered as a Vet D 1x in his first solo race for some time. A strong sculling performance saw him come second, still very much in contention with the leader.

It was now time for the W.IM3 4+ final. Clearly their performances had fired up the other crews and DMU flew off the start to hold the lead for the first half of the race. Our girls’ power and strength asserted itself in the second half and they stormed through to take the win with Jo de-novicing at last (15 pots, no points!). Again, they posted a sub 2-minute time – the only crew to break that barrier and they did so in each race.

Our final event of the day was the IM3 4x- final. Very similar to the other races, a good start but fading away during the race.

So, overall a pretty good week-end for the club in general and me in particular! I think I’ve just set a club record as the oldest person to de-novice; I suspect this one will stand for a long time! Sets us up well for the Nat Vets next week (although I’ve just blown our IM3 status!)

Photos on line now at MKRC fotopic site – do check out just how relaxed Pierre-Yves is in both races….

Abingdon Head 2009

Another successful day for the Women’s IM3 4+ crew saw them winning their category at our second visit to Abingdon. Showing real, solid progress as a club since last year (see last year’s entry) we entered twice as many crews and posted some very good results as well as the ladies second win in a row.

Division 1 saw the J18 2x double of Sal and John post a reasonable time in their first outing together (although see the adjusted times guys – you won’t be happy!). Steve and I were in the Vet C/D/E 2x class, rowing as Vet D. We had a really good row, with Steve steering a great line that saw us in an early lead, beating some respectable crews (Canterbury Pilgrims, Upper Thames). We finished second overall after the handicapping was applied, falling to a Vet E double from Upper Thames – we were the fastest Vet D crew of the day though, a really massive improvement from our first go last year. Really pleased!

Up in Division 2 were the two Women’s IM3 4+ boats. Mixed fortunes here, with the Charlene/Jo/Lindy/Steph boat storming away and posting a time of 8:57 – 21 seconds ahead of the second IM3 crew and a time that puts them in the mix for IM2. The other boat of Helen/Paula/Becks/Clare had an unfortunate close encounter of the barge kind and this pushed them down the field to finish 4th in 9:45 – still ahead of two other crews, despite losing probably half a minute.

Division 3 saw me back in rowing action (having coxed the winning women in the last division). This time a Vet C quad, with Simon making his MKRC competitive debut. A good solid row saw finish last of the four crews on handicap but a very encouraging start. Our other boat out in this division was a J18 quad, another first as this was a composite crew with Hollowell. Sadly, this crew also had a close encounter, this time with the bank and this clobbered their time.

The final division had me coxing again, the victims on this occasion being a Women’s Novice 4+. First time that this crew (Jo/Lou/Terri/Yemin) had raced together and they pulled out a good row to finish 4th equal, beating many other big names. Only Lou’s second race, too. John showed his continuing progress, to finish second in J16 1x.

Overall, a very satisfying day out for the club and me in particular (first coxing pot!). The weather was great – although chilly at first it turned into a really hot sunny day (having to explain tan at work today) and the location really nice. The course is a good one too; a mix of some really nice wide straights and some very challenging corners. Although the boat handling was every bit as good as last year, the marshalling at the start could have been better. To be fair, the marshals weren’t helped by the total ineptness of some crews. Some of my favourites were the two crews desperate to get to the front of our division – only to then block the river when the division started as they were out of order, the school crew who were across the river aimed at another boat when the cox called for “whole crew, normal rowing” (fortunately, the crew ignored him) and the cox determined to fit his four in a space not big enough for a single. Then there were the J14/J15 quads….

Results

Crew	Position
Vet C/D/E 2x	2nd of 7
Vet C/D/E 4x-	3rd of 3
W.IM3 4+	1st of 7
W.IM3 4+	4th of 7
W.NOV 4+	4th= of 10
J16 1x	2nd of 4
J18 2x	3rd of 3
J18 4x-	No competition

The results are now online at Abingdon RC Results

My photos are now on-line at MKRC fotopic site, with others from Big Blade

John Cunningham afloat!

Nope, not what you’re thinking!!

A really momentous event at training this morning. After many, many months of hard work by John (the person), John Cunningham (the boat) was ready. By good fortune we had nine guys down this morning and were able to take out the boat for it’s first run since we got it.

All of the effort from John (and Bob) is really worth it. The boat went really well, even with a scratch crew (including a couple of newbies) was quick and responsive and just sat so nicely. Mind you, I’d have loved to have seen John’s face (he was at bow for the maiden voyage) when Steve nearly steered straight into a buoy!

Even I enjoyed the outing (this is praise coming from someone who wonders where the second blade has gone in a sweep oar boat) – the funniest moments were seeing Nick and Pierre-Yves swapping seats; in the middle of the lake. Just a slight nervousness in Nick’s voice when he called for us to sit the boat, while he was standing up…

Good training outings for the ladies again, some very encouraging signs from these crews. Roll on the next race!

Training at last!

For the first time in what seems (and actually is) ages, we got out on the water this morning. Although a bit cold at first, there was no wind, no ice and no fog – we’ve lost sessions to all of those so far this year. This was only our second water session this year (plus the races at Northampton).

Encouragingly, we had quite a lot of traffic out on the lake. First session saw no less than five different fours/quads plus a pair and a single (plus the juniors). Nice to see several new or, in the case of Ed, returning faces. Gregg and Andrea had their first taste of a fine boat in a 4+ and Simon went out with us in the quad for his first ever try at sculling. All of them did really well. The second session saw Will braving a single – rather him than me with the water temperature still just off freezing.

Some really good work-outs but boy, the time off showed itself with the number of blisters!!

Now to start practicing for the next event – this will be Bedford Small Boats in April. Really missing the competitions, having had Bedford 4s and 8s canceled because of the flooding on the Ouse and having had to miss Henley as we were snowbound (even if Henley wasn’t).

Wasn’t terribly impressed by Henley – one of the biggest (and probably richest) clubs around and yet no consideration for smaller clubs unable to get to the event. They may be able to write off entry fees if they can’t make an event but that really hurts us. Given that around a third of the entries scratched, I would have thought someone would have had the decency to offer refunds….

Club captain Steve Lawson - ergo in the snow

More of this lunacy on YouTube

Northampton Head 2009

So, to the first event of the New Year. Another good day out for us at Northampton, with the club taking three wins out of seven boats entered. Update: Shows nobody reads this – we actually won FOUR events!! I missed the Mens S3 4+ crew off – sorry guys.

As usual, the event was friendly and boating really well managed – some problems with Division 2 being delayed but this was down to certain crews boating way too late. The “shoe boxes” were a great idea – full marks to whoever thought that one up.

Division 1 started off in nice calm conditions, bright sunshine although very cold. The flat water led to some good rows, with the three winning boats all coming in this division. These were the S3 4x-, the WS3 4+ and, on their first competitive outing, the “handicapped pair” as they were referred to by race control (Paul and Nick in the S3 2-).

By the time Division 2 got underway, the wind had picked up and the river was getting pretty choppy. In this division we had two more women’s fours, one at S3 the other at S4. The S3 boat went off, followed immediately by the S4 crew. The two crews chased each other down the course, with the (younger) S4 boat finally overtaking the S3 ladies after 1200m or so. This despite the great line taken by the outstanding cox in the S3 boat (OK, it was me…).

Only one crew in Division 3, the Men’s S3 4+ boat. For a scratch crew, the performance was pretty good and opens up other possibilities for the rest of the season. And they won!

The Fourth and final division again saw two boats out. These were the Women’s S4 4x- (another scratch crew) and Steve and I in the Vet D 2x-. The Ladies quad went well (better than they expected) but I think the lack of water time caught up with Steve and I (certainly with me!) and our row was disappointing, being overhauled by the following Vet E boat (who had a 13 second handicap advantage) for Guildford. Having seen the results though, it wasn’t quite so bad.

Some good results and performances with some new combinations out. Nice to see another debut today as well, with Lou in her first race in the second WS3 4+ crew.

Summary of results

Crew	Position
S3 4+	1st of 2
S3 4x	1st of 2
WS3 4+	1st of 3
WS3 4+	2nd of 3
WS4 4+	2nd of 4
S3 2-	1st of 7
VetD 2x	2nd of 3
WS4 4x	2nd of 2
WS3 4+	2nd of 3

Cambridge Autumn Regatta

I guess yesterday’s regatta over at Cambridge can best be described as “eventful”!

The day started badly. I was reversing into the boat compound to hitch up the trailer when there was a load “bang” and hissing. A quick inspection confirmed the worst – one of the bits of tubing that the gate bolts lock into had neatly punched a hole through the sidewall of my front off-side tyre.  After unloading the boot, we changed the wheel (small rant here about why do car manufacturers insist on putting these stupid space savers in – the main road wheel fits into the same place so it isn’t a space saver – more a cost saver I suspect), re-packed, hitched up and got away about half an hour late.

Stopped off at Star Club to pick up a couple of their boats and then headed off to Fen Ditton. As we arrived a bit late, it looked like all available space on the trailer park had gone. Anyhow, I got out and wandered around and found that there was huge areas of space left up nearer the marquee – second rant, why do people who arrive first not move up as far as they can? So, we parked up and started unloading and rigging boats.

The first race off was Kieran and John as a J16 2x. Despite an excursion (or two) into the bankthey pushed hard and were unlucky not to take the win. Next up was my first trip down the river, coxing the Men’s S4 4+. This was a hard looking tie against Broxbourne and so it proved. They took us off the start (how often have I written that line?) but the guys really pushed hard and gradually reeled them in before the second push got our noses in front, where we stayed. Not sure of the margin but it looked like between a half and a full length – a really good result.

Next up were the Elliot twins, rowing as singles for the first time. Both put in superb performances, not surprisingly losing their first ever singles races but both pushed their opponents hard (and stayed upright – more than many did during the day). Jordan did especially well, losing by just a canvas. This shows real potential for next season.

Following the junior girls came the junior boys, Kieran and John again in singles. Again, both lost but to some very high grade opposition.

By this time the weather was starting to deteriorate and the grey clouds were gathering. Like a fool I thought it would pass and didn’t bother with my waterproof for when I coxed the next race, the Women’s S4 4+. The rain started just as we got down to the marshalling area. It then got heavier. And heavier, And heavier. This was compounded by having to wait for a cabin cruiser to dawdle up the river and then wait for the consequent traffic jam to clear. All in all, we sat in the torrential downpour for around half an hour. Even trying to shelter under the bridge was a big mistake – being a rail bridge it isn’t solid and just concentrates the rain into bigger drops! By the time we got to the start, water was actually sloshing around in the boat and I’d put on significant weight by having a drenched hoodie.

The race was against Cambridge 99 (the eventual winners) and was a pretty tough one. Again, beaten off the start (this was particularly unpleasant for the cox – as we pushed off the stake boat, the water surged back and I wound up sitting in an inch deep puddle of water) we held on to them all the way down and did pull back a little in one push but that early lead was the difference between the crews.

Our next crew was the twins, this time together in a double. Again, they lost but again a really strong performance, pushing their opponents all the way to the line. This was the last junior crew out but very pleasing to see the number and quality of the crews. This is starting to get MKRC Juniors noticed on the race circuit as well, a good development for the club.

Having dried out (a bit, anyway) it was time for a soggy cox to get back in the boat, this time for the Men’s second round, against Cantabs. A better (more relaxed guys!) start saw us pretty well level with them, they matched our first push but the second one by our crew was decisive, opening up a length’s lead. We then pushed away from them and ran out comfortable winners – next to the final, not bad for a crew of three novices, with only Will having any points.

Finally, having coxed three times and got half drowned in the rain, it was my turn to actually race!!!! A real first this one as it was a new crew (Mixed S4) and the first time I’d stroked a boat in a race. The race was a mixed bag – when we got it together it was very powerful and we could feel the boat surge but our lack of practice showed too often, with each of us catching a crab at some point. Still, it was (kind of) fun despite losing by a good couple of lengths. Thanks to Clarissa, who’d come along just to watch but wound up coxing us.

We then had a couple of hours to kill to the next race, the eagerly awaited final for the Men’s crew. By now the wather had brightened up considerably and it was a quite nice, warm and sunny day. However, come time to boat, the clouds gathered again and I was anticipating another thorough drenching. Worse was to come though; as the guys carried the boat down to the boating area there was a tremendous flash of lightning, followed rapidly by a deafening clap of thunder. Within minutes the rain came and made the morning’s fall look like a light shower.

By now, most competitors, officials and spectators were huddled in the marquee, with the last few crews who’d already got to the start coming back as fast as possible. We waited for the storm to pass, but every time that the organisers attempted to get crews back on the water, there was almost immediately another lightning flash and the rain intensified. Finally, after around half an hour of this, with no sign of it clearing, the organisers came to the inevitable conclusion that there was not enough time to finish racing before dark, even if the storm blew over. All credit to the Cambridge 99 Chairman who braved the storm and the crowd to come into the marquee to break the horrible news that the regatta had to be abandoned.

A very frustrating decision but absolutely the right one.

A real pity for the Men’s crew this, as they missed the chance of their final and the tantalisingly close chance to pot and get points – for three of them de-novicing into the bargain. Also a pain for Steve and Pierre who’d turned up for the S3 4x only to find the race cancelled. We were really looking forward to this one as it would have been a replay of our win earlier in the season against Rob Roy.

A quick pack up was then followed by the fun of getting off the field. By now this was a mudbath and I really didn’t think I’d make it with my poor Saab – especially with a skinny space saver on the front! However, with some willing manpower pushing as well, we slipped and slid our way out. I’m not sure how some of the other clubs would have fared as I’d managed to churn up the field pretty well on the way out.

All in all, a pretty good day albeit with a frustrating end, especially for the Men’s crew. Still they know now what they can do and sets them up for next season.

By the way – I managed to leave my camera behind (not that I had much time for taking photos though) so if anyone has any shots from the day that they don’t mind sharing, can they let me have them? I’ll then post them on the MKRC Photo Site. Thanks

Now to the Head Season – shudder…..