Marlow Head 2009

Some great results today, despite some awful weather conditions at Dorney Lake. Top of the pile were Tim and I, winning the Vet Doubles but good showing from the other four crews as well. The First Division went off in clear, calm, sunny weather; by Division Two it was torrential rain and gusting winds. It calmed a bit for Division Three with light rain but some vicious squalls.

Womens IM2 4+
A very impressive row in Division 1 from the ladies crew saw them finish in second place in this category, losing by just 1.8 seconds to the CORC first boat. This was a great result, beating some very big names, such as Marlow, Eton Excelsior and a second CORC boat. The losing margin all the more galling as they haven’t been able to train together for several weeks!

Womens IM3 4+
Rowing in the second Division, this was a truly horrible introduction to competition for Andi and Frances with driving rain and high winds. Despite this, the crew put in a really good performance, finishing fourth of seven. A really good start for the two new girls.

Womens Novice 4+
Again, racing in the second division, the Novice crew rowed well to come fourth in the category, despite a couple of boat stopping crabs.

Senior 2-
Nick and Tim’s stated aim was to finish the course! Rowing at Senior level as this was a late entry, they achieved far more than their minimum aim (despite one crab that they thought was going to have them in) and put in a competitive row to finish a really creditable second!

Vet 2x-
Only Tim and my second race but what a cracker. We swapped around with me stroking and Tim steering and this worked much better. Despite strong cross winds and a couple of big squalls we clicked and put in a really strong race to come away with the win in the Vet 2x- category. Actually feel that rowing on Caldecotte Lake gave us an edge here, being used to dealing with seriously nasty conditions.

Overall
Despite a REALLY early start and a lot of doubt about whether the event would go ahead, this was a truly successful day for the club. Coming away from Marlow with a win, two seconds and two fourths shows the progress we are making. Maybe, just maybe, people will stop being surprised at us winning events (the guy handing out medals couldn’t believe it!) and start taking us seriously.

Pretty good event and reasonable marshalling. Just a pity that they handed out pretty tacky medals rather than proper pots to the winners (can’t drink from a medal and at £9 a seat a bit cheap!).

Just be warned – watch out if Guildford are around and hang onto your trestles!!!!!! Just joking and you were good fun, guys! Look forward to seeing you up at MKRC as we hope to be holding our first Regatta next May. Watch this space!

Finally, thanks to Karen for jumping in at the last minute to trailer as the temporary repair to my car failed on Saturday evening.

Photos on-line already at my MKRC photo site.

Results now up on the Marlow RC site

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

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

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.

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

National Veteran Rowing Championships 2009

Sunday 14th June saw us take part in the National Veteran Rowing Championships for the first time. A big day for the progress of the club and especially for the crews taking part.

Women’s Veteran B IM3 4+
A relatively slow start saw the women’s crew (Helen J, Paula, Becks and Clare, with Steph coxing) lagging behind by some two seconds at the halfway stage. They then staged an amazing fight back, pulling back on Eton Excelsior with every stroke, with neither crew being sure who had won the event as they finished. The Eton crew got the verdict, but by an agonising 1/2 second (later given as 1/3 second!). A truly determined comeback that must have given the other crew a very big scare. Disappointing not to win but a really impressive performance to finish second.

Men’s Veteran C IM3 4x-
Another fast start in the quad saw us in early contention. Unfortunately, lack of race practise caught up with us and we suffered a few poor strokes that dropped us well off the pace. Good experience but probably a bit too soon for us as a crew.

Men’s Veteran D 2x-
Courtesy of Pierre-Yves’ and my win last week, Steve and I had to switch from the Vet D IM3 category to the much more daunting Open Vet D. This also compressed our racing time – leaving us with just 27 minutes between the quad and the double! Still, we had a reasonable start keeping with the other three crews for the first couple of hundred metres. By halfway, we were trailing but a good second 500m saw us pull clear of Twickenham, to finish third overall. Well pleased with the result! Many thanks to the women’s crew who helped with our rapid swap – couldn’t have done it without them

See here for results

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