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

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

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

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

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

St. Neots Autumn Head

The fun of the regatta season is over and we’re back into that unbridled joy that is the head season.  Yesterday was our first head of the season, over at St. Neots. We’d had to pull most of our senior crews (no opposition – what is going on here!!!) so the bulk of the entries came from the juniors.

Hopefully, the weather isn’t a sign of things to come for the rest of the season. It was dire. It rained all the way there and continued all through the first three divisions. Then it got cold. And windy. And colder.

Anyway, enough of the weather, to the racing. Our first crews out were Steve and I, Vet C 2x., and Kieran, J16 1x. After much faffing around at the start (not terribly well marshalled I’m afraid) we got off. It had been raining so much that we had about an inch of water in the bottom of the boat  (useful for gauging how powerful the strokes were, as it surged more when we put the power down) but despite this we had a good row and finished with a pleasing time of 10:59. Much credit to Steve who steered an awesome line down the course, absolutely spot on throughout. There was one great point when Steve called that we were pulling out – to overtake another crew. First time we’ve done that, so very gratifying.

Other crews out were Karen (her first competitive outing in a single for around 20 years, so all credit to her for that!), and Bethany and Jordan (singles and doubles) and Salv and Kieran (also singles and doubles, Salv’s first race for us).

No overall wins to report but three second places (all three of the doubles) and very impressive rows all round. The juniors are definitely becoming a force to be reckoned with and it can’t be long before we get a win, surely.

Final drama of the day was getting off the trailer park. We pushed the trailer off through the quagmire then I needed some willing volunteers to push my car out! Then back home, via Star Club to pick up Martin’s newly acquired boats for the juniors and, a little sadly, Jo’s boat. Following a massive disagreement with her coach at Star, she’s now left them and is coming back to row for us full time. Still, Star’s loss is most definitely our gain so welcome back Jo!

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