Veteran Fours Head 2009

And I thought the Pairs Head was a long way! Out on the Tideway again today, for the Veteran Fours Head in the Quad, rowing at Vet C. Really nice as we started at number 7 so didn’t have to wait around too long for the start.

In stark contrast to yesterday, the weather was clear, bright and sunny and virtually calm (the Fours Head yesterday was cancelled because of high winds and heavy rain). There was a very strong stream running (with lots of alarming sized debris) which made keeping station at the start “fun”. Although we’d had to rejig the crew yesterday, with Tim coming in for an unwell Simon, the race went very smoothly. Results now up and we came 5th of eight in Vet C, and a creditable 61st overall. Really pleased, especially as two of the crews in front of us were composites and three were Tideway clubs.

We did lose some time as two boats (London and Thames, who should know better) left us nowhere to go coming off of Hammersmith bridge, causing us to virtually stop, to avoid ramming the marshal. Otherwise, no mistakes and a clean row.

Rowing back is sheer hell though. Four and a bit miles at race pace, then the same back again, this time against the tide. Must be mad but despite this really enjoyed it (although the alcohol now is numbing the pain) and we’re already talking about the Eight’s Head!

Photos on-line at the MKRC Photo site, with race results now up at the Vet Fours Website

Veteran Fours Head 2008

In the club’s biggest ever showing at the Tideway, we put out three boats in yesterday’s Vets 4s Head. This year the event was open to non-Vet crews, so we had out a S3 4x-, WS4 4+ and WVet C 4+. All three crews did well, especially considering our lack of distance on the lake, each of the boats overtaking opposing crews.

We were all surprised afterwards at how fast the race seemed to go by – and just how hard the row back was! Overall, everyone seemed to enjoy it and were pleased that they had experienced the race.

S3 4x-
Starting as crew 48 we were under pressure from the start from a young Royal Navy/Royal Marines quad. They caught us very quickly (not that there was any great distance between us at the start) and passed us when Will unfortunately caught a crab. We stayed with them for some distance after this although the pulled away later in the race. In turn, we fairly quickly closed down the Guildford crew that had started in front of us and took them quite easily (they were a mixed crew though). We then held station against the chasing boats for most of the course, before putting in a big push at Fulham that opened up a bit more of a gap to the Hereford four following us. There were a couple of really rough bits and one of these, just past Hammersmith, caused me to take a real air shot and the Steve to catch another crab. Despite this, we came in fifth of six S3 crews – as we were rowing S3 purely because Will is “under age” not a bad performance – with a time of 21:51.81 and 49th overall. We also christened the Wintech as a Quad and with it’s new name “Sirocco”.

WS4 4+
A really good row by the S3 ladies saw them finish fourth of eight crews in the category – however, they were the top club crew, with only Uni crews ahead of them.

WVet C 4+
A strong push by the vet crew saw them surge past the other Vet C crew (Lea) fairly early in the race and they pulled away from them to finish second overall in the WVet category

Don’t know if any of the ladies would like to add more on their races – obviously, I can describe ours but not theirs!

GPS trace of the S3 Quad

Pairs Head 2008

Couldn’t have asked for better conditions for my first ever foray onto the Tideway. Warm, sunny and virtual calm made it very pleasant and made for good sculling.

After a light session on the lake in the morning (useful last minute tips from Pierre – thanks!!) Steve and I loaded the double onto the roof rack (only a small overhang at each end…) and headed down to Chiswick. A good run down saw us at the Civil Service Boat Club in plenty of time to get rigged and have a chat to some old friends. We boated on time and got down to the marshalling area in plenty of time, allowing us (me!) to get a feel for the conditions. It seems a lot bigger when you’re on the water than when watching from the safety of a bridge!

It was quite pleasing the attention we got from other crews – the HG really does attract notice, especially in our colours (the boat is black with a thin green stripe) and we’d managed to be fully colour co-ordinated as well. It all helps raise the club profile – although we had to endure the usual cracks about roundabouts and concrete cows.

As to the race, we were sandwiched between Broxbourne and Putney Town at the start. We settled into a good pattern straight off (apparently around rate 30) and kept a steady distance from the PTRC crew behind us. We could see the following pack gaining on Putney but used this to push off of. We stayed clear of any dramas throughout (Steve, yet again, steering brilliantly) and were overtaken only by one crew (a pair that was really moving). The following pack ultimately caught Putney and starting closing us down but we held off all the other boats through to the finish.

From the provisional results, we finished 9th out of 11 in Vet C/D and 215th overall. Definitely one of (in not the) our best outings so far. It didn’t even seem like 4k (although when Steve called halfway at Chiswick Eyot I nearly died – I thought we’d almost finished!) and we were well pleased with the row. Getting back was tiring, now sculling against the tide but was offset for me at a feeling of achievement. We’d done it, sculled well, hadn’t made a fool of ourselves and maybe made a few more people take MKRC seriously.

Good to get home though – started watching a film and I can tell you how it starts and end but not a lot in between…. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Just got to recover for tomorrow – like lunatics, we’re off to Bedford for the Autumn Small Boats Head.