Dear Everybody,

We did well this year, seven wins out of nineteen entries (last year eighteen entries got us three wins, all in singles).  The weather could only be described as glorious, but as the regatta started to get behind in the afternoon, some crews were kept waiting at the start for well over an hour, water, hats and sunblock were very much the order of the day.

Saturday’s racing in order of first heats:

David won his first round of J14 singles comfortably, but was stopped in his semi, despite giving it his best.  Then Cameron also got through his first round of J15 singles without much trouble, and similarly his semi.  In his final he was a little daunted by the height and heft of his opponent, a very well set up young man from Gloucester RC.  Cameron was ahead off the start, but lost concentration on his steering, and hit a tree about 250 metres out.  

Beth and Charlie were leading in their heat of J15 doubles up to 700 meters, then Charlie’s knee problem re-appeared, and they had to shut down.  We are looking into a brace for the knee. 

Ethan and Josh suffered a similar fate to Cameron in J16 doubles, but a little more drawn out.  Their oppos got away at the start, our two overtook them, but then proceeded to collide once with the bank, and again with a crew on it’s way to the start (blades only, but enough to slow you down).  

I had a semi and final in F singles, against two very pleasant chaps, and won both without much trouble.

Also in masters, Gillian and Kjerstie had two easy wins in D doubles, which gets us to the end of the first division.

We kicked off the second division with the J13 quad with a heat and final against a pair of crews from City of Bristol (with three entries in the event, one of the Bristol boats were given a bye to the final).  I was a bit apprehensive, as Bristol have a large junior programme, and usually produce some very sharp quads.  I needn’t have worried.  Monty, Tilly, Jake, Sam, and Luke (cox) beat a similarly constituted crew (1 f, 3 m) in the semi, and won the final comfortably against an all female crew.

Our remaining entry for the day was Josh in his single, but I’ll let him tell it:

Well, this is new, I don’t win enough to write a little report, so enjoy.  Over the weekend I competed in a double twice and a single once, and received two pots for my “Oh so hard an effort”.  The first race was my double with everyone’s favourite Ethan, we were winning that race, but sadly we crashed and lost the race (sad ‘aww’ in crowd), but never fear, we went on to win the double on the Sunday by a length and a bit.  Now on to the single (this is where it gets exhilarating, so brace yourself), I had a bye into the semi-final where I raced a small, clumsy man from Agecroft rowing club.  Naturally this made me let my guard down, and made me think I would win, sooooo as we got up there I started talking to him and felt I’d really asserted myself as the dominant male, and was confident he wasn’t a threat (manly noise). 

Little did I know he had a flipping engine on the boat and took me straight off the start.  I think the only reason I managed to pull it back was because I didn’t want to be bullied by Cameron due to the size of my opponent compared to the size of his opponent (6”6 and the body of a Greek God).  

Anyhoo, as I got to 750m the umpires decided to make a four go sideways in my lane, so I had to stop, and shout at my opponent to stop (I let off the manliest scream/shout ever... just saying), this led to me re-rowing the race!!  And then winning the semi [the re-row - ed.].  For the final I raced another small kiddo, but this time I didn’t underestimate him.  At 750m I was 4 lengths ahead, and guess what everyone????  Someone in front of me decided to fall in causing me to re-row again!!  I then went on to win the single [another re-row - ed.], so overall it was a very successful weekend.  I hope you enjoyed that guys, and hopefully there’ll be more reports in the future (probs not for a while though).

Sunday’s racing:

Tom and Joe were first race of the day (8:30) in Open Doubles, in which they were not victorious (alas).  This from Estelle (Joe’s mother)

After a very early start and lovely journey - overtaking Lewis on the way we arrived at sunny Ironbridge where it sounded like the disco hadn’t stopped!

Tom and Joe were literally first on the river. Opposition were faster off the start but the gap started to close in the last 100 metres. Too late and boys lost by two lengths.

Great morning, good experience and some good wins by club make it all worthwhile!

Luke then won his first heat comfortably (but kept going at full pelt when not longer necessary).  Alas, he paid for his exuberance in the semi, when his legs ran out at halfway against a fresh opponent (he had been given a bye).  This situation frequently arises in two lane regatta competition.  Unless the number of entries exactly tallies with the classic 2/4/8/16/etc draw template, some crews will have more races than others.  One learns to conserve, and think of the next race.

Then there was a straight final for the J13 quad, against, you guessed it, City of Bristol!  They had altered their lineup from Saturday, and replaced their solitary girl with a large boy.  Unfortunately they felt confident enough to try and wind up Tilly while waiting for the start.  This was a mistake, and they lost by two lengths (a greater margin than the day before, and over a shorter course – “Don’t make me angry.  You won’t like me when I’m angry.”)  This closed the first division.

The second was a bit busy, and not very successful.  It started with a string of first round losses: David (J14.1x), Adam G (J15.1x), Tilly (W.J13.1x – but as this was her first race in a single, she was happy just to stay in the boat), Sophie (W.J13.1x), and Beth and Charlie (W.J15.2x).  

Cameron then had his re-match with the chap from Gloucester, and this time failed entirely to hit a tree, and won.  He then won his final against a well known sculler from Stourport, who looked very surprised not to be first over the line (as is usually the case for him).  A very satisfying pair of races for Cameron.

Then another first round defeat, this time for a composite crew, Sophie Payne (rowing as Derby RC) and her sister Milly (Derwent) in W.2x.   And finally, a win for Ethan and Josh in their straight final of J16.2x (as Josh describes above).

So, a very successful couple of days. Last year we entered eighteen events and had only three wins (me twice and Kate Doleman once – all in singles), this year we entered nineteen events, had seven wins, and ten members took a pot home, and five of those took home two.  Nice work.

My thanks to Paul and David Phillips (And Rob, d’accord) for helping to complete the boat loading on Thursday (7:30 finish), and again thanks to Paul and David for helping me attach the trailer Saturday in the AM, and following me to Ironbridge.   Parental support over the weekend could not have been bettered, and this was necessary, as our entry was virtually all juniors (19 members racing – 14 of them juniors).