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Just to qualify for this regatta is an achievement in itself. Thumbs are always held at the time of the draw in the hope that our opposition will give us a chance to make a good race out of the occasion. Sadly, we clearly needed something stronger than thumb holding because we had the misfortune of drawing Belmont Hill from America who was one of the top seeds. It did mean that there was little pressure because there was the certain knowledge that no matter what we did there was no chance that we would win this encounter. For Henley we hired an Empacher eight from Latymer Upper because both of our top eights are beginning to show their age and have lost much of their rigidity. The boat had the "wow" factor and in the race the crew certainly performed better than at any other time over the season. Before the barrier we wound up the rating in an attempt to keep in touch with the rather large Americans in front of us but were unable to make any significant impact. Belmont Hill was not going to expend unnecessary energy so they charitably kept two lengths in front of us giving a rather flattering judges' verdict. Thankfully our race was at 7.10 - we had asked for a late race because the Head Master had been busy in a governors' meeting during the day - so by the time we took to the water some of the blazing heat of Henley 2009 had diminished. By 10.30 that morning gentlemen had been allowed to remove their jackets in the Stewards' Enclosure which if nothing else makes the regatta memorable. |
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Peterborough Junior Regatta |
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Last year our experiment of staying at a hotel the night before Peterborough regatta had been very successful. The hotel is both very comfortable and superbly placed for the regatta. It makes an occasion for the boys and means that there is no need for an early morning start from the school. This year we repeated the formula but added extra crews into our racing teams. In total a group of 29 boys competed at the regatta and for the first time ever we had crews in J12, J13 and J14 events. All of the age groups were realistic medal prospects but the J13s had the misfortune of tipping their double when they rather overenthusiastically corrected their steering. They were mortified by their failure, which was made all the more bitter to bear because they have been leading the field at the time. Happily, the other age groups were all successful. In 2007 and 2008 the club had been denied a medal in the finals because of equipment failure or catching crabs. This year in the octuple final we had our trademark crab with blood and gore, but this time only two strokes from the finish. At last we had a medal and, although it was bronze, it was still a very fine way to finish a hard-fought season. The J12 double were unaware that they were even in contention for a medal so were overjoyed when I broke the news to them at the rafts once they had finished their final. They are both very good scullers and I'm sure that these medals will be the first of many. It was a very happy group which made its way back down the A1. The journey back was memorable because of the torrential storm which we had to travel through. The lightning and a volume of water was more in keeping with the tropical storms of my youth than with the summer showers of England. |
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Marlow, Tewkesbury and Thames Valley Park Regattas |
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An appearance at Marlow Regatta is an essential if having to race the qualifiers for Henley is to be avoided. The crew dutifully competed in Intermediate three without any great hope of making any of the other crews sit up and take notice. During their race they started well, and finished well, but allowed a sluggish middle phase to give them a disappointingly slow time meaning that we did not progress into the semi-final. Further afield at Tewkesbury the rest of the club was enjoying the warm weather and the relaxed style of this regatta. The J15 eight managed to fight their way through to their final where they had to content themselves with a third-place. High hopes had been placed on the octuple but they failed to find any rhythm and frantically chased ratings without getting any boat speed. Their performance was bitterly disappointing and they knew it. With firm resolve they decided to put matters right when it came to racing in the quads. Here they were far more efficient and I was pleased with the second-place medals the club won at the end of the day, being pipped by Bryanston by just under a length in the final. The same boys, with one or two modifications because of prize-giving, appeared at Thames Valley Park Regatta the following day. The sun continued to shine and the regatta took on the air of a mediaeval jousting tournament with tents and flags. The J15s had a very short regatta, but the J14s managed to get themselves through to a number of finals. I was very pleased by the performance of the top octuple and the top quad, but the most pleasing performance of all was the second octuple which had a storming race and showed that they could be efficient at a high rating. The standard of the opposition in all of our races with very high and we were certainly not outclassed. Over two days the junior crews had raced 10 times and were now battle hardened veterans. |
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