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After a brief lull because of the half term break normal service was resumed at Reading Amateur Regatta. On the Saturday of the Regatta the junior crews remained on our stretch of river hosting a group from Beaumont Prep School. The seniors had an exciting day of racing. In the morning they raced against University College, Dublin, and managed to win that heat by a canvas. Their next race was much easier and they were able to demolish a Reading Rowing Club crew by many lengths. In the semi-final they were comfortably ahead of Bournemouth University. Having progressed to the final we were once again against our old adversaries Winchester College. The stagger at the start gave the advantage to Winchester and they made full use of this advantage. Despite repeated attempts by The Oratory to get their noses in front, Winchester held on to eventually beat us by three quarters of a length. It was not all doom and despondency, however, because a group of young ladies from America, who were using Goring Gap boats, had taken a shine to our boys. We had our own support group of chanting pom-pom girls who were thoughtful enough to leave their mobile telephone numbers and the offer of fun and games after the regatta. Your correspondent does not know whether the girls were taken up on their offer. A selection of fours and quads had been entered the following day. Their races were held on a shortened course during the lunch interval. This meant the luxury of a leisurely start and a guarantee of a short regatta. It can't be often that a regatta can be squeezed into one and a half hours of racing. The J14 A quad had the misfortune of Fin Johnson coming off his seat just as they were about to edge past their opponents. The J15 four suffered a similar misfortune when Tim Merritt came off his seat at the start of their race. Nothing really went according to plan so it is probably best to draw a veil over this regatta and move on to the next.
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Summer Regattas