July 2003
26th and 27th July - Bewdley Regatta
Men
On the weekend of the 26th and 27th July, the Men's Senior squad represented Wallingford at Bewdley Regatta, home of the biggest boat marshalling area in the country.
The squad had several crews competing on both days, demonstrating their versatility by entering only sculling events, they left the one-dimensional discipline of sweep-oar to the enthusiastic Novices.
On the Saturday, Mike and Zippy raced in a mixed S3 2x, but despite steering immaculately throughout the day, were narrowly beaten in the final.
Elise and Alex balanced the scores with an excellent win in the premier event of the day, mixed S4 2x.
Mike, Duncan and Tom tried to enter S3 3x but unfortunately they couldn't get any opposition in a triple, so had to settle for three singles instead. Mike lost to the Incredible Hulk, Duncan was defeated by a Wee-Man from the North, but Tom managed to get through the first round by squashing a sculler from City of Oxford. Unfortunately he met the Incredible Hulk in the next round and was suitably stomped on.
Tom and Duncan put aside their differences and combined in a S3 2x, racing a wobbly crew from Hereford in the first round. Despite Duncan's over-excitedness in trying to rate 143 off the start, and coming off his seat, the crew managed to regain their composure to record a dead heat. The race was decided not by racing over the course in a re-row, but the winner was the one who could return to the start without getting in the way of any races. Unfortunately for the Hereford steersman (name and address supplied), he could not managed this and got his crew disqualified. This led to an unusual occurance of Tom and Duncan having to row-over their re-row. In the semi-final the double met Little and Large from Reading who showed that rowing a blue boat was no disadvantage to win by a length.
This pint-sized pair were determined to not let these defeats lower their confidence by racing in a S3 4x with two athletes from Ross International Sculling Centre against a junior crew from Marlow. The scratch crew showed the youngsters what quality sculling was all about, leaving a trail of puddles for them to follow. The composite crew were victorious despite the conflict between Duncan, again trying to out-rate a hummingbird, and Tom, determined to rate somewhere around his shoe size.
These victories led to an expensive drunken night on the town as the pots were quart gallon sized. Fortunately the Sampan Chinese Restaurant were able to supply a sufficient number of bottled Chinese lager, hastily drunk by the thirsty victors.
Sunday morning is still a blank for some of us....Despite Tom's plan to not drink on Saturday night, he emerged from his tent looking not too distinct from Wurzel Gummidge. He was not too happy at having to race at 8.30 in the morning still drunk and with the river looking swollen from the evening's rain. Unfortunately the race was close which resulted in a sickening sprint for the line which Tom lost by half a length. A sleepy Mike elegantly claimed defeat in his singles race, but Duncan surprised everyone, least of all himself, by annihilating the opposition with a blistering display of single sculling, winning the S3 1x event comfortably.
Tom and Duncan had to repeat their victory over Hereford in the double again, this time managing to stay in their seats to defeat the opposition without requiring a re-row. The next round saw them drawn against their partners in the quad from the Ross International Institute of Sculling. This produced the most exciting race of the day, with the Wallingford crew just pipping the Ross crew by 2/3 of a length. This put the Wallingford double into the final against Warwick, who eventually won by just a canvas.
Duncan was greedy for his second pot of the day, and third of the weekend, with the composite quad, who had to race against the Marlow juniors again. With Tom steering as though his life depended on it, the crew emphatically defeated the Marlow crew much to the crowd's pleasure. The Wallingford/Ross quad produced the fastest time of the day, finishing the course in 72 seconds. Their long-distance training obviously paying off.....
At the time of press, firemen in Sweden are trying to locate Duncan, last seen floating in the direction of the North Pole after his treble pot winning performance.....
Tom Williams
Women
With only Helen Z, Shelley and Floss representing the senior womens squad, the pressure was really on.
A scratch double combination on Saturday in the WS2 2x with Helen steering resulted in some very traumatised rowers who are currently undergoing councilling to overcome their experience. The double hurtled down the short course in the navigation channel wiping out two mens pairs and visiting every bay for a close inspection.
Fortunately they faired better in their singles winning both the WS4 1x (Helen) and WS2 1x (Shelley). Floss put up a brilliant performance with a comfortable victory in all her rounds to win her first sculling pot in the WN 1x.
The terrible duo returned on day 2 with a crew order change in the WS2 2x. With Shelley steering this time, they narrowly avoided disqualification in both their heat and final for dodgy steering collecting another pot and point each. Helen with her newly upgraded single status raced in the WS3 1x to make it a hatrick of wins for our Commonwealth Champion.
Sunday 20th July - Molsey Junior Regatta
This is a fairly new event for juniors between J11 and J16 with the majority being J13,J14 and J15 double and single scullers(there is no sweep oar). There were over 250 entries which shows the interest in rowing in these young age groups where some clubs now have over 100 junior members and are accessing funds via Oarsome etc.
Wallingford entered two doubles and five singles and had a good day's racing although only rewarded with one pot.
Ben Fussell in J131x won his heat by a couple of lengths and narrowly lost the next round by a length to a lad about six inches taller who won his other races with some ease. There were 19 entries in this event which shows its popularity. I will be suggesting we get a rack for the club to help encourage growth spurts !!
Next on were our WJ132x of Hattie Drury and Sophie Delaney who won their heat by a half length despite being a length down off the start whilst trying to get C boat moving. (This boat now weighs a ton and was down on all of the races off the start). This so impressed their opponents for the quater final that they scratched. In their semi, they met a very neat crew from Hinksey scullers and again got left on the start but pulled back to lose by 3 ft.
Next on was Robert Hares in J151x, racing in Noel Frost's 16 stone boat. Robert impressed in his heat with a fine display of sitting on his opponent with a 3 ft lead paddling at about 26 --- not a good tactic. A quiet word from coach ensured a more positive attack in the next races !!!!! In his next race he won by a half length and progressed to the semi which he won by a few feet, coming from a length down. In the final he met a St Georges sculler who got through his 3 races to the final with some ease. Robert was again down of the start but pulled up to a canvas down with 15 strokes to go when he hit the buoys and lost by two lengths. Robert is a big lad with a three wheatabix build so this was encouraging to see him winning races.
In the afternoon, our J142x of Patrick Bunting and Dan Crossman won their heat despite being a length down off the start and disadvantaged by the longest hair of all 250 crews who were there. In their semi, the weight of hair proved too much and they lost by a half length -- not helped by Dan being knackered by doubling up and also racing a single.
In J141X, Dan won his heat by a half length but lost his semi by the same amount.
Emma Rawingson raced in WJ161x and faced a very experienced opponent and lost by about three lengths.
The most exciting races were from Isobel Drury in WJ151x who won her semi by a half length. Her final was against a local Molsey girl with huge local support. After being led off the start, Isobel caught her opponent on the line to earn a deadheat and an immediate re-row. Again down off the start, Isobel raced for the line to get a one foot win and a handsome medal -- well done to her. So only one medal but a lot of people winning races through the day and a good team spirit with our youngsters supporting each other.
Regards
TONY
19th / 20th July Nat Champs
A tough weekend of racing into a changable headwind all weekend.
We had a poor row in the quad in a very competitive heat. We came last in a time that would have put us second in the other heat and in a head wind of over 4m/s faster. To avoid time table clashes with the smaller boats we needed to go straight through to final which this performance did not allow so we scratched it.
Z had a difficult first round sqeeking into the semis in her single due to her slide runner sliding and having to row half the race at half slide. Things were better in the semi but disapointingly not good enough to make the final.
Shelley had a tough day on Saturday with only 24 minutes between the start of the quad race and the heat of her 2x. We set off up the course to race whilst her doubles partner from Marlow arranged to have the 2x on the water waiting for her when we came straight in from racing the 4x. This just worked with Emily and Shelley arriving at the start with 2.5 minutes to spare.
They won their heat and went straight to final, Emily having raced earlier in the day in her single against Tanya in their first heat of Wlwt1x. In the 2x final Shelley and Emily knew they would have to have the row of their life to beat Notts County - The winners of Womens Henley this year but the suprise entry was a double from Upper Thames of Machin and Ashcroft. They did well and kept up with Notts County well but not enough to beat them. Both were happy to get a safe Bronze.
Tanya did well in her heat and went straight to semi final. In her semi she performed well again coming second to the reigning champion from Peterbrough. For the final the heavens opened making conditions rather wet but at least the wind dropped slightly! By half way Tanya was sure of Bronze but not giving up she pushed hard for the line and almost caught Peterborough with only 2 seconds between them. First place was taken by a U23 from Rob Roy. Another good result considering Tanya did not have her novice pot this time last year!
Tired and happy we beat a hasty retreat back down south. Many thanks to Herman - Shelleys friend who helped me drive the trailer back and unload boats last night.
Lulu Butler-Stoney
See the
full results
and
race reports.
12th July Burton on Trent - Juniors
First, Peterborough
Avid readers of this column may have noted that our entry for juniors at Thames Valley Park did not include the full squad of youngsters who were up to racing standard. Our J14 and J13 boys doubles were kept back at Wallingford doing a heavy weekend so they could "taper down" training for Peterborough J14 regatta which is for them their Nat Schools event since J14's were dropped from Nat Schools due to pressure of numbers.To receive a phone call on the day before the regatta to say that the event was cancelled due to "weed on the course" was a huge disappointment as both of these doubles and the girls J13 double have come on a lot since getting out a lot more as regular crews.
It was good therefore to see them get THEIR FIRST POTS (Yippee) at Burton on Trent on the 1100 metre course on Sat 12th July.
Burton on Trent
The boys J14 double of Tom Pryor and Daniel Crossman obviously frightened off all other J14 opponents and had to enter J15's instead. Burton beat Trent in the semi and met our lads in the final. Wallingford led from the start and cruised in about 4 lengths up at a 32 rating (they would have won by more if Dan ever gets his hair cut !!). They got medals and a super big silver pot which we kept for about 5 minutes until the regatta reclaimed it.In J13 doubles, our lads crew of Chris Ellam and Ben Fussell had a straight final against Queens Park HS Chester and zonked away at 38 plus to record an easy win and get medals.
The girls J13 double of Hattie Drury and Sophie Delaney won their semi against Worcester with some ease and then met Burton in the final. Despite some steering the commentator described as interesting, they got a decent lead and sculled away in the second half to win their medals.
We also had 3 singles racing -- first to race was Victoria Poyner in WN1x where she had a very close race overlapping the whole way down the course before she recorded a narrow one third length win. Unfortunately, she got an injury and had to pull out of the semi - better luck next time.
In WJ16 1x, Emma Rawlingson held her opponent for the first half of the course but her opponent from Trent slipped away in the second half.
In WJ15 1x, Isobel Drury's opponent chickened out in the semi and she rowed over to get to the final. In the final there was an excellent race where the lead changed hands a couple of times before Isobel was just pipped to the line by half length.
This year, with these very young scullers we had spent the early season teaching them to scull properly rather than bash up and down slides. Our 1st and 2nd places at the Avon Counties Oarsome teams skills regatta shows we were going in the right direction but it is great to have some silverware
Tony Wheel
2nd - 6th July - Henley Royal Regatta
Report from Lulu:
Well Henley is over for another year. Wallingford had two boats at Henley this year (both from the women's squad) Nikki Absolom competed in her single and Flic (this time rowing as UL), Tanya, Helen Z and Shelley in a quad - a surprise qualifier to many on the tow path, being, you might say a strangely matched crew with weights ranging from over 12 stone down to 9 stone 2lbs! Also having only been together 2 weeks jumping straight into the quad after Women's Henley (Where Shelley and her partner from Marlow in the lwt 2x and Tanya in her lwt 1x both got to the final and Flic and Z in the hwt 2x to the quarter finals.)The women's quads have 8 places at HRR, a German club crew, The Australian 4x, The Ukranian 4x and Gent (Belgian) were pre qualified. Thames, TSS, Wallingford and the GB lightweights qualified (knocking out the winners of Women's Henley Club 4x - Marlow, in the process and forcing them to eat some powerful humble pie having been heard to say they thought that Wallingford were laughable and had no chance). Sadly in the draw we got the Australians, Thames got the Germans (an unknown quantity) the Lightweights got the easy ride with Gent and TSS the Ukranians. Wallingford and TSS not surprisingly went straight out, the Lightweights and Thames went through. The lightweights then met the Aussies and Thames the Ukranians both going out to leave the Aussies v the Ukranians in the final - I think the Ukranians were the eventual winners but I have to say that by this time the Wallingford quad had moved on to their next challenge - incorporating a retired has been into their bow seat in 2 weeks ready for the Nat Champs in Strathclyde. Yes after 2 weeks of gloating on the tow path that I have retired and am 'cured' from rowing I find myself back behind the blade handles and trying to get race fit!
Report from Nikki:
I knew the Stewards had something against me when first they missed Wallingford off the list for the Competitors' t-shirt and secondly they put me on as the last race before tea to give me an hour and 10 minutes to get down the course to avoid the possibility of me getting caught up in the next race.I can't say I had the kindest of draws - a Canadian squad girl who won gold in the heavyweight double and quad at the Commonwealths last year. The race plan was simple. Go off hard and then...wave goodbye. But even the simplest plans can go wrong. Especially when the umpire starts you when you are still straightening up and one blade somehow misses the water on the first stroke. As a result my oppo was a length up by the end of the Island (well the end of my first stroke to be exact!). She continued to disappear off into the distance and it seemed like a long lonely race-pace training piece through a lot of wash to the end of the course. The verdict was, unsurprisingly, "Easily". I found some consolation in the fact that my oppo was beaten by the eventual winner by a length in the semis after a very close race.
I can say that Henley does have a special atmosphere and I was amazed at the number of people I met on the bank that were so impressed to meet a competitor and took note of when I was racing to shout for me. As a result I may not have won, but I definitely had the most support from my rent-a-crowd and I had to chuckle when someone in a boat on the booms shouted. "Come on Wallingford - you are coming second!"
I always said I wouldn't retire until I had rowed at HRR. The plan was to do it last year but as many of you know our high hopes of last season were dashed by my injury and I retired anyway. I might not have been as fit as last year but it was definitely worth unretiring for. So few women get the chance to row at HRR and I feel really privileged to have done so. Now I can retire in peace!
Report from Pat
The Army Wyfold 4- that trained with the Men's Squad at Wallingford the week before Henley made the Final but then lost to a well established Thames A four (5 years together allegedly). The ARC beat Peterborough, Potomac, Thames B & Worcester on the way to the final, but underperformed on the Sunday - but that's 5 weeks together!! They would like to thank both the crews at Wallingford who worked with them, giving them the self belief that they could perform well over the distance.
