August 2003
Novice Year 2003 – Regatta report
A very successful year all round resulting in a fine collection of pewterware!
Wins
Bewdley MN8+
Oxford City(Sat) WN8+ and WN4+
Oxford City (Sun) MN8+ and WSNRIV8+
Ross on Wye MN8+ and MN4+
Bewdley Saturday 26th July 2003 - 800 metres
Bewdley - Mens novice 8 winners
The novice men won the MN8+ against the home side Bewdley in a straight final. Unfortunately the river had risen dramatically during the day and the stream was quite strong. A free start proved trickier for the young whippet-like Bewdley lads but once straight we were off but Bewdley decided to take a detour via the bank. We won by several lengths!
Oxford City Saturday 16th August 2003 – 1000 metre sprint
The novice women stole the show on the Saturday winning the WN8+ against a very disgruntled Merton College and winning the WN4+ out of 10 crews.
The novice men did well out of the 16 crews in the novice coxed fours but not quite well enough with both Wallingford crews losing to the eventual winners in the semi-final and final.
Oxford City Sunday 17th August 2003 – 500 metre sprint
The novice women came up against Merton college again in the eight which was bumped up to a SNR IV 8+ and although over hearing the opposition saying lets show them it was a fluke yesterday, the Wallingford women, who included a couple of guest stars from the senior women’s squad (namely Heather and Emily), were not in the mood for being defeated. Although down off the start they pushed through to take clear water and victory.
The novice men were not going home pot less and won the MN8+ against Mortlake Anglian and Alpha, unfortunately this was not to be a final without an incident. Despite both coxes being warned on the start to keep in their lanes, Mortlake took to moving into the water of the Wallingford crew who held their line, causing a clash at 150 metres from the finish, resulting in the disqualification of Mortlake.
The novice men again gave a good show in the novice coxed fours with both Wallingford crews losing to the eventual winners in the first round and in the final.
Ross on Wye Monday 25th August 2003 – 650 metres
It was the turn of the novice men to steal the show winning the MN4+ out of 16 crews beating Cambridge 99 in the final.
The men also won the N8+ getting through both of the rounds without incident and winning the final against a Ross/Gloucester composite.
16th/17th August - Oxford City Regatta
Juniors
Oxford City Regatta advertised itself as a junior-friendly regatta with lots of events for youngsters from 11 upwards and this, plus the proximity of the event, led to us entering six doubles and six singles.
Unfortunately when the draw arrived there were no entries for our J15 2x or J13 2x on Sat or our J15 2x or J24 2x on the Sunday. Thus whilst Wallingford had a total of 41 entries for the regatta the only ones not to get opposition was 4 of the junior crews !! Our J14 crew on Saturday were even more unfortunate as having got a straight final against Upper Thames, their opposition simply did not turn up -- a most unsporting action without the manners to inform the regatta or ourselves. This is even more unfortunate since the two lads are dead keen -- One joined a rowing club whilst on hols in France to keep training whilst the other persuaded his parents to delay going on holiday for two days so as to be able to race at Oxford -- two very unhappy young men when it was clear that they had no opposition !!
The sculling was however a success.
On the Saturday,the only double to race was our new J15 2x whom we had fortunately doubled up in J16 2x as no J15's entered. This combination of Robert Hares and Charie Jenkins is a very exciting junior potential. In their heat they demolished a City of Oxford double -- paddling in at a rate of 21. The final saw them against Tideway Scullers whom they convincingly beat by 4 lengths.
Our two girl singles raced, with Isobel Drury in WJ15 1x and her sister Hattie in WJ131x. Isobel had a very fast opponent and lost by a couple of lengths but Hattie sculled very well in a straight final against Oxford City. Unfortunately for her, she was running alongside the boys double in their race and badly twisted her ankle, denying her the chance of a repeat on the Sunday.
On Sunday only 3 singles raced. Isobel Drury in WJ151x found another gear and narrowly beat a Maidenhead sculler in her semi-final. In the final she raced another Maidenhead sculler to a more comfortable win of two lengths.
The next to race was Emma Rawlingson in WJ161x in a straight final against Eton Excelsior where she sculled very well and won by about 3 lengths.
The final sculler was Ben Fussel in J131x. Ben had a super race in his semi against Oxford City, just holding on to a narrow lead to win by 3 feet. Unfortunately in the final, he again met a taller opponent but had a great race, level for the whole way to the last couple of strokes where his opponent from Eton Excelsior drew away for a half length win.
Altogether, disapointing that so few of our youngsters got a race but good results from those who did race with 4 wins from 6 events contested --- next event will be Worcester Juniors in 3 weeks time
Tony
2nd August - Henley T&V
Jumping back into her seasoned doubles combination with Emily Booker (Marlow RC), Shelley and Emily raced in the WS1 2x at Henley T&V. A close encounter with the UTRC A crew in the first round saw some rather abusive language from both crews plus a series of blade clashes. The Marlow/Wallingford crew came out of the collision better off leaving the UT crew in their wash. In the final they took an early lead and maintained it to claim another victory for the lightweight double trouble.
Admin
