A good weekend of racing with (mostly) great weather, and we came away with 4 excellent wins. Let's see if we can do even better at British Masters this weekend.We also had a lot of people racing in their first "proper" regatta. They had mixed results, but don't worry, that's normal! Learn something from every race, keep focusing on your training, and you will get better and better.
As always there was some great food, drink and banter among those who camped overnight. I discovered my new favourite animal...
Saturday
W.Nov.2x: Jen, Carolyn. 4/4 in heat, 5:22.7
Your first regatta race in a double... so I'm sorry we didn't manage to lock the steering properly for you! You coped well and it'll be great to see what you can do with more practice and a boat that goes straight.
Nov.2x: Steve B, Ian. 4/4 in heat, 4:24.2
A good row, just got to keep working on getting faster!
IM3.2x: Shaun, David. NRO (Not Rowed Out)
In lane 1 there is an interesting set of reeds very soon after the start. David decided to take a closer look... ;-)
IM3.2x: John S, Chao. 3/4 in heat, 3:59.8
Scratch crew. Decent race. Nuff said.
IM3.4+: Shaun, Richard, Chao, Marcus, cox: David. 2/4 in heat 3:45.9 and 3/3 in repechage 3:47.0
Great to see you get through the heats and you were in with a shout in the rep. Getting to the repechage with just one practice outing - with some more consistent men's crews there is a lot of potential for you to do really well.
W.IM3.4x: Jen, Carolyn, Clare, Alice. 3/3 in heat, 4:19.0
Great to see our novice scullers getting some race experience with the seniors - I hope you enjoyed going a bit straighter in this one!
W.IM2.4+: Heidi, Lou, Jayne, Cath, cox: Chris. 2/4 in final, 3:49.3
We were hoping for a win but didn't have the perfect start we were after. We hit our stride around halfway though and had a great battle for second, coming out on top by 0.5 seconds.
Sunday
Winner: MasE.1x: Rod. 2/4 in heat 4:07.4 and 1/4 in final, 4:04.0
A really exciting race in the heat with the top 3 within 1.2 seconds of each other... luckily Rod made it through. By comparison he made the final look easy, winning by 4 seconds!
Winners: W.MasC.4+: Heidi, Lou, Jayne, Cath, cox: Becky. 1/4 in final, 3:49.5
Back in their favourite masters categories, the ladies continued their domination, helped by some excellent first-race coxing by Becky.
Winners: W.MasE.4+: Karen, Paula, Helen S, Suzanne, cox: Chris. 1/3 in final, 4:02.1
We had a bit of a tussle with the 2nd place crew, but won quite comfortably in the end. Apparently they had more left in the tank, which bodes well for next weekend.
Winners: W.MasC.8+: Heidi, Lou, Jo, Paula, Clare, Kate, Helen S, Suzanne, cox: Chris. 1/3 in final, 3:47.0
We were down by maybe half a length off the start, but kept our heads and a good rhythm and irresistibly pushed past the other crews, winning by about half a length in the end. That's a de-novice for Kate!
IM3.4+: James, Marcus, Callum, David, cox: Chris. 1/3 in heat 3:35.7 and 3/4 in semi 3:36.5
We had really fast starts in both races, pulling ahead and staying comfortably ahead in the heat. In the semi we tried but weren't quite fast enough. Three of you are racing together at Worlds so keep up the training together and you will get there.
IM3.4+: Shaun, Richard, Leo, John S, cox: Steve B. 4/4 in heat, 4:07.4
Probably overweighting Mistral slightly, but hey it's all great experience, especially for our up and coming rowers like Richard and Leo!
W.Nov.2x: Jen, Becky. 3/3 in heat, 5:10.4
I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this, but racing a novice double with your level of experience is a big thing to do! Hopefully you've picked up some things to work on and can bring them back to the club for training.
Nov.1x: Ian. 4/4 in heat, 4:56.1
Same as your double; a good row, just got to keep training.
W.Nov.4x: Jen, Kate, Amanda, Becky. 4/4 in heat, 4:49.7
This is the first time I can remember us putting out a genuine novice women's quad and it shows how far you have come in the last year. You've also probably now done more sculling races than half the women's senior squad ;-)
MasE.1x: Mike A. 3/3 in heat, 5:08.5
I've realised I totally forgot to ask how this went... sorry! Hope you enjoyed your first race back from injury anyway and are keen for some more.
MasC.2x: Steve B, Ian. 4/4 in heat 4:30.7
Same as yesterday; a good row, just got to keep training both fitness and technique ready for the Worlds. Also, try not to get your thumb caught next time ;-)
MasD.4x: Mike P, Tim B, Steve B, Ian. 4/4 in heat, 4:17.2
Maybe it wasn't the result you were after, but you've shown the masters men have a lot of potential if you can get some consistent crews together, and I can't wait to see you racing when you do.