Wallingford Regatta 2015

A week after coming back from camp, and still on fairly tired legs but certainly rowing better, Thames Men and Women’s squads took to the less than amenable waters of Dorney Lake for Wallingford Regatta. The morning’s racing was reasonably fair but in the afternoon the wind blew a strong cross playing havoc with the afternoon finals.

Thames managed to win seven events on the day. Admittedly the weather assisted us in one of these but the results are as follows-

Champ 8+
With a rather weak field the retention of this trophy was not going to be difficult for a crew that finished 9th at the Head. Indeed, the 8 managed to lower it’s rate to 28 in the middle k to conserve energy for later races.

W Champ 8+
After a disappointing showing in their last run out in the eight the women’s 1st VII pulled the proverbial rabbit out of the hat with a strong showing seeing them row to a commanding win by over 4 seconds over the shortened 1500m course over perennial school “top dogs” Headington. They also managed to beat club rivals Molesey by 7 seconds.

Club 8+
Again the retention of this trophy was high on the list of priorities and despite the final being cancelled, the Club ‘A’ crew won its heat convincingly and in the fastest time so was awarded the trophy after racing was abandoned. Not a good way to win 2 points but they were the strongest in the field by some margin. More excitingly, the ‘B’ 8 also won its heat. It is a real shame the final couldn’t be rowed as it would have been a great race.

W Club 8+
A plucky bunch of intermediates made up of many newcomers to the club this season found the going a bit tough in trying to reach the finals of their event. Never the less they raced hard and showed tremendous fight through the course of their heat finishing fourth. We are sure this combination will only improve with a few more weeks of training under their belt.

Champ 4+
Also won last year, we won it again but by the tiniest of margins over the Lea after the crew took 500m to find its rhythm. Still, a win is a win!

WChamp 4+
One of the few under-performances from the entire squad on the day. Coming up against a strong combination from the Lea the Thames crew was knocked off their game early on and never regained composure.

WClub4+
A dominating performance from the club four in their first race together bodes well for an exciting season. They jumped out to a commanding lead in the heat and at the halfway point eased off conserving energy for their final. Unfortunately the weather Gods conspired against them and the final was never rowed. Still a very strong start to this crew’s HWR campaign.

Champ 4-
The surprise of the day! Not having been out in this line up at all, and with a spare in the stroke seat due to Rich Dyer being away at Will R’s wedding, expectations were not high but in a great row they won their heat over TSS and clocked the fastest time of the heats giving them the trophy. Probably not the fairest result as UTRC and OBU looked strong in the other heats but sadly the weather wouldn’t let us race it out.

WChamp2-
Maddy Foster and partner Beatrix Sheldrick got their day off to a shakey start in the second heat of the Women’s Champ Pairs event with a boat-stopping crab after only a few strokes out of the start pontoon. They managed to claw their way back into a qualifying spot, second behind Molesey. In the final though there were no such troubles and they blasted out the start and never looked back taking the victory. They were accompanied in the final by lightweights Ellie Fielding and Lowenna Coad who finished in fifth position and can be well pleased with their effort in conditions that would not have suited them.

Club 1x
After clocking a very good % on camp, Tom Harvey followed this up by winning his novice pot in a great side by side race with a Hollingworth Lake sculler.

Champ 1x
The only trophy to elude us. No big surprise considering Henry had had all of about two outings in his single. He did however manage to make the final which was a pretty fair result, and finished fifth in not a great lane.

Not a bad day’s racing, shame the weather got the better of what would have been some really good finals.