St Neots show strength at Star Regatta 2014

A small contingent from St Neots Rowing Club took part in the recent Star Regatta on the Great Ouse in the heart of Bedford town centre. Club Captain Ali Young took the decision to mix things up a bit with the juniors and seniors combining in a show of strength for the local competition.

The first crew to compete was the Women’s IM3 coxed four of Louise Shorten, Mia Hartwell, Liv Hooper and Mollie Tackley, coxed by Libby Milne. Despite a big effort the crew from Northampton proved too strong on this occasion as St Neots went out in their semi-final losing by 5 lengths over the 1200m course.

The next crew on the water was the Men’s IM3 coxed four of Dom Chapman, Adrian Vuylsteke, Adam Williams and Nick Shorten who faced Northampton in their semi final. Cox Libby Milne drove the crew on to an impressive performance as they saw off their opposition by 5 lengths.

Two hours later the same men’s crew returned to the water for the final against the University of East Anglia men’s 4 which included St Neots’ old boy Bryce Taylor. Again the St Neots crew proved too strong as UEA were soundly beaten by 4 lengths, providing St Neots with their first pots of the day.

Not to be outdone after their earlier disappointment, the majority of the women’s 4 joined forces with some of the men’s crew to race in a mixed IM3 eight. This proved to be a winning combination as the crew of Dom Chapman, Adrian Vuylstecke, Lynne Taylor, Mia Hartwell, Liv Hooper, Lou Shorten, Josh Dexter and Adam Williams, coxed by Libby Milne struck out at a fierce pace which their Star Club competition just could not sustain, and St Neots claimed their second victory of the day with an ‘easy’ verdict.

Club Captain Ali Young said:

Crews from St Neots will be competing in the club’s annual regatta over the weekend of 26 and 27 July. Check out our website for details and come along to the Regatta Meadow to enjoy the spectacle.

Mixed fortunes for St Neots Rowing Club

There were mixed fortunes for the senior men’s and women’s eights at the Head of the River Races on the Thames over the weekend.

The men’s race on Saturday was abandoned after 75 crews had completed the course, because of very difficult conditions at the finish line and beyond. With the tide turning late and the wind gusting at the finish causing some 4 crews to become swamped, the organisers had to abandon the racing in the interest of safety, so those crews who hadn’t yet raced, including St Neots, had to get back to their boating area in one piece. Needless to say the men’s crew was very disappointed after putting in the hours in training.

However, conditions were much better on Sunday when the women’s Masters C crew raced in the Vets Head of the River, with minimal wind and a fast flowing tide. After an hour’s delay at the start, the crew of Mia Hartwell (cox), Ali Brown (stroke), Helen Knowles, Tash Wilson, Lynne Taylor, Marlene Taylor, Dione Page, Rachel Tackley and Ali Young (bow) completed the 4k course at a brisk 32 strokes per minute in 14 minutes and 31 seconds, coming 12 out of 22 crews in this category. This provisional result means that they moved up 81 places to be placed 112 overall, out of 209 crews.

Club Captain Ali Young said:

There were mixed fortunes for the club and a disappointing day for the men who were geared up and ready to put in a good effort.  Thankfully, the weather was beautiful on the Sunday and the ladies put in a strong performance, including in the closing stages of the race where they pushed on hard against an overseas crew.”

St Neots Rowing Club is running its next 10 week Learn to Row course from Saturday 12 April.  There will be 10 sessions over 5 weeks on Saturday afternoons and Wednesday evenings, at a cost of £90, with at £49 discount for those who become full members on completion of the course. All ages of 17 and over are welcome.  Anyone interested in taking up the sport, either competitively or recreationally can find out more details from the here and get their place booked.

Two events, one weekend: Hampton and Star Rowing Club

A number of junior crews from St Neots Rowing Club competed at Hampton at the weekend. Hampton is an extremely prestigious event, closely monitored by the GB team to spot potential talent and as usual, St Neots did themselves proud against clubs and schools like Eton, Henley and the like, who have far more resources at their disposal.

Highlight of the day was the dominance of the girls in the under 15 group, where Voirrey Taylor continued her recent form at this level. Voirrey has won several times of late in her single, came a narrow 2nd at Henley, then a clear winner at this event in Hampton (pictured). Zoe Adamson came second in the same category, so clubs up and down the country will be trembling in their boots at the thought of Voirrey and Zoe rowing in a double.

Joshua Davies and Fergus Mitchell-Dwelly were described in blogs ahead of the event as a “lethal combination”, and so they proved again, beating old rivals Marlow and favourites Maidenhead, and coming a close 2nd on this occasion. They were the 2nd fastest boat of the day out of some 700 entries.

The girls’ quad of Voirrey Taylor, Kate Lyster, Molly Harper and Zoe Adamson had only trained once together as a crew prior to this event, but came 4th to the 3 Henley crews – five seconds between 1st and 4th, and a fraction of a second between 3rd and 4th. Henley considers themselves dominant in this category, but their coaches tell us they know St Neots are breathing down their necks now.

Last highlight was that Sam Clift and Adam Williams who came 3rd in their category, showing real promise for them in the future – both GB trialists earlier this year – watch this space.

The senior women put in winning performances at Star Rowing Club’s winter head on Sunday with the masters C coxed 8 crew and the masters D coxed 4 crew both winning their events. Conditions were pretty good with no wind, although it was chilly and grey. The ladies rated a consistent 31 and 32 strokes per minute respectively over the course which was just short of 2k.

The men’s crews fared less well in that they didn’t come home with winning pots, but they all gained in experience. The IM3 eight came 3rd out of five crews, losing by just nine seconds, the IM3 4 came 7th out of 8 in their first race in this combination, the Novice 4 came 5th out of 7 and John Knights came 5th out of 7 in the Masters F/G single event.

Club Captain Ali Young said:

Yet again the junior squad are putting in amazing performances and are keeping the rowing club very much on the map. It is testament to their continued dedication to hard training that is paying off. And the ladies haven’t done too badly either. It was good to see rowers from the club attending both events over the weekend.”

Fantastic wins at Huntingdon Head

St Neots Rowing Club’s senior crews were successful in four events at Huntingdon Rowing Club’s Head races in windy conditions on Saturday. The men’s masters C crew came in one second behind their opposition, but scored a win once the time handicap had been applied against the younger crew.

The men’s novice coxed four of Tim Neill, Ralf Felsner, Dave Bygraves, Matt Womack (pictured) and Libby Milne as cox, soundly beat their opposition by four minutes in their first head race win since coming together as a novice crew.

John Knights beat his opposition by some two minutes in the Masters F/G singles event and the men’s coxed eight beat Star Club to clock the fastest time of the day for the second year running, and this was despite a handshake with the bank during the race. The mixed IM3 quad recorded the sixth fastest time of the day, winning their event and with a substitute due to illness. The women’s coxed 4 came second in their event.

Club Captain Ali Young said:

The club has started the head racing season very well, for both junior and senior squads and this will enable all rowers to build up their winter training over the coming months.”

All in one day: Thames and Bedford

On the 13 October, St Neots entered two junior crews into the prestigious Pairs Head on the Thames. The weather was dreadful, with driving rain and tidal waves, and the two crews were up against the best in the country of all ages. Fergus Mitchell and Joshua Davies finished 24th fastest overall, and were the fastest J17-only crew on the day, which is an excellent result in difficult conditions. Nick Shorten and Adam Williams also posted a very good result at the top end of the table, despite colliding with a buoy in the turbulent water and almost capsizing.

On the same day the rest of the Junior Competitive Stream raced at Bedford’s Small Boats Head where again the weather was foul, with very heavy rain. Result of the day went to Voirrey Taylor and Louise Shorten who won by 32 seconds in their double scull, which is a huge margin of victory over a 1.8 km course, and significantly quicker than winning crews in older age-group divisions. Lauren Parren also had a very good row indeed, winning her category in a single scull in a respectable time. Rory Tynan and Adrian Vulsteke came a creditable second in their double scull, building on their first win at the St Neots Head two weeks previously. Finally Sam Clift, Olivia Hooper and Zoe Adamson each had good races in their single sculls and achieved good places despite the torrid weather conditions.

St Neots Small Boats Head 2013

St Neots Rowing club was blessed with beautiful weather and good river conditions for its annual Small Boats Head on Sunday. Crews from as far afield as Newark and Leicester, Norwich and Broxbourne joined many local clubs to take part in this 2,600 metre race downstream. Entries had to be closed early due to the large number of crews wanting to race. The event is seen as a good first head race experience for juniors in particular.

Held over 5 divisions, each with 50 or more boats, the crews set off at intervals to complete the course. The fastest time was set by the Norwich men’s J18 double in 8 minutes 58 seconds. St Neots juniors achieved 7 wins, the fastest of which was by Rory Tynan and Adrian Vuylsteke in their novice double in 9:28. Other wins went to Josh Davies in the J17 single, Lauren Parren and Louise Shorten in the women’s J16 double, and Voirrey Taylor and Zoe Adamson in the women’s J15 double. Of note was a further win by Voirrey in the women’s J16 single event as she beat off competition in an older age group. Zoe and Lauren both won their singles categories as women’s J15 and novice. Whilst not winning, Molly Harper came a respectful third in the women’s J15 singles category, beating 11 other crews.

Senior entries were fielded in both the men’s and women’s categories and this was the first event for the novice women’s coxed four, who put in a good time in their first race, just one year on since they first sat in a boat.

The winners’ pots were presented by the club’s new captain, Ali Young, who has just become the third lady captain in the club’s history.

Bowball to bowball racing at St Neots Regatta

St Neots Rowing Club held its annual two-day regatta on the River Great Ouse last weekend, playing host to rowers from across the UK, as well as crews from Spain and Germany. The good weather set the scene for some highly competitive racing and spectators were frequently regaled with ‘bowball to bowball’ commentary from club member Kevin Sadler as crews approached the finishing line at the rowing club.

Racing on Saturday was over a 1,000 metre course with a bend at 500 metres causing a few steering issues for some crews. The 210, side-by-side races were set off at three minute intervals, and the winners were presented with their hard-fought trophies by St Neots Mayor, Andrew Hansard. There was also the added spectacle of a Dakota flyover (pictured right) in the afternoon, taking a slight deviation from a nearby air display to honour the regatta and support the RAF rowers.

Voirrey Taylor and Louise Shorten winning their J15 double

The Women’s MastersD 4 in their final.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Sunday, spectators could see the whole of the shorter 500 metre course from the Regatta Meadow, with even more excitement as 300 races were held every two minutes. St Neots rowers entered 16 events across the junior and senior squads, of which 9 crews were successful in their finals. On Saturday, there were wins for the women’s J15 and J16 doubles, and the mixed IM3 eight. On Sunday, the successes ramped up as the afternoon progressed for the home club, starting with wins for the women’s Masters D eight, a very well deserved win for Molly Harper in her J14 single, the junior boys’ IM3 coxless quad, and J18A double, and the women’s J14 and J15A doubles.

The regatta is one of the biggest in the country, second only to Henley in size, and is a very popular weekend amongst the rowing community. The many spectators played a key part in spurring the rowers on and there were some extremely close and exciting finishes.

Club Chairman Mick Staddon said:

This has been a hugely successful weekend for St Neots Rowing Club, with amazing racing from all competitors. On behalf of the club I would like to thank the many volunteers involved in running the regatta, from the regatta committee who begin planning some 7 months in advance, to officials and club members, sponsors, family and friends, all of whom make this possible. It’s a huge feat to run an event of this size and we have received great feedback from visiting clubs commenting that this is one of their favourite events in the rowing calendar.”

 

St Neots Rowing Club gearing up for Regatta weekend

St Neots Rowing Club crews have been busy competing over recent weeks in the run up to their prestigious two-day regatta this coming weekend.

Many of the junior squad and one senior took part in Bedford Rowing Club’s sprint regatta, with the only senior representative, John Knights, recording a win in his Masters G single. In extremely hot conditions the juniors built on their experience and many of the races had good St Neots representation.

Last week saw the senior squad take part in the annual Cambridge Town Bumps event on the River Cam, rowing each evening between Tuesday and Friday. The two eights, a men’s and a women’s, had a tough week trying to maintain their high status built up over the previous two years, and weren’t able to retain the John Jenner Trophy for 2013. Both crews had an exciting week with the men recording one bump, one row-over and were bumped twice, one of which was almost certainly as the result of a broken seat which meant that the crew member couldn’t actually move on the slide. They finished in twelfth position out of 51 crews, whilst the women’s crew were bumped each night, getting to within half a length of the crew they were chasing on the last night, but were unable to to convert to a bump before being caught by a chasing crew. On the previous night they had a narrow escape from a following eight that was unable to get round one of the tight bends and which ended up grounded on the bank. They also finished in twelfth position out of 41 crews.

This coming weekend of 27 and 28 July sees St Neots Rowing Club running its annual two-day regatta on the Regatta Meadow, opposite the club. The two days comprise 1k, side-by-side 2-lane races on Saturday, with races every 3 minutes, and 500m sprints on Sunday every 2 minutes. Rowers from as far away as Maidstone, Tyne, Leeds and Nottingham will be competing, as well as crews from Barcelona and Germany. The age range spans from 12 to 80 years, proving that rowing truly is good for body and soul. The racing provides exciting spectator viewing from the meadow, with cheers for the home team really spurring them on. There is a licensed bar, as well as hot and cold refreshments throughout the weekend and full race commentary. St Neots Mayor Andrew Hansard, will be presenting the winning pots on Saturday, from 5.30 pm.

Club Chairman Mick Staddon said:

Both junior and senior squads have worked hard at their various events recently, with some great results all round. We look forward to this coming regatta weekend which is an important two days as we raise much needed revenue for the club to maintain and renew its boat fleet and keep the club buoyant. Huge thanks go to the 100 or so volunteers who make the weekend happen, and we would love to see strong support from local residents and visitors alike.”

St Neots women visit Henley Masters

St Neots Rowing Club sent a women’s masters D coxed four to Henley Masters last week.  The crew of Ali Brown at stroke, Lynne Taylor, Louise Rushworth and Helen Knowles at bow, were coxed by Rachel Tackley over the 1,000 metre course.  The crew had only recently been put together in this formation, but with coaching from Ed Porteus over the previous few weeks had worked hard to get a competitive four together.

Conditions for the races were extremely good with a very light tail wind, and in the beautiful setting at Henley. The event is a shortened version of the prestigious course used for Henley Royal Regatta and attracts overseas crews from as far afield as America and Australia.

The semi-final took place in soaring temperatures on Friday and the crew took a comfortable 3 boat length win over Minerva Bath in 4 minutes, 17 seconds.  They knew they had a greater challenge in the final on Saturday against Ross Rowing Club.  In even higher temperatures they put in a really strong challenge but lost by just half a length, having pulled back from being one length down at the 500m point.  Even the following umpire congratulated both crews on a good race, the winning time for which was 4.01, so the St Neots crew proved that they were competitive.

The senior squad will be taking part in the exciting Cambridge Town Bumps this week, with a men’s and women’s crews in the top divisions each evening from Tuesday to Friday.

The weekend of 27 and 28 July sees the club hosting its two-day regatta weekend and hopes to see many St Neots townsfolk supporting their local club by sharing in the fun and cheering on the home side.

St Neots maintains the winning streak

Over consecutive recent weekends St Neots Rowing Club has seen a remarkable chain of success with wins for both juniors and seniors.

The junior squad had a very successful time at the National Schools Regatta in Nottingham at the end of May. Eight crews were entered, although two did not race due to a broken boat and the atrocious weather conditions on the Friday when racing was abandoned for the day. However, of the remaining six crews, four got to the semi finals, and two to the finals with one crew winning GOLD medal as well as the Tristan Hewins Commemorative Cup. Voirrey Taylor and Zoe Adamson (pictured left) had previously won gold medal in their double scull at the national inter-regional competition, but the National Schools Regatta is considered to be the highest level junior competition in the UK, and so winning GOLD confirmed them as the top crew in their category in the UK currently. These results are a remarkable achievement for a small provincial club like St Neots with limited resources, competing against the very wealthy schools and prestigious rowing clubs such as Henley, Walton, Eton and their like.

Peterborough was the next event for both junior and senior squads, with a well deserved win for John Knights in his masters G/H single sculls event (pictured above). Fergus Mitchell and Josh won their composite J16 double and Olivia Hooper (pictured above) had her first win in a composite W J15 double. Other crews competing were the men’s masters B novice coxed 4 (pictured above) who came a very close second by 1.5 seconds in their first race, most of the crew having only started rowing last year. Mia Hartwell and Natasha Wilson came second in the women’s IM3 pair, having only recently taken up racing in a pair. Club captain Alistair Mackie came third in his heat of the novice single sculls, having put in a good race sitting in second for the most part.

And last weekend saw a smaller contingent of juniors and seniors race at Star Rowing Club’s Regatta over a 1200m two lane course in Bedford.  Molly Tackley and Kate Lyster (pictured left) easily won in their J14 double heat and by 1.5 lengths  in the final, whilst Alison Brown and Helen Knowles recorded an emphatic win in the Masters E double category. The women’s masters D coxed 4 put up a good race with a strong finish but ran out of water and lost by one length.

Club Captain Alistair Mackie said:

The club has been well represented over recent weeks at various events with the juniors doing particularly well.  They are certainly getting noticed and bringing home the Commemorative Cup from Nottingham was a real coup.  The commitment and training is certainly paying off and well done to all the winners.”