National Schools Regatta: the full story

St Neots Rowing Club Juniors had a very successful time at the National Schools Regatta at the last weekend in May. Eight crews were entered – two did not race, with one due to a broken boat, and the other due to 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 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.

Friday

Voirrey Taylor and Zoe Adamson won GOLD medal and the Tristan Hewins Commemorative Cup in their WJ14 2x, beating off strong competition from Glasgow Academy and Aberdeen Combined Schools. The weather was bad and deteriorating with significant waves and heavy downpours of rain, so unfortunately racing was abandoned in the afternoon, and Louise Shorten and Lauren Parr did not get to race in their WJ15 2x where they would have been expected to medal. A cold and wet overnight campsite followed.

Saturday

Fergus Mitchell, Adrian Veylsteke, Sam Clift, Rory Tynan raced in their J16 4x- reaching the semi finals where they were knocked out, but their semi final time was the 6th fastest of the day. So for a new crew, in context, that puts them 6th fastest in the country, so bags of potential. Adam Williams and Nick Shorten also reached the semi finals in their CH 2x, but did not have a good start to the race and ended up coming 4th in their semi – poor starts were a feature of several boats and something we will work on. Ellie Sadler and Olivia Hooper then exceeded expectations in their WJ16 2x with a tremendous performance in a highly competitive field to reach the semis and post the 14th fastest time in their category on the day.

Sunday

Disaster struck – Adam Williams, Ethan Page, Nick shorten and Bryce Taylor would have been expected to make the final and potentially medal in their CH 4x-, but the boat broke at the start of the race, with the footplate stretchers ripping off and no repair possible in time – real shame that they were let down by poor equipment, and so an application for a new 75kg 4x- can be expected at Rowing Committee. If we are building a nationally competitive junior squad, we need the equipment to support them. This is especially true as we are targeting a Henley boat in 2014. The boys were devastated.

Then Louise and Lauren finally got to race, with Voirrey and Zoe making up a J15 4x+ coxed by Molly Tackley, winning their semi final in 8m9s which was the equal fastest qualifying time with Henley. Then the weather again took its toll – whilst Henley and other top clubs rested in their air conditioned tents and buses, our girls sweated under canvass on a very hot & sunny day for 4 hours, and it showed in the final where they finished in a slower time of 8m22s – had they repeated their performance in the semi, they would have got the silver medal position, 1 second behind Henley.

Lastly, the ever improving Fergus showed us just how much he was improving by putting up a fantastic race in the semi finals in the J16 1x catagory. He came third in a very close finish, narrowly beaten by Josh Davies who is also a member at St Neots, but was rowing for Huntingdon due to competition rules. So Fergus didn’t make the final, but Josh did where he put in a very good performance but unfortunately did not medal.

In summary, St Neots Rowing Club juniors continue to make waves punching above their weight and establishing themselves as highly credible competitors at National level. This is in line with SNRC Club Development Strategy.

 

British Masters gold and silver win for St Neots women

St Neots Rowing Club sent 5 crews to the British Rowing Masters Championships at Nottingham last weekend. Two of the crews brought back a gold and silver medal after a day of beautiful rowing conditions and fierce competition.

The gold medal was won by the victorious novice ladies crew of Rachel Tackley, Lynne Taylor, Louise Rushworth and Ali Young, coxed by Sarah Porteus. These ladies have been aiming to lose their novice status for some time and this was also a successful return to the crew by Ali Young after injury. They dominated the race throughout and were well ahead of the second placed crew with a time of 4 minutes 15 seconds over the 1km course.

The silver medal was won by the women’s Masters C crew of Tash Wilson, Lynne Taylor, Louise Rushworth and Helen Knowles, again coxed by Sarah Porteus. The race for second place was a strong one and the ladies pulled away strongly from the third placed crew as the finish approached in 4 minutes flat.

The ladies Masters D eight came 6th in their final, a race where the last three boats were separated by just .007 of a second, and it was unlucky that the eight came at the wrong end of this time in 3.26. Sarah Porteus, Sarah Davies, Dione Page and Ali Brown joined Helen Knowles, Tash Wilson, Lynne Taylor and Louise Rushworth in this crew, coxed by Rachel Tackley.

Ali Brown and Helen Knowles went in the first race of the day in their Masters E double final, coming in fifth. Their performance showed that improvements have been made since their previous race last year, with a time of 4.47.

The only male to race was John Knights who came in 4th in the heat and 6th in the final in his Masters F category of single sculls. John’s comment on finishing was ‘That was hard work’.

Club Chairman Mick Staddon said:

I am so pleased that the novice ladies have finally won a race and lost their novice status. It’s always a pivotal moment in the rowing world and the ladies have received the club’s traditional ceremony of being thrown in the river.”

St Neots Juniors bring home four medals

St Neots Juniors were remarkably successful in representing Eastern England at the National Junior Inter-Regional Rowing Finals at Nottingham on Saturday 27 April. The club’s juniors contributed five crews, winning two Gold medals, two Silver, and a forth place, establishing the junior section as one of the strongest around.

Louise Shorten and Lauren Parren competed in their WJ15 2x, Voirrey Taylor and Zoe Adamson in their WJ14 2x, Louise in her WJ15 1x, and Zoe in her WJ14 1x. Josh Davies and Fergus Mitchell competed in their J16 2x. All the crews sailed through the qualifying heats, making their finals.

Louise was given a really tight turnaround time between her 1x and her 2x with Lauren, so really applied all her efforts in the 2x, and came a very respectable 4th in the WJ15 1x category final. Louise and Lauren raced their 2x in a highly competitive final, lying in 4th position 500m from the finish, then 3rd until 100m out, then pipped the other two boats virtually on the line to win the Gold medal. It was one of the most exciting finishes of the day, and many paid tribute to the girls on their finishing.

Zoe made a really good effort in her 1x and fought all the way to the end gaining the Silver medal in the final, then joined Voirrey in the 2x to give a masterclass in the final, pulling away from other crews with ease, and winning the Gold medal. Their time in the qualifying heat was also exceptional and drew many comments.

Josh and Fergus in their J16 2x continue to harass the Marlow boat which is very dominant in this category. At GB trials they came very close to this crew, and in the final they got even closer, pushing Marlow all the way to the end, but losing by just under 2 seconds. It was very pleasing to see the frustration on the faces of the Marlow crew at their inability to create clear water between them, and probably had the race been 500m longer, the St Neots lads would have overtaken them.

Junior Coach Andy Taylor said:

St Neots Juniors entered five of the 24 race categories, gaining around 25% of the points that Eastern England got in total. Voirrey and Zoe have given us a new race tactic called New Race which I intend to apply to the other junior crews, so thanks girls. And we’ll make sure that Josh and Fergus race against the Marlow boys very soon as I’m confident they will beat them.

It was a very good day indeed!”

100km sponsored row to support Red Nose Day

A group of 23 rowers from St Neots Rowing Club took part in a 100km indoor rowing event to support Red Nose Day.

The 17 juniors and 6 senior men took one minute stints on two indoor rowing machines to notch up a total of 100 kms in just under 3 hours. Each minute was rowed with as much effort and speed as each rower could muster before jumping off the machine for the next person to seamlessly take over. With huge amounts of encouragement shared between the rowers and plenty of cake to keep them fuelled, they were all absolutely exhausted at the end of the three hours. But between them they have raised approximately £800 which will be split equally between St Neots Rowing Club and the Red Nose charity.

Club Captain Alistair Mackie, who was one of those taking part, said:

It was a very noisy three hours, but well worth every minute of it, I think! Every one of those taking part worked really hard and we finished the challenge in a very fast time indeed.”

St Neots junior rowers selected to represent the Eastern region

On March 8th, the Elite Juniors from St Neots Rowing Club took part in the Junior Sculling Head at Eton Dorney, the same venue used for rowing at the London Olympics, and came away with excellent results. This is a national event with the top crews from around the country competing for the very prestigious honour of winning their category. The boys’ J18 coxless quad of Adam Williams, Nick Shorten, Bryce Taylor and Fergus Mitchell came seventh out of 30, with the J15 girls’ coxed quad made up of Louise Shorten, Lauren Parren, Zoe Adamson, and Voirrey Taylor, coxed by Ellie Sadler, coming fifth in their division of 48. A mixed crew in a J16 quad of Rory Tynan, Adrian Vuylsteke, Olivia Hooper and Sam Clift came an admirable twentieth against some 40 teams composed entirely of older juniors. This was an exceptional performance by the St Neots Juniors.

Two days later on March 10th, the same juniors went to the Junior Inter-Regional Rowing Team East Trials in Peterborough to decide who will represent the Eastern region in the UK- wide inter-regional competition later this year. First division saw Fergus Mitchell come a close third in his single scull at J16, then Fergus went on to win in his J16 double scull as a composite boat with Josh Davies from Huntingdon. In the J15 single sculls, Louise Shorten came first with Lauren Parren in second. In the J14 single sculls, Zoe Adamson won with Voirrey Taylor coming second, despite Voirrey having to overtake two boats who wouldn’t move aside to let her through as they should do, and which cost her precious seconds. Louise and Lauren then won the J15 double scull category, and Voirrey and Zoe won in their J14 double scull. Olivia Hooper also demonstrated that she is on the road back to full fitness after injury by coming a very admirable fifth in her J15 single scull.

The outcome of the JIRR Team East Trials is that Fergus and Josh will represent the Eastern Region in their J16 double scull. Louise was selected as the J15 single sculler, Zoe was selected as the J14 single sculler, Louise and Lauren were selected as the J15 double scull, and Zoe and Voirrey selected as the J14 double scull. These elite juniors from St Neots RC will therefore represent the Eastern Region at the inter-regional championships in Nottingham later this year. A significant achievement all round.

Lastly, following on from Adam Williams participating in GB trials at J18 late last year and performing so well, Fergus Mitchell was invited to the J16 GB trials in Boston in late February and passed these trials in order to qualify for the GB J16 training camp in Nottingham in April. The success of Adam and Fergus at GB level, as well as the performances at the Sculling Head and Team East trials, put the St Neots Rowing Club name firmly in the limelight.

Andy Taylor, one of the junior coaches said:

All the juniors worked really hard and raced in very wet conditions at the Sculling Head, with only marginally better conditions on the Sunday. They’ve all done extremely well against a high number of other competitors and the club is very proud of their achievements.

St Neots women return to The Thames

On Saturday a women’s crew took part in the 73rd Women’s Head of the River Race on the River Thames, along with 306 other crews.  Competitors start at 10 second intervals and the entire race can take over two hours for all eights with nearly 3,000 rowers and coxes to complete the 6.8 kilometre course between Chiswick and Putney Bridges.

Thankfully the weather settled somewhat, and although overcast the conditions were very good with little wind, no rain and a fast flowing river on the returning tide.  The Intermediate 3 crew of Natasha Wilson at stroke, Mia Hartwell, Ali Brown, Lynne Taylor, Helen Knowles, Louise Rushworth, Sarah Davies and Dione Page at bow were ably coxed by Ali Young.

In an exciting race where the crew were three abreast across the course with their competitors on occasion, and were caught on the bow by another crew with poor steering, the cox kept the crew focused throughout the race and they maintained a steady rate of 30 strokes a minute throughout the race.  The race time was 21.57 seconds which did mean that the crew went down the rankings although they maintained their percentage difference versus the fastest time of the winning crew as last year.  And all with a bent rudder as a consequence of boating on a shallow concrete bank.

The women will be competing next at the Veterans’ Head of the River Race on 24 March, preceded by a men’s crew the day before.

Club Captain Alistair Mackie said:

It’s been a very frustrating winter with many rowing events cancelled by flooding and snow, and the ladies were keen to be racing competitively again. The crew have worked hard over the winter months to get out on the water when conditions allowed, backed up by indoor training.”

St Neots rowers maintain momentum

Adam Williams from St Neots Rowing Club competed at his first GB junior trials at Boston in Lincolnshire last weekend.

In February this year Adam made the switch from his first sporting passion, that of rugby, to concentrate on his rowing. Ever since, Adam and his St Neots’ team mates have been on an intensive training programme which has led to some great performances this year, including a bronze medal for Adam and Nick Shorten at the National Rowing Championships.

In October 2012, Adam achieved the required 2km ergo time to be invited to trial for Great Britain Junior Squad. Adam (16) competed against 136 other male athletes, aged 16 to 17, in single sculling boats over a 5,000m course at Boston. The rowing conditions were good and Adam finished 87th in a time of 19 minutes 34 seconds. This is a great start for Adam who will continue to train hard for his club and work towards his GB ambitions whilst studying for his A-Levels at Longsands Academy.

Other St Neots crews also competed at Bedford Star Club’s Autumn Small Boats Head the same weekend and came away with some successes. In beautiful rowing conditions John Knights, the club’s most senior sculler, recorded a victory in his Masters G single sculls category and at the junior end Zoe Adamson and Voirrey Taylor won their Junior 14 double sculls category. Molly Harper was the other junior to race in her J14 single scull and will have gained good experience.

The senior contingent comprised three ladies’crews. The novice ladies coxed four won their category, although unfortunately their opposition withdrew, the masters D ladies coxed four achieved second place, and the novice coxless quad also gained second place in their first race of this category, and with just three training sessions as this crew in preparation. The mixed IM2 double sculls of Mia Hartwell and Josh Dexter continued to reign with their string of wins.

Gritty performance at Henley Head of River

Henley Sculls Head of the River Race provided testing conditions for St Neots Rowing Club Juniors on Saturday, with a fast stream and headwind over the 3k Thames course.  This did not deter the youngsters who all put in a gritty performance in all their events, resulting in wins for four of them. Many of the juniors took part in two events each, with all of them doing a single sculls race.

The J18 double of Nick Shorten and Adam Williams won their category with the fifth fastest time of the day, an impressive 13 minutes and 21 seconds. The WJ14 coxed quad of Louise Shorten, Zoe Adamson, Voirrey Taylor and Lauren Parren, coxed by younger brother Shaun Parren beat their opposition in 14:26. Louise Shorten then went on to win her WJ15 single sculls event with a time of 16:11, with Zoe Adamson achieving 17:06 in the WJ14 single sculls category.

Other juniors who took part were Rory Tynan, Fergus Mitchell and Ellie Sadler, who with the other juniors, will have gained invaluable experience from rowing on tidal water on an unfamiliar course.

The only senior crew to take part was that of the WMasters E handicap double of Ali Brown and Helen Knowles, who gained a creditable second place in 16:46 (time adjusted).

One of the junior coaches Helen Knowles said:

All the juniors did exceptionally well in difficult conditions.  In fact it wasn’t until mid-afternoon the day before that we knew the event would be on due to fast flowing water.  Add in the head wind and we all had a hard row. They will all have learned from this and showed real grit.”

Triple success for St Neots senior rowers

Testing weather conditions with strong, blustery cross winds, didn’t deter the St Neots Rowing Club Seniors on Saturday, who came away with 100% success at the Huntingdon Head Races. Three senior crews were entered and all won their categories over a 4k distance.

First to go were the Masters C men’s coxed four of Graham Mailer at stroke, Clive Emerson, Stuart Williams and Kevin Sadler, coxed by James Cass. Strong winds in their first division caught the boat at one point, resulting in an encounter with the bank, but this didn’t stop the men from winning their category.

In the second division, it was the turn of the women’s Masters D coxed four with stroke Ali Brown, Lynne Taylor, Sarah Davies, Dione Page and coxed by Ali Young. Their race wasn’t without incident either as there was a coming together with a women’s double they were overtaking which resulted in stroke’s blade getting caught under the bows of the double.  Nonetheless the ladies regained their impetus to win their category.

It was then the turn of the men’s eight when Mailer, Emerson and Williams were joined by Alistair Mackie, Josh Dexter, Adam Williams, Bryce Taylor and Nick Shorten, coxed by Mia Hartwell. Conditions for this division became very stormy with heavy rain, sleet and high winds, plus a quad running into them, but again the crew refocused to win their event.

John Knights did a time only race in the single sculls Masters F category and did record the fastest time for this event.

Club Captain Alistair Mackie said:

Conditions were far from ideal with high winds, and driving rain during the third division in particular, so the seniors all did extremely well.  And particularly so as all crews were pulled together at the last minute so had to quickly gel as cohesive crews in order to win their events.”

St Neots junior rowers continue to reign

St Neots Rowing Club sent a strong contingent of crews to compete in the Bedford Autumn Small Boats Head on Sunday 14 October and came home with an impressive 11 wins, 9 of which were achieved by the junior squad.  Conditions throughout the day were ideal for racing; bright and sunny with no breeze.

In the women’s J14 single scull event, Voirrey Taylor overcame her nerves in her first singles event, to come top in a field of 13.  Louise Shorten took top place in the J14 single scull class with Lauren Parren and Hannah Bousefield placing 3rd and 7th out of a strong field of 32 competitors. Hannah and Voirrey joined forces with Zoe Adamson and Molly Harper and coxed by Danni Lewell won the J14 coxed quad event.

Louise and Lauren then doubled up with Olivia Hooper and Ellie Sadler, with Danni as cox, to row in the senior category of women’s novice coxed quad and take the winning position.

Not satisfied with these successes, Louise and Lauren also won the J15 doubles event with a time some 25 seconds ahead of their second place competitors and Zoe and Molly doubled up to win their J14 event.

For the boys there were wins in the J18 doubles for Adam Williams and Nick Shorten, and for Rory Tynan and Fergus Mitchell in their J16 doubles.  Like the girls, the boys doubled up with Nick Shorten and Bryce Taylor to earn a win in the J18 coxless quad and recorded the 4th fastest time of the day.

For the seniors, the women’s novice coxed four won their event, with Lynne Taylor at stroke, Rachel Tackley, Amanda Kruvand and Louise Rushworth, coxed by Ali Young. This crew had only had one previous outing prior to racing and this was the first race for Amanda Kruvand. Mia Hartwell and Josh Dexter won in their mixed IM3 doubles category.

Also competing were the Women’s Masters E 2x of Helen Knowles and Ali Brown; in the J18 2x Bryce Taylor and Jack Jakins, J16 2x Giovanni Chinnici and Sam Clift, Masters G 1x John Knights, Masters B 1x Stuart Williams, WIM 3 coxed four of Lynne Taylor, Sarah Porteus, Sarah Davies and Mia Hartwell, coxed by Rachel Tackley.

Junior coach Helen Knowles said:

The juniors, particularly the girls, have built on their experience and success at the previous week’s racing at their own club’s Small Boats Head to produce some very creditable racing – overall a stunning day’s results.”