Lucky thirteen for St Neots crews

St Neots held its annual Small Boats Head races on Sunday 7 October and achieved thirteen wins, with the junior squad dominating the day, beating off stiff competition. The river was flowing well after recent rainfall with the fastest time over the 2.6k distance set by the rowing club’s J18 quad of Nick Shorten, Adam Williams, Jack Jakins and Bryce Taylor.

This is the club’s second largest event of the year after the regatta which takes place in July, and was particularly important this year after the regatta’s cancellation due to adverse weather. Crews compete in a range of boat sizes, from single sculls to those with four crew members, and the many bends encountered in the early stages of the race can present a steering challenge to all, including the more experienced rowers.

The main head is rowed downstream from the Coneygeare campsite, with a shorter Mini-head of 1200 metres which is aimed at juniors beginning their rowing careers. Eleven clubs took part this year, including 26 crews from St Neots, with a high number of entries overall at 237.

Nick Shorten and Adam Williams won the J17 doubles event, whilst Rory Tynan and Fergus Mitchell took the J16 doubles. Shorten also won in the Novice single sculls and Taylor took the IM3 single sculls categories. The girls squad was very successful with Lauren Parren, Louise Shorten, Olivia Hooper and Zoe Adamson, coxed by Danni Lewell winning their J15 quad event. Louise and Lauren paired up to win their J15 double sculls, and Olivia paired up with Ellie Sadler to win the J16 event. Louise picked up her third prize when she beat the opposition in the J16 single sculls, whilst Zoe did the same in the J14 sculls, and Lauren followed on in the J15 sculls, impressively beating 14 other contestants.

There were also wins in the Mini-head for Shaun Parren and Jamie Lynn in their J14B event, and Mollie Harper and Zoe Adamson in the J15B race. The boys quad of Isak Owen, brothers Michael and Thomas Jeff and Michael Meeks, coxed by James Cass were victorious in their J14B event.

Representing the senior squad there was a win for Natasha Wilson and Josh Dexter in the mixed IM3 double sculls, who put in a blistering pace after only a couple of pre-race outings. And the ladies novice four of Rachel Tackley, Louise Rushworth, Vanessa Ponter and Ann-Marie Wragg, coxed by Ali Young, were very excited to have won their category.

The day’s organiser and one of the club’s junior coaches, Helen Knowles said:

I am very pleased with the juniors’ performances today. Despite some of them having personal doubts before their races, they all showed great promise for the future. Many rowed in events above their ages and they all really stepped up, they should feel very pleased with themselves.”

Regatta disappointment becomes Bumps jubilation

St Neots Rowing Club’s bitter disappointment at having to cancel its regatta last weekend turned into immense jubilation when its three senior crews were successful at last week’s Cambridge Town Bumps. The club successfully retained the John Jenner Trophy for the second year running, beating ten other clubs.  This trophy is awarded to the club attaining the best overall results across the four days of racing, divided by the number of crews entered by that club.

St Neots entered three eights, a men’s and two women’s, and all three crews provided adrenaline-filled excitement to the watching spectators as they raced to improve their placings on the previous, and very successful, year.

The racing is held over four evenings on the River Cam and eights are lined up in separate divisions at set intervals along the river bank. A cannon is fired at countdown intervals until the final start cannon, at which point the crews strain every muscle in an explosion of energy to get a quicker start than the boat they are following. The aim is to catch and overlap the next crew before being caught by the chasing crew.  For the spectators it’s an exhilarating spectacle as boats catch and overlap, even physically bumping, and for the crews it’s either a few moments of immense power and speed and it’s all over, or for others it becomes an endurance test as they continue to chase down over a 2 kilometre distance.

The women’s second crew set the agenda each evening, with a row over the first night and three successive bumps on the following evenings, achieving a creditable 11th place in their division overall, three places higher. The women’s first crew racing in a higher division was bumped the first two evenings, with the second bump taking place just 400 metres from the finish. They then achieved two subsequent demanding row-overs, easily fending off the chasing crews but unable to bump the crew ahead. On all nights they had come to within half a boat-length of the preceding crew but were just unable to complete the bump.  They showed true grit and finished in a very creditable eighth place overall.

The men’s first eight bumped on three nights with one row-over and on the last night found themselves bumping the same crew twice, due to a dubious marshalling call. Other challenges over the week were hitting the bank and one crew member crabbing his blade but on all occasions the crew recovered very well and quickly made up time, much to the surprise of their victims.

Club Chairman Ed Porteus, who organised the St Neots crews and stroked the men’s crew said:

It really is a significant achievement for St Neots to retain this trophy for two years running. All three crews put in a magnificent effort over the four nights, with high drama on each evening making this a real victory for all the club’s rowers who showed true grit and determination. Our presence was very much felt at the event, and to achieve 6 bumps between us was just enough to pip City who had 18 boats taking part.”

Image courtesy of www.jetphotographic.com

St Neots Regatta 2012 latest victim of appalling weather

It is with real sadness that St Neots Rowing Club had to take the decision to cancel its two-day regatta planned for the weekend of 21-22 July 2012. The regatta meadow where the event is run from is just too waterlogged to allow access of any sort, and the river is flowing too fast. Added to which the weather forecast for the coming week won’t allow the meadow to dry out sufficiently, and it would be unsafe to run the regatta.

This would have been a bumper regatta for the club as there were many new sponsors keen to sponsor some 450 races across the weekend. And the entry was over-subscribed so there were clearly many clubs wanting to compete.

The club has received many messages from clubs who were looking forward to the weekend, including Isle of Ely whose captain said that they all look forward to our regatta, ‘not only for the excellent racing but it’s one of the nicest regattas on the circuit – well organised, brilliant atmosphere, not to mention Pimms O’Clock announcements – a very empty next weekend – such a shame! But, although a hard decision, nice to see that as expected, St Neots looking out for the safety and enjoyment of all involved’. Peterborough Rowing Club’s John Canton commented ‘this is indeed very sad news and it is extraordinary how many events have fallen victim to the weather this year. Our members look forward to your regatta and it is always our biggest turn-out away from home. I can appreciate that this will also be a blow to your club which I know works very hard to run what is a major regatta weekend.’

This is the latest in a series of rowing events that have had to be cancelled during the 2012 sprint racing season and it is very frustrating for both seasoned and novice rowers of all ages. St Neots’ ladies novice four are particularly frustrated as they were hoping to lose their novice status at their home regatta this year.

Many hours have already been put in by the club’s regatta committee to plan and co- ordinate the weekend, but they will re-group and begin planning next year’s regatta with all fingers very much crossed for better weather.

Efforts will now be focused on planning the Small Boats Head Races taking place on Sunday 7 October as the next fundraising opportunity for the club, albeit on a smaller scale.

The club would like to thank all those sponsors who had come forward to support their local rowing club and we hope to be able to work with them as we look ahead to the 2013 regatta.

Club Chairman Edward Porteus said:

The regatta is the most important event of the year for our club and having to cancel is a major blow. It is a very popular event and crews travel some distance to take part. It is the biggest fund raiser for the club, generating much needed income to maintain the boathouse and boats, and losing this income is devastating.’

St Neots crew row on the Olympic course

Three St Neots crews had a taste of Olympic fever when they took to the water last Sunday. With just seven weeks until the world’s sporting focus is firmly on the London 2012 Olympic Games, Dorney Lake, Eton, the venue for canoeing and rowing events, hosted the Marlow Regatta over the two days. This gives athletes and spectators alike a unique opportunity to race and visit the facility, before it becomes the backdrop to an exciting two weeks of Olympic competition.

Two women’s crews and a men’s single took part in the 1,000 metre race on Sunday, when conditions had thankfully calmed down from the previous day. Club Captain, Alistair Mackie, was the first to race in a heat for the Intermediate 3 single sculls category, coming in fifth.  Next to race was the women’s Masters D coxed four with Helen Knowles at stroke, Lynne Taylor, Sarah Davies and Ali Brown at bow, coxed by Rachel Tackley, in a straight final. The ladies had a strong sprint start and finished in third place, just 11 seconds behind the winning crew. The women’s Novice coxed four were next to race in a straight final with four other crews, with Rachel Tackley at stroke, Lynne Taylor, Louise Rushworth and Ali Young, coxed by Ali Brown. The ladies again had a strong start and finished fourth, having pulled back strongly against the leading crews, and well ahead of the last crew.

Club Captain Alistair Mackie said:

It was a relief that the conditions were calmer and we were all able to enjoy competing on the Olympic course in the Olympic year. We could all dream that we were Olympians for a short while!  It was great to see the work going on in preparation for an amazing spectacle. And all this starts just one week after St Neots Rowing Club’s own version”

New boats named at St Neots Rowing Club

Members of St Neots Rowing Club gathered on Sunday to officially name three new racing boats recently purchased by the club. The main body of funding toward the three craft came from a £10k grant from Sport England organised by Helen Knowles on behalf of the club. A second and very special contribution came as a legacy from the family of the late Eric Davies who enjoyed a long history with the club. The rowing club provided the balance of funds to pay for these valued boats.

  • ‘Eric’s Legacy’ is a double scull and was named by his son Robin, who is also currently President of the club.
  • The second boat is a single scull named after the club’s first World Champion Jacqui Round, and was unveiled by her after a fantastic eulogy from her former coach and Vice Chairman of the club, Martyn Rooney.
  • The third boat, a single scull named ‘Diamond’ in recognition of the Queen’s Jubilee, was unveiled by Nick Shorten, Junior Captain.

Pictured- Robin Davies (Background) Jacqui Round and Nick Shorten (Foreground) Photograph by Mick Staddon

The club also recently received a grant from St Neots Town Council under the Grant Aid scheme, which was doubled by the club to purchase a set of sculling blades for its new junior members to use.

Members of the senior squad will be in action this coming Sunday at the National Masters event held at the National Watersports Centre, Nottingham.

Pictured – Robin Davies unveiling Eric’s Legacy Photographs by Mick Staddon