Cambridge Winter League 1-of-3

14th January 2024 was first of three instalments of Cambridge Winter League.

The first race of 2024 on the freezing River Cam on the 14th January. A great variety of boats and crews across the different competitive squads of juniors, women and men. As Winter League is a Head race and the first of three instalments, boats can work hard over the coming months to improve the time on their first run of the 2.6km course from the A14 bridge and finishing at the Green Dragon Bridge.

Looking forward and training hard for the next two races in February and March.

Men’s squad:
Matt and Brad 2x 0:12:28.9
Matt, Brad, Dominic and Adrian coxed by Rachel 0:11:58.2
8+ 0:12:27.6
4 Hellett 0:12:52.5
4 Rob Stirling 0:13:29.4
Andy W Open novice
Masters D 0:12:32.0

Women’s
4- Lou, Jaionie, Clara, Becki – 0:13:16.7 tricky overtake on a tight corner and a small pause before finishing the race.
4x Charlie, Maartje, Bella, Sarah 0:13:38.6
Echeveste 4 x 0:12:05.9

Three boasts from the Masters competitive squad
Masters 0:15:05.6 (adjusted)
Christina Dunn 0:16:33.0

Juniors
Bella 0:13:58.7 4x
Ethan 4x 0:12:54.3 4x
Poppy 2x 0:15:31.8
Molly 2x 0:15:53.2

St Neots Small Boats Head Returns!

The 1st of October 2023 transitioned us from the summer regatta season to the autumnal head race season and marked the successful return of St Neots Small Boats Head Race after several years.

There were two course options to enter: the Main Head race at 2.6km and the Mini Head Race at 1.2km. It was fantastic to have boats racing from 9 different clubs, with 123 races throughout the day.

St Neots entered into 17 races across the four divisions with a great mix of entries from the Juniors, Seniors, and Masters squads.

St Neots races on the day included a Masters Womens 4+ and a Men’s Masters 4x, both coming second in their categories.

Bradley Wilies and Matthew Wigmore raced in the hotly contested open singles category and Jaione Echeveste placed second in the Women’s Masters singles, missing out on first place by 2 seconds.

The junior squad entered several singles, doubles and quads across the day, building valuable experience for the coming Head race season.

Pots were won by: Jacqui Round’s composite mixed double;  Miriam Gilbert in the women’s J14 singles; and Mia Hartwell (cox), Becki Dixon, Clara Zwetsloot, Jaione Echeveste and Olivia Marsh in the Women’s coxed fours.

St. Ives won the Harry Evans memorial cup for most successful club on the day.

Thanks to the organisers, volunteers, competitors and supporters for making the event such a success. Special thanks to Huw Jarman (Club Chair) and Adrian Vuylsteke for rekindling the event and making it such a success.

St Neots Regatta 22-23 July 2023

Rowers from across the country descended on the River Ouse this weekend for the St Neots Rowing Club Regatta. A weekend that saw crews from 31 clubs competing in almost 400 races.

St Neots racing started with a successful composite crew with Derby Rowing Club, the crew victorious in the Women’s 8+ category against Broxbourne Rowing Club. The fortunes of the St Neots men were mixed in the Open 8+: off the back of a successful week at the Cambridge Rowing Association’s Town Bumps, the second men’s boat fell victim to Broxbourne in their first round race; the first boat rowed through both the London Otters and Peterborough to set up a final against the same Broxbourne crew, avenging their club-mates with a one-length win. The first pot (the prize for winning a rowing race) for half of the crew saw Matthew Wigmore, Dan Grimes, Mark Cooney and Cam Nuttall all end up in the river, as is tradition for losing their novice status.

There was similar success for St Neots in Saturday’s sculling events. The scratch Women’s double of Jaoine Evereste and Valentina Futoryanova enjoyed victory over Globe, and then two Derby crews to win their category. The Open coxless four of Huw Jarman (club Chair), Adam Williams, Adrian Vuylsteke and Dominic Chapman sailed to a victory in all three of their races, paddling over the finish line with a margin of over three boat lengths.

Sunday saw much better weather with the afternoon turning sunny and bright with some breeze. Matthew Wigmore won his first race in the open single sculls against Sudbury but lost in the semi-final to Broxbourne who went on to win the division. The mixed double composite Jacqui Round and Joel Grant Jones from Bedford Star; there were a total of ten boats in their category and the double beat Leeds, Bedford and then Sudbury in the final. There was further success from the junior squad in the J14 1 x boy’s single sculls: Ethan Sparrow had an excellent day of racing winning his quarter-final against Bedford Star and went on to win his semi-final against Peterborough but lost out to Bedford by one and a half lengths in the final.

Thanks to all those that went towards making the weekend a great success: organisers, sponsors, competitors and observers

Cambridge Town Bumps 2023

St Neots Rowing Club entered three boats into the 2023 Cambridge Rowing Association Town Bumps, one women’s and two men’s boats.

There was a great mix of experienced bumps rowers and first time racers with good weather and racing conditions throughout the week. Although as expected, it wouldn’t be Bumps if there wasn’t a little drama.

As a result of the success of previous years’ W1 boats, the Women’s 8 started in 7th position in Division 1, directly under the A14 bridge and the closest station to the start cannon. Tuesday allowed the Women’s boats to get their bearings and figure out how they compared to the other crews on the river. The bumps on the subsequent evenings came as a result of a mixture of faster crews starting behind the high 7th position and some challenging pile up situations on the river ahead. However, the reaction and drive from the women’s boat in response to some fast crews chasing them was a positive reflection of their rowing and increasing cohesion as a crew.

M1 started 4th in div 2; two calm evenings of row overs with clear water between them and the chasing crews started their week of racing. Day two and three delivered the most excitement with big pushes from the start in an attempt to chase down the crew from Xpress in front. Before getting bumped around Grassy corner on the third evening of racing they caught up to half a length, but the bump eluded the top boat of St. Neots men for the second year running.

M2 started 4th in div 3 and for the majority of the boat this was their first Bumps experience. The first of the three crews to row each night, the eight rowers covered the most kilometres across their four days with some tense row overs which required the crew to dig deep across the 2.6 km course – starting from night one. The only one of the St Neots crews to bump and wear some gorgeous willow crowns; M2 bumped on their penultimate night of racing. Bumps week was held together by fabulous coxing from Mia Hartwell and Matthew Wigmore; both coxes keeping cool under the pressure of the cannons and the chaotic water.
Further consistent support and excellent bank partying from Jacqui Round and Dominic Chapman with wider St Neots club members coming along on various nights to cheer as well
as support the event on marshalling duties. Thanks to Combined Colleges for the use of their landing stage and to CRA for another year of the most peculiar rowing event in the calendar.

Results:
         1  2  3 4
W1  😐😓😓😓
M1  😐😐😓😐
M2  😐😐😃😐
Crews
W1
Mia Hartwell (c)
Becky Dixon (s)
Nat Yanusauskas
Tash Wilson
Hannah Towns (Women’s vice captain)
Emily Usher
Olivia Marsh
Clara Zwetsloot
Dominie Clark (b)

M1:
Mia Hartwell (c)
Matt Wigmore
Brad Willies
Tom Hurrell
Dan Grimes
Rob Stirling (Men’s vice captain)
Mark Cooney
Cam Nuttall (b)

M2:
Matthew Wigmore (c)
Paul Gibson (s)
Ryan Keating
Tim Clifford
Ian Cunningham
Dean Whittington
Nigel Etherington
Liam Cullen
Luke Hancock
Brandon Durhan
Jason Sparrow (b)

Peterborough Regatta 3rd and 4th June 2023

Juniors’ race report

The Junior Squad had four entries in the Peterborough Spring Regatta on 3rd June 2023, for half of the team it was their first regatta since joining through the Learn to Row in September 2022.

After a lengthy discussion about how much cake we really needed for the day, we set off with the trailer and arrived in Peterborough at 07:50am. Connie and Molly were racing first at 09:24; followed by a squad from the Seniors and then Ethan at 10:12; Poppy and Alex were at 11:00; and Bella at 15:28.

90 minutes before your race may seem ages but there is so much to do from delicately removing your boat from a packed trailer, rigging your boat, collecting your race numbers, warming up and finally navigating your way to the water. Fergie Brazier was the coach for the day with Jim Farrell, texting tips and advice from afar! Although it was a lovely sunny day, it was cool enough for base layers, with a strong and sometimes bitter wind.

Connie and Molly made their way down the access lane to the start, with their trademark banter in full swing which is completely normal for these two friends from school! They came second in their heat with a time of 05:37, putting them in the B Final at 12:08. Thankfully, Molly’s blade snapped past the finishing line and not during the race. A really pleasing result for their first Regatta as a double.

Connie, Molly and Fergie

Ethan was confidently next on the water, finishing with an excellent time of 05:09, making him 2nd in his heat, which secured his place in the A final at 12:52.

Ethan during the race

Poppy and Alex are a newly formed double, entering this regatta as a mixed J15. The wind was against this pair as it had picked up from earlier in the day, they came third in their heat with a respectful time of 05:15.

Alex and Poppy

Next was the B Final for Connie and Molly which from the halfway point to the end was nail biting. At halfway they were a good boat length in front of the competition which narrowed significantly towards the finishing line. They finished with a time of 05:40.

In quick succession was Ethan’s final where he came in with a time of 05:12. Unfortunately, this wasn’t enough for first but an excellent time for the course, especially as the wind speed had increased. After Ethan’s final soon came Bella’s turn. Like Poppy and Alex, she also had the wind against her and a challenging start, finishing with a time of 05:53. In her own words, lessons were learnt and a very welcome break from studying was had!

Men’s race report

On Saturday the men’s competitive squad entered an open 4+ of Liam Cullen, Cam Nuttall, Paul Gibson and Luke Hancock, coxed by Rachel Tackley and which came sixth overall in the division. Next was an open 4- of Dan Grimes, Brad Willies, Rob Stirling and Mark Cooney. The open 8+ coxed by Rachel Tackley and stroked by Matthew Wigmore came to a thrilling finish which saw St Neots come second by 0.2 seconds to Leicester in a close battle right to the final strokes. Sunday saw smaller boats racing throughout the day with Matthew Wigmore and Bradley Willies racing in singles: Op 1x Band 3 Bradley Willies made the B final and came third. Op 1x Band 4 Matthew Wigmore made the A final and came fourth overall. Brad competed with Mark Cooney in the Op 2x, finishing 10th overall but building valuable race experience. A second Op 2x competed in Band 3: Rob Stirling, men’s competitive squad captain raced with Cam Nuttall and came 11th overall with valuable race experience being gained by all. A final Op 4+ Phil Copperwheat, Nigel Etherington, Ryan Keating (Rowing captain) and Dean Whittington which was coxed by Rob Stirling and came 7th overall.

Thanks to Peterborough for organising a fantastic regatta.

Bedford Spring Fours and Small Boats Head

There were four entries from the Senior Men’s Competitive squad for Bedford Spring Fours and Small Boats Head on the 2nd April, a day of racing which started cloudy but brightened in the afternoon.
There was a quick stream which resulted in some tricky marshalling manoeuvres for coxes and rowers. Jacqui Round, the men’s competitive squad co-captain, coxed the quad and a four which was her first time coxing since 1997.

It was cloudy for Division one at 9AM and cloudy. Two boats were racing in Division one, starting with a coxed quad made up of Luke, Liam, Dean and Ian. This was Luke’s first race and some valuable race experience was gained by all. Next in Division 1 was a 4- of Robert Stirling (men’s competitive squad co-captain), Dan, Mark, and Brad. The 4- came 2nd in their category, 0:47 ahead of the third position and overtook a boat in the course of the race.

Division Five in the afternoon saw a further two boats racing and some sunshine. Entered into the Open was a 4+ of Luke, Liam, Brandon and Paul coxed by Jacqui Came 6th out of 7, 0:39 behind LeicesterLast to race in the open category was a 2x of Rob and Brad who finished third out of nine, 0:07 seconds ahead of Peterborough.

WEHORR 2023

After months of training as a crew, on Saturday 4th March, St Neots Rowing club Women’s competitive squad sent an eight to compete at the Women’s Head of the River Race on the Thames. The rowers and their boat were kindly hosted by the incredibly welcoming and organised Furnivall Sculling Club. The eight was coxed by Mia Hartwell and stroked by Valentina Futoryanova. The crew further consisted of Louise Shorten, Nat Yanousakis, Jaione Evereste, Emily Anagnostos, Becki Dixon, Dominie Clarke and Olivia Marsh. After a first place at Peterborough Head of the Nene in February, the crew sought to channel the focus, precision and speed of their success on the 5k course to the Thames. Starting in position 176 on a cold afternoon and finishing in position 147 with a time of 22:05:09.

A special thank you to Derby rowing club who trailered our boats to London to get us to the Thames on the day.

Novice racing success for St Neots in The Great River Ouse Cup

The Great River Ouse Cup is an event held for new and novice rowers to compete in a series of three events. On Saturday 11th February, part two of The Great River Ouse Cup was hosted by the Isle of Ely rowing club. From St Neots Rowing club, two mixed development crews armed with pirate fancy dress went off to race on a cold and overcast day. For many of the rowers this was their first experience of racing. As you’d expect there were quite a few crabs, a lot of splashing and laughter!

Isle of Ely impressed everyone with their kitsch, knitted and flamboyant headwear and a strong ladies crew from West Norfolk certainly held their own, however, kept in line by Cox Stuart Fleet, the “Scull and Crossbones” from St Neots had the fastest race of the day at 1:13 for the 350m.

Overall the 2 crews from St.Neots won an impressive five out of eight races achieving the highest score of the day. The third and final cup round is in St Neots on the 25th March, where St Neots look forward to hosting the other clubs. Thanks to the Isle of Ely for holding a brilliant event.

Peterborough Head of the Nene Race

St Neots Rowing Club entered five boats into the Head of the Nene on 4th February, across three different divisions. The weather was thankfully dry but with a strong headwind which Bradley from the Men’s 4- would later go on to describe made racing conditions ‘like rowing through treacle’.

An early start in the first division for Matthew Wigmore in the Men’s open single sculls. Matthew finished with a time that was 60% of Gold Medal Time, a key metric in rowing. Division two saw the Men’s Masters coxed 4 moved into the open category. The crew, coxed by Lisl Tudor and stroked by Stuart Williams, managed a great third place against the tougher competition on the 2.6 kilometre course.

The Mixed 8+ had been saved at the last minute by super-sub Charlie; stroked by Cam Nuttall they placed second in their category and it was a great second race for a boat made up majoritively of learn-to-row graduates from summer 2022. The final boat in the division was the Men’s coxless four stroked by Men’s competitive squad captain Rob Stirling. It was great to have so many Men’s crews entered and racing in Peterborough.

Finishing the day was the Women’s 8+ in division three, completing the longer five kilometre course race, stroked by Valentina Futoryanova and coxed by Mia Hartwell. The crew started at the top of their category meaning they were being chased by the other women’s eights crews for the whole race. They finished first by two seconds and 72.6% Gold Medal Time. They also overtook a Mixed 8+ crew, ahead of them in the starting order, and battled a Men’s crew in a tight sprint finish at the end of the five kilometre course. Thanks to a great event organised by Peterborough City Rowing Club; we will be back soon for the Spring and Summer regattas.

St Neots Rowers’ results not dampened in Ely

Six crews from St Neots Rowing Club raced in Ely last weekend for their Head of the River Race and despite a cold and rainy day performed well on the 5km race course; home to the Cambridge University Blues.

It was an early, and very wet, start for the club’s Women’s double scull and a Mixed Master’s 8 in the first division having to launch their boats at 8am to paddle 6km to the start. The women’s double of Olivia Marsh and Clara Zwetsloot, in their debut race, overtook another crew mid-race and were strong in the closing stages, finishing fourth. It was also a first race for the Masters mixed eight, stroked by Ali Brown and driven on by cox, Sarah Leatham, they put in a great effort, something to build on going forward.

Division 2 saw the debut race for St Neots’ newest cohort of rowers from the club’s 2022 “Learn To Row” programme. Racing in another Mixed 8, all have been rowing for less than a year. The crew was stroked by Emily Usher and coxed by the more experienced Matthew Wigmore. The crew finished in good spirits despite a brief stint rowing as a six while some emergency foot plate repairs took place mid-race. A great result for this novice crew over a long course in difficult conditions.

Division 3 brought a blissful break in the rain but a building headwind made conditions tricky for the club’s three men’s crews: an Open Men’s 4+, Masters Men’s 4+ and a Masters Men’s double scull. The Men’s 4+ with a last-minute change saw Clara Zwetsloot in her second race of the day taking on the cox’s role. The crew of Matt Wigmore, Rob Stirling, Bradley Willies and Dan Grimes came second out of six boats in their category. The ‘class act’ of the day was the Masters double scull of Dominic Chapman and Andy Major who won their battle with the wind, overtaking six boats in what was Andy Major’s first race in 20 years, they were the fastest Saints crew on the day. Ely was yet another triumph for the Masters 4+ (Kevin Sadler, Stuart Williams, Phil Copperwheat and Bob Hetherington) on the back of their British Masters Championship medals earlier in the year.

The St Neots club is now preparing to send some crews to the Fours Head of the River Race on the Thames later this month. The performances at Ely should spur the club’s squads to do even better in 2023, especially the newest members, with a strong programme of winter training under the direction of club Captain Ryan Keating and his team of Vice Captains.