It was a case of ladies first for St Neots Rowing Club at its 2017 Small Boats Head. The club had three wins on the day, all from its female squad, and there were several other creditable performances from juniors and seniors.

Jade Hellet had two reasons to celebrate: she won the women’s 1x category and her time of 11mins 19secs landed her the best female sculler pennant, awarded to the fastest female single sculler in the main head race.

Etilly Pigg continued her run of fine form by winning the women’s J16 1x category in a time of 11mins 36secs – just five seconds away from being the fastest junior female sculler on the day.

The smart money in the women’s masters EF 2x category was on our ‘dream team’ of Ali Brown and Helen Knowles, and so it was perhaps no surprise when they swept across the line in 11mins 9secs to secure their fourth victory this year. This impressive performance followed wins in Bedford, Sudbury and at our own regatta – and preceded a fifth victory the following weekend at Bedford head.

“Well done to all the prize winners, but most importantly it was great to see all the competitors and spectators enjoying themselves on the day,” said event organiser Josh Dexter. “Despite receiving fewer entries than in previous years, the standard of competition was very high, with some events only being won by the odd second or two.”

Here’s a summary of results from St Neots rowers and the event’s main awards.

St Neots performances

Women’s masters EF 2x: Ali Brown and Helen Knowles
Time: 11:09
First in category, 63rd place overall

Women’s 1x: Jade Hellett
Time: 11:19
First in category, 71st place overall

Women’s J16 1x: Etilly Pigg
Time: 11:36
First in category, 85th place overall

Masters C 4+: Trevor Rickwood, Tim Neill, Kieron Marriner, Karl Zwetsloot and Deb Hellett (cox)
Time: 10:22
22nd place overall but no competition
Fastest St Neots crew of the day

Open 4+: Tom O’Reilly, Jake Durant, Alex Johnson, Dominic Holdaway and William Crawford (cox)
Time: 10:46
Third in category, joint 45th place overall

J17 1x (tier 2): Andrew Lawrence
Time: 10:52
Fourth in category, 50th place overall

J18 2x: Dominic Holdaway and Alex Johnson
Time: 10:53
Fifth in category, 51st place overall

Masters DE 1x: Stuart Williams
Time: 11:04
Second in category, 59th place overall

Award winners

Harry Evans Memorial Trophy: Star Club (seven wins)
Awarded to the club with the most wins in the main head

Head of the river pennant: J18 4x- Bedford Modern School Boat Club with a time of 8:46
Awarded to the overall fastest crew in the main head

Best male sculler pennant: Connor Sheridan (Bedford School Boat Club) with a time of 9:57
Awarded to the fastest male single sculler in the main head

Best female sculler pennant: Jade Hellett (St Neots Rowing Club) with a time of 11:19
Awarded to the fastest female single sculler in the main head

Our men’s first eight came within a whisker of claiming a historic Headship title at this year’s Cambridge Town Bumps. There was also success for our men’s second and ladies’ first eights, but it was a frustrating few days for the women’s second crew.

The M1 crew wasted no time in mounting a strong Headship challenge this year, bumping Rob Roy 1 on the first night just after passing The Plough pub. That placed them second in the men’s top division, with the challenge of chasing down a formidable Cantabrigian 1.

The second and third nights resulted in row overs, so it was a case of do-or-die on the final night. Our men stormed out of the blocks and got to just a quarter of a length from the Headship, but after putting everything into the start their legs gave in at The Plough and Cantabs rowed away to retain their title, leaving our guys to row over once again and finish in second place.

The W1 crew spent the first two nights chasing City 2 hard in the women’s top division, getting to within half a length on both occasions. They finally caught them on the third evening at The Plough – prompting big celebrations from our pumped-up ladies – before repeating the feat on the final night to bump Cambridge 99. This stunning performance places them fifth in the division for next year, the highest position ever reached by a St Neots women’s crew in the Bumps.

Our M2 crew picked up where they left off last year in the men’s second division. They bumped Champs 2 on the first night, had a row over the following night and then dashed through Rob Roy 4 just a couple of hundred metres from the start on night three. Another fast start on the Friday made light work of X-Press 3, leaving them in eighth place in the division.

Having made their Bumps debut in fourth place in the men’s third division, in 2014, our M2 boat has now climbed an astonishing 13 places in just 16 nights.

The week started well for our W2 crew in the women’s second division, as they bumped Champs 5 just after the A14 bridge. A solid start on the Wednesday put pressure on X-Press 2, but they couldn’t quite reach the Cambridge boat and so had to settle for a row over.

Sadly it was downhill from there, as our ladies were chased down on nights three and four by impressively fast crews from Cantabrigian. They ended their 2017 campaign in 14th place in the division, dropping one place overall.

The women’s Headship was, like the men’s, won by Cantabrigian. The John Jenner Trophy, awarded to the club that achieves the most bumps throughout the event per number of boats entered , and which we have won five times in the past seven years, went to Isle of Ely.

Club captain Steve Fox was quick to congratulate everyone who took part and supported our crews throughout the four-day event. “Well done to all of our rowers who gave some of Cambridge’s strongest clubs a real run for their money at this year’s Bumps,” said Steve. “Our only crew to lose ground was the W2, but for some of them this was their first taste of competing at the Bumps, and the experience will hopefully stand them in good stead for 2018.

“Huge thanks also to everyone who supported our rowers, whether as marshals and bank party or organising entries and transport. Our strong performances would not have been possible without Kieron Marriner, Corinne Henson, Lynne Taylor, Yvette Hennessey, Ali Young, Alistair Mackie, Helen Knowles, Andrew Lawrence, Tasha Wilson, Josh Dexter, Jim Farrell, Graham Mailer, Alistair Hamilton and Karl Zwetsloot. And last, but not least, well done to our vice captains, Stuart Williams and Jaione Echeveste, for organising training and crews before and during the event.”

 

Photography by Trevor Rickwood,  Etilly Pigg and Bill Amos

A coxless four crew from our club narrowly missed out on a historic win at this year’s Henley Royal Regatta – but just getting to the start line was a minor miracle after an injury almost wrecked their dreams of qualifying.

Bryce Taylor, Tom Colbert, Max Taylor and Nick Shorten were up against Akademischer Ruderverein Westfalen from Germany, in the first round of the Wyfold Cup. A stiff wind made conditions and steering tricky, and both crews received warnings for drifting too close to their opposition. There was a dramatic clash toward the end of the 2,112m race, when the Westfalen strokeman’s oar ripped the race number clean from the St Neots boat’s bow, but it made little difference to the result as the German’s crossed the line just half a length ahead of St Neots.

It was a brave performance by our crew, but what made it remarkable was the fact they rowed together for the first time just over a week earlier. Regular crew member Dom Chapman suffered a rib injury deep into their preparations, and so a last-minute substitute was needed to keep their Henley dreams alive. In stepped Nick Shorten and, in his first competitive outing with the others, the crew achieved the qualifying time needed to race at Henley.

“It was one of the better races I have taken part in,” said Max Taylor. “We perhaps knew we were not the most refined of crews, because of the last-minute crew change, but there was a sense of determination not to let our club or ourselves down, which was a powerful motivator. Even though we lost, we are still really proud of the performance.”

All races from this year’s Henley Royal Regatta were streamed live on YouTube. Click here to watch the St Neots crew’s race from start to finish.

A group of rowers from St Neots are attempting one of the sport’s most formidable challenges – the Ringvaart 100km marathon in Holland.

Dave Cullen, Kieron Marriner, Karl Zwetsloot, Tim Neill and cox Debra Hellett (pictured above) are taking part in the event on 7 June. They face a monster route that starts in the university city of Leiden, follows the Ringvaart (Ring Canal) that includes a loop around Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and then goes on to the finish in Delft. The annual event attracts more than 150 crews from all over the world, but the St Neots crew is one of just two from the UK taking part this year.

The first competitors will set off at about 5.30am. Most will row for between eight and 14 hours, although checkpoints along the way allow the chance to feed, hydrate and stretch. There’s even an extended rest at the 88km mark that includes hot food and the chance to soothe sore limbs while enjoying a beer.

After crossing the line, competitors can use whatever energy they have left to celebrate at a special post-race all-night music festival.

“We’ve been training hard for the event since January,” said strokeman Dave Cullen. “Our training to date has included rowing up to 50km in a single session. We’re planning to increase this further before we go and are confident that, on the day, we’ll have enough in our tanks to finish in a decent time.”

The regatta will be especially poignant for Karl Zwetsloot, because the route passes through his father’s home town of Hillegom. “Rowing through my ancestral home will add a different dimension for me, especially when combined with the honour of flying the flag for St Neots,” said Karl. “As well as all the training, I am working hard on my Dutch to fulfil my unofficial role as crew translator.”

The St Neots crew is using the event to raise money for two charities: Alzheimer’s Research UK and the East Anglian Air Ambulance. They’ve set themselves the target of raising £250 for each charity and people can donate through the links above.

Months of winter training have paid dividends for our senior ladies, beginners and juniors, who have all enjoyed spring success on the water.The ladies finished 131st out of 300 crews at the Women’s Head of the River Race – a massive 42 places higher compared to 2016. Their time of 21mins 10.1secs was more than a minute quicker than last year, when they were hit by a freak storm on the world-famous four-and-a-quarter-mile Boat Race course, from Mortlake to Putney.

“What an incredible crew and performance,” said ladies’ captain, Jaione Echeveste. “We had a few adventures – including a car breakdown on the way and arriving in London to discover we had no trestles for our boat – but the effort during the race was amazing. Well done to the ladies and thanks to everyone who helped us on the day.”

The beginners rounded off their Cambridge Winter League exploits with more solid performances and gained valuable experience as they prepare to step up to the senior squads. Both crews – men’s and ladies’ coxed quads – enjoyed excellent weather for all three legs of the competition and recorded their fastest times in March, all coxed superbly by Abi Parish. They had no competitors in their categories, but everyone was more than happy with the results.

The juniors were also competing on the Cam, in the Cambridge Champs Junior Sculling Head, but had to contend with strong winds that would have challenged – or even scuppered – the most experienced of scullers.

Etilly Pigg and Andrew Lawrence posted the fastest time in the J16 2x category. Dom Holdaway and Alex Johnson battled valiantly against the headwind and waves in their division –not favourable conditions for their lightweight status – and Tom O’Reilly completed his first sculling race ever in a single. Completing the course and staying dry was a significant achievement for them all.