Ladies, beginners and juniors spring into action

23 March 2017

Ladies, beginners and juniors spring into action

Women’s 8+ in London, from left: Natasha Wilson, Jaione Echeveste, Dominie Clarke, Tash Holdaway, Kat Harris, Mia Hartwell, Louise Shorten, Jade Hellet and Ali Young (cox).

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.