Henley Fours and Eights Head
Henley Fours and Eights Head saw the women's squad once again establishing themselves on the stretch where they are hoping to achieve their top performances in the summer. The A boat, competing in IM1, rowed a textbook race, completely unaffected by the choppy water and bitter cold. They came in at 11:53 as the fastest women's crew of the day, 4 seconds ahead of the Cambridge Blue Boat over the 3.5k course, and left competitors such as Putney Town, Maidenhead and Marlow RC dead in the water. The B boat in W.IM2 placed 5th in their category, tucking in neatly just below Cambridge's Blondie and the Oxford and Cambride Lightweight Women's boats. The C boat placed 4th in IM3, after the university crews but miles ahead of all other club boats entered, in spite of spending a significant proportion of their race in the stream as a result of Maidenhead stubbornly refusing to clear the racing line. The D boat put in an excellent performance, taking the 5th place in IM3 behind the C boat.
Photos are available here:
Bigblade
Rob Burnage Photography
Reading Rowing Club Juniors achieve a hatrick of wins
The Reading Rowing Club Junior mens 16 coxed four achieved three impressive wins over three consecutive weekends culminating in victory at the Henley IVs and VIIIs Head Race at the weekend.
The crew of Nick Brown, Ryan Seager, Richard Laney and James Shorland, coxed by Stephanie Franklin took the first win at the Thames Valley Trial Head at Dorney Lake. Held at the 2012 Olympic rowing venue over 1,900m in freezing conditions the crew achieved a convincing winning margin over local rivals.
Next up was the prestigious Hampton Junior Head, held over a 3,000m downstream course. This event attracts top rowing schools and clubs from London as well as other competitors from as far afield as Bedford and Norwich. Reading attacked the start and settled into a good rhythm with Franklin steering an excellent course to take full advantage of the stream. Constantly edging away from the chasing pack Reading increased their rate of striking coming into the last 500m to secure the win by 10 seconds.
The treble was achieved on the historic Henley Reach, an upstream course with a variable tail/cross wind chopping up the water making for lively conditions. Gemma Brown took the coxes seat for this Novice Mens coxed IV event and used her prior knowledge of the course to Reading’s advantage. Quickly catching the crews ahead in a different category Brown neatly steered her crew between two other boats while in the narrow stretch at Temple Island. Thereafter having a clear course ahead the Reading crew put in a relentless effort to punish the pursuing crews and take the win by over 40 seconds, leaving several University crews in their wake.
