Shrewsbury Regatta
12th & 13th May 2007
Saturday – 1000m upstream
Guildford Scullers find the winning wey!
Having arrived in a rather wet Shrewsbury on Friday evening, the day started off just before 9:00am with the Novice scullers and rowers taking to the water and almost immediately Guildford got its first wins of the day when the novice single scullers James Sadler and Laura Bartlett both progressed with ease through to the second round of their respective competitions. John Wills and Paul both won their heats and met each other in the semi-final. John went through to meet Maynard from Abingdon, who had beaten James in the second round. Unfortunately John was not able to get ahead of his opposition in the final but I am sure that this won’t be the last time John will be in a final this year. Better luck next time, John!
The Senior Men, who had entered at both Senior 1 and 2 coxed fours, won one heat in S2 fours but lost out to the boys from Royal Shrewsbury School in the semi-final. In the S1 coxed fours they had a bye through to the final where they lost; not the start they wanted to the weekend but there was always “Super Sunday”!
The Senior Women’s squad had been split into a variety of crews to give some of the Novices a chance to get their qualifying win. Unfortunately the standard of competition in the women’s events on the Saturday had gone up from last year with all crews meeting tough opposition.
- The WS3 B crew [Jackie, Kate, Caroline and Liz + James] lost out to a strong Grosvenor RC crew. (Liz was subbing in for Annabelle who was at home having come down with a viral bug.)
- The WS3 A crew [Jane Hannah Jess Suzi + Ross] lost out in their first race, the semi final, but again showed potential for the shorter course on Sunday.
- The WS4 crew [Penny, Jess, Nikki Jane + Ross] had a good row but didn’t make it past the semi finals.
- The Senior squad’s Novice Women’s crew [Caroline, Laura, Hannah and Suzi coxed by Ross] lost out to Trafford in the first round having given their all to get back on terms with their opposition.
- James’ Novice Women [Nikki, Alice, Di and Celine] took to the water for their first regatta race having formed as a crew only a month or so before. They had a good row against University of Chester with a strong finish but were not quite able to regain the lead before the finish line.
The Men’s Development squad, “The Muppets”, masterminded by Simon Wellicome proved our greatest hope for a four’s victory as the day progressed. They had entered in both Novice and Senior 4 events and had a series of wins culminating in a place in the Novice Men’s final. Unfortunately they lost despite a strong row and showing promise for some strong performances as the season progresses.
With the women knocked out of the fours competition, it was time for the scullers to take up the challenge of bringing home some pots.
Laura Bartlett has been working over the last few months on her single scull with the aim of getting her novice win since winning the Guildford Women’s Scullers Cup at Bedford Autumn Small Boats Head. After many sessions out at Walton with coach Pete Hopkins, it was time to put it into practice. Laura did not disappoint with several strong results and eventually beat Wakefield from Northwich in the final. Wakefield had in the previous round knocked out Alice Poole in her debut in the women’s novice sculls after a strong scull.
Kate Lucas and Jackie Warrington built on their success from reaching the final at Marlow Spring and went one better to bring home the win in the Novice Women’s 2x beating Pengwern in the process. This is the first regatta win for one of our new doubles Mock Turtle since it got its first head win with the mixed double at Bedford Spring head.
Pete Hopkins continued to build up his collection of wins at Shrewsbury notching up another win in the Veteran D single sculls. Well done Pete!
20 entries, 7 finalists leading to 3 wins and 4 pots!
What would Sunday bring from the 28 entries we had…
Sunday – 600m upstream
Paul wins a sculling pot, Pete goes flying & Nick and Alice have points to prove!
Super Sunday
Following a fairly normal night out with Bill and the Senior Men, some of the Guildford crew were better/worse for it.
Haylee found that breathing is always good especially when coxing James’ Novice women to their first round win against Shrewsbury High School taking an early lead from the start. They had a bye in their second round and met Chester University in the semi final. (
This was the same crew that they lost to in the first round of Saturday’s competition.) Despite a good start, Chester took an early lead but Guildford managed to bring it back to just under a canvas. This was a really strong row from a crew that has now found its legs. (Thanks Matt for taking them out on Saturday night. I don’t know what you did, but it worked a treat.)
The Novice Men’s single sculls again saw Paul, John and James in action. The first round saw John make an early departure whilst James progress easily through to a second round race and despite trying to get back on terms with his opposition, who had beaten John in the first round, got caught up with the buoys and dropped behind. Paul again showed his improved form but was not able to get any further than the second round.
The S4 single sculls proved to be a hot bed of intra club rivalry. Simon Wellicome pulled out to concentrate on his Men’s fours. This left Toby Mattos looking strong for a place in the final. Pete Hopkins beat off yesterday’s winner in the Novice Men’s 1x following a close race. Nick Mills took to the water having had a bye in the first round and joined Pete in the semi-finals. Pete came out on top and progressed to the final to meet Toby. Toby triumphed only after Pete had given him a good race.
Laura B took up the Saturday winner’s place in the Women’s S4 sculls only to spend most of the day waiting for a race in the final following her opposition in the first round/semi final scratching. Laura put up a good fight but was beaten by a very good sculler in the final.
Toby and Nick didn’t have the same luck when it came to the S4 double sculls. Toby’s line wasn’t the best and after several deviations across the buoys was disqualified.
Having done well in the novice single sculls the day before, John and Paul joined forces in the novice men’s doubles and took on Northampton, beating them in the semi-final but then lost out to a strong crew in the final.
The Muppets again put in some really strong rows. Despite losing their first race in the Novice category they progressed on through the S4 competition, even getting a re-row after drawing one race. Unfortunately they were not able to convert what was a really solid set of performances throughout the whole weekend into a win. We all look forward to seeing them come on as the season progresses.
The Senior Men had a really great set of races in the S2 fours beating Leicester and then Hereford A & B to cruise to another pot and point. This was Nick’s first regatta since joining the club in February 2006. Congratulations to Nick as he has now lost his novice status and gained his first point. Well done Nick. Nick was seen disappearing off to get some more chicken!
Bill and Hugh in the meantime took to the water in the S2 pair where they beat Leicester A & B to bring home their 2nd pot of the day.
The Senior Women were back in force. There was a slight change in crews following a re-evaluation of crew composition. Alice jumped into Annabelle seat in Jackie’s four as Liz had already been entered as part of a different four. Nikki was promoted up into a S3 and S4 boat after Liz had to drop out due to a back injury sustained during an early morning training sessions which have become the norm for the Guildford crews when racing at Shrewsbury.
In the WS4 competition, both crews made it through the first round only to meet each other in the second round. It was Caroline’s crew of Caroline, Suzi, Hannah, Jess and Ross that came out on top beating Penny, Verity, Nikki, Jane and Haylee by just over a length. Unfortunately Caroline’s crew could not pull of a win in the final losing out to Pengwern.
The WS3 competition saw all three of Guildford’s senior women’s crews out in action against some really good competition. Suzi’s crew [Suzi, Laura, Hannah, Jess and Ross] were knocked out by a crew from Bewdley who then went on to knock out Penny’s crew [Penny, Verity, Nikki Jane and Haylee] in the second round. In the other half of the draw Jackie’s crew [Jackie, Alice, Caroline, Kate and James] beat Stourport and Warwick following some really strong rows to progress to the final against Bewdley. With a score to settle on behalf of the other Guildford WS3 crews and the sniff of a win, Jackie’s crew didn’t get off to the best start with a few rough strokes. This was quickly put behind them as they pulled into the lead. After relaxing a little they extended their lead to a length as the pushed over the line. This win was only another win for Jackie and Kate but also Caroline and Alice’s first qualifying win losing them their novice status and giving them their first points. Congratulations to you both.
After a wet day of racing and Guildford taking full advantage of the unique and highly effective boat pairing scheme, the Mixed S2 coxed four of Hugh, Bill, Jackie, Kate and Pete (cox) took to the water late in the day. They easily won their semi-final against Shakespeare and agreed to head straight to the start for their final after a short break. There they met Pengwern who had been drawn a straight final. Mixed events have a reputation for being the joke event, but at Guildford over the years we have taken pride in putting out good combinations that work. Sunday was no exception. Guildford apparently went of the start at 46 and settled out to romp home. Even the officials commented on way the boat performed. Pete was quoted with saying the boat flew down the course. There are even unsubstantiated rumours that Hugh and Bill may be considering a change of crew!
So there we have it for Super Sunday- 28 entries, 11 finalists leading to 7 wins and lots of pots!
Reflecting back on Shrewsbury, we have had our best performance to date helped by the record number of entries. Below is a breakdown of our performances at Shrewsbury since we first went in 2002. What we must do now is take these successes and build upon them over the forthcoming months.
Year |
Saturday – 1000m |
Sunday – 600m |
||
Wins |
Finals |
Wins |
Finals |
|
2002 |
1 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
2003 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
2004 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
3 |
2005 |
0 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
2006 |
2 |
4 |
5 |
7 |
2007 |
3 |
7 |
7 |
11 |
Watch out next year Pengwern – we’ll be after some more pots!!
Special thanks go to:
- Pengwern Boat Club for putting on such a great regatta, the genius idea of boat pairing and letting us walk away with a fair percentage of their pots.
- Bill for towing, buying food, sorting out odds and ends
- Andy for being Blade Goblin fetching and carrying
- Jane for submitting the entries, all 48
- Pete and Paul for being legends.
- Paul Stacey for making sure we have a photographic record of the weekend’s races.
And finally… can some one please book some fine weather for next year!