Bedford Head – 15th April 2007

Another win for the Senior Women and a surprised Mixed Double

On a glorious summer day, in the middle of spring, a contingent of Guildford Rowing Club ventured out to Bedford for the Spring Small Boats Head. This was the first outing for the Men’s (Veteran) Quad in race conditions and all seemed to go well for them once they got down to the start – following their cups of tea, coffee and a few pastries. There were some rumours that they did find the bank on the return trip but these still remain unproven!

The Women’s Senior 3 coxed four went out with the aim of winning the head race (again) having posted the fastest time (7:56) in the senior 4 class at Bedford’s Autumn Head in October ’06. Racing in the heat of the day they had a solid, if a little scrappy, row with a really string second half to come in 1 second ahead of their closest opposition. Well done – all the training over the winter is paying off with 3 wins from Bedford Autumn and Spring Small Boats Heads and the Thames Valley Trials Head in addition to the strong finishes in both Fours and Women’s Eights HoRR competitions.

Jackie and Kate earlier in the day raced their double to great success and almost came in first, just 2 seconds off the winning time. This is a strong crew for the regatta season and will one to watch out for as the results come in during the summer.

Laura B proved that she was also no slow coach, getting out in her single scull. There was a debate in the bar, after the race, about who was the faster – Laura or Paul!

Pete Hopkins and John Wills posted good times improving upon their autumnal performances in October.

The surprise of the day was the Mixed Novice Double of Alice Poole and James Sadler. Having worked out that they weren’t going to racing against Mens Novice 2x’s put in a solid scull to beat their opposition by 16seconds. This is only Alice’s second race since starting to scull in February 06 and James’ first non-coxing pot after ten years in the sport. Proof that there is hope for all of us!

Roll on the regatta season!!