The summer season is well under way after the opening races over the first May bank holiday weekend. Our ever-successful junior squad was in action at the Junior Sculling Regatta whilst the Seniors and Start group were at Wallingford.
There were four entered at the Junior Sculling Regatta, from J14 up to J17. Following a strong winter season in the single, Will Pratt looked to carry form into the summer season racing in a strong J17 1x. field.
In what could be the race of the season Anna Kemsley and Portia Threlfall (WJ16 2x., pictured above) had all the coaches and parents on their seats. At the back of the pack early on it looked like the pair was out of the running, but by staying calm, collected and a sheer tonne of determination worked their way through the pack to pick up the silver medal half a second ahead of third place.
The first regatta victory of 2018 went to Guy Hutchins and Nathan May in J14 2x.
Like Will, the crew of Euan Dees, George Lauchlan, Charlie Williams, Ben Harris and Ewan Sleep (Cox) faced tough opposition in J15 4x+. For over half of this it was their first regatta ever and a straight 2km course didn’t knock their spirits as they finished third in the B final having given everything but gained lots of experience!
The Seniors and Start squads were in action the next day at Wallingford Regatta with six crews entered.
Following a 10th place finish at final GBRT trials in April, Cam Harrison was back in the single racing Challenge 1x. Having eased through the heat, Harris’s biggest test came in the final where he faced ex-Olympian Charles Cousins. Having stuck with him for the opening 1500m, Cousins found an extra gear and moved away from Cam leaving him in second place but well clear of the rest of the pack.
Megan Douglas also of Start got her summer season off to a strong start with a 5th place finish in the Women’s Club 1x.
In their opening race of the season, the men’s squad showed promising early results across their three boats. In the morning, the Club 4+. of Sandy Lee, James Little, James Batchelor, Will Shrieve and Charlotte Williams (Cox) opened their Henley campaign with a 5th place finish in the heat.
Doubling up for the day; Little, Shrieve and Batchelor who were joined by Nick Musson had what is safe to say a questionable start to their heat of the Challenge 4-. They managed to regain composure (and some dignity) to close the 10 second gap and overtake Vesta and have overlap with the rest of the pack to finish middle of the pack.
The crew of Tash Stagg and Kate Trend got their summer season underway with a
The performance of the day goes to Ollie Shore in the Club 1x. After some early comments about the length of the course, he didn’t let that put him off as he held his own in a very tough heat to book a place in the final.