3rd April 2011
Three crews from St Neots have been racing at National events in London over the last few weeks as crews attended the major head races of the year: the Women’s Head of the River, Head of the River Race & Vesta Veterans Head of the River. Each event was raced on the 4 ½ mile stretch of Thames between Chiswick & Putney: the Boatrace course in reverse, attracting both international & UK crews. Crews were lucky to have calm & still conditions at each of the events, unusual for the Thames & even more so with sunshine this weekend.
On the 19th of March, Alison Brown, Mia Hartwell, Natasha Wilson, Helen Knowles, Sam Lawrence, Sarah Davies, Dionne Page & Robyn Staddon, with cox Sarah Porteus, made the trip to London to compete in the Women’s Head of the River Race. Over 300 ladies’ crews attended the event. With good conditions, St Neots managed a time of 22:34, moving up nearly 20 places from their start position of 256, to finish 237.
It was then the turn of the Men’s squad to perform this weekend. On Saturday, St Neots sent one eight to compete in the prestigious Head Of the River Race. Graham Mailer, Clive Emmerson, Steve Stanger, Mick Lawrence, Alistair Mackie, Mick Staddon, Simon Winter, Kevin Sadler & cox Robyn Staddon pulled together to finish 269th overall out of over 400 crews racing in this major event, beating 51 crews in their category with a solid row.
The women then rowed the 7.5km course again the following day, the IM3 crew that raced 2 weeks previously altered by the addition of Sarah Porteus & Jemma Phillips in the bows of the boat with Mia Hartwell as cox. This was the Vesta Veterans Head of the River Race; conditions were once again excellent and the crew completed the course in 24:34, finishing 9th in their category.
If you’d like to give rowing a try, St Neots Rowing Club will be running a 5 week Learn to Row course this May.
For information, contact Club Captain Mia Hartwell at clubcaptain@stneotsrc.co.uk.
