St Neots Rowing Club - Walton Small Boats Head of River race report Saturday 10th Dec 2011

Rowers from St Neots Rowing Club travelled to Walton on Thames on Saturday to compete in the small boats head of river race over 3k.

The conditions were ideal for an outing on the water – bright sunshine if somewhat cold.

St Neots rowing club was represented in the main by some of the up and coming juniors who have been training hard over the last few months on fitness and technique.

The racing was in small boats – either one or two person (doubles) boats. The younger juniors were anxious about the event as the experience of racing long distance in a different river against some top class competition seemed a bit daunting, but the competitive spirit took over and they acquitted themselves admirably.

The three girls doubles made up of various combinations involving Louise Shorten, Voirrey Taylor, Lauren Parren and Zoe Adamson took an admirable 3rd 4th and 8th place out of the 30 boats in the WJ14 category. No mean feat given their limited experience and also that two of these girls – Zoe and Voirrey - were competing above their age group.

Having competed in the double, Lauren’s second race of the day was in her single. She set off well and held a strong pace throughout – which resulted in an outstanding result of 2nd place out of 23 girls racing in singles.

Not to be outdone the boys J15 double of Rory Tynan and Fergus Mitchell surpassed expectations to come a very creditable 4th from a field of 23 boats. Adam Williams, Nick Shorten and Ethan Page teamed up in three different combinations and with all three doubles posted times within 11 seconds of each other.

The fastest double was Adam and Nick in the J16 category only 9 seconds from the winning time. Nick and Adam also raced in singles – with Nick posting the faster of the times placing him 10th in a highly competitive field of 28 boats in the J16 category.

The masters crews of John Knights and Mick Staddon recorded a second place in their age category, whilst the women master D crew of Helen Knowles and Alison Brown posted a respectable time but rated too low to be competitive in their first ever double race.

St Neots coaches were very pleased with the results and the progress that the juniors have made as a result of their hard work and commitment to the sport. The junior squad is now well placed to be competitive as we look to the national events and the summer regatta season.

http://www.waltonrowingclub.co.uk/images/stories/WSBH/wsbh_results_2011.pdf