Race Report
Sunday October 2nd 2011
Over 175 rowing crews descended on St Neots this Sunday for probably the warmest Head of the River Race on record at St Neots Rowing Club.
In conditions normally found at the summer regatta, of these 100 crews, 27 were from St Neots, all racing 2.6km in timed races; the winners of each event being those who completed the course the quickest for the category.
St Neots Rowing Club had a brilliant day. The club was not only full to the brim with competitors & spectators, but St Neots rowers managed to win 6 events over the course of the day. Huw Jarman & Josh Dexter won in their J18 double to record the fastest St Neots time & finish 3rd in the entire event in a time of 9 minutes and 6 seconds. Also in a double, Lauren Parren & Voirrey Taylor competed in the women’s J14 event, beating their nearest opposition by over 40 seconds. Lauren Parren, Voirey Taylor & Louise Shorten also competed in single sculls, Louise winning the J14 singles event beating opposition from Newark & Norwich.
Success for St Neots didn’t just stop at small boats; several fours were entered, 3 of which won their events. In their sweep-oar racing debut, the crew of Bryce Taylor, Jack Jakins, Adam Williams & Nick Shorten coxed by Emma Harris, won the Novice fours event, finishing 15th overall in the event. The ladies also found success in a Masters D combination with Sarah Davies, Lynne Taylor, Ali Brown & Helen Knowles, coxed by Sarah Porteus, winning themselves tankards. The ladies Novice four of Rachel Tackley, Alison Young, Louise Shorten & Angela DeStefano, coxed by Jemma Philips unfortunately didn’t win on this occasion, but managed to improve their time across the course by a full minute vs. previous sessions, setting themselves up well for the season ahead.
In their first ever session in a mixed boat, Huw Jarman & Josh Dexter were joined by Sam Lawrence & Tash Wilson to win the Mixed IM3 4+s event – the final four to win in the day. 2 mens fours were also entered, the crew of Graham Mailer, Clive Emmerson, Kevin Sadler & Simon Winter finishing 10th overall beating the crew of Alistair Mackie, Charles Kirchofer, Dan Hook & Kevin Sadler by just 1 second over the course so that the latter crew secured 11th place.
Please see photo below of the winning ladies Masters D four of (from front to back) Helen Knowles, Lynne Taylor, Sarah Davies and Ali Brown, coxed by Sarah Porteus. Photo by Jemma Philips
