Rowing & Boats
Rowing matters by
My Grosvenor Rowing Club crew prevailed in the first heat of Veteran E quads at Henley, beating Bewl Bridge Rowing Club from Kent, the verdict "Easily", which means more than 5 lengths, even though we had taken the rating down to 29 after the first 250m and were only doing a little more than paddling at the end of the race.
In the other heat Hornets RC from Cambridge turned the tables on Worcester, who had beaten them at the National Veterans Regatta in Nottingham though only just. They won by only 1/2 a length in a time of 3.52, which was 8 secs slower than our time, achieved when we were not pressed. So we were optimistic for the outcome of the pending afternoon final.
And so it turned out. We went ahead after the first few strokes and had clear water by half way, see video clip here (which is a big file and takes several minutes to download even with broadband). Then we took the rate and pressure down again and cruised to a comfortable win in order to save ourselves for the final of D4x against Tideway Scullers School.
Sadly our youngster, who was going to sub in to bring the average age and the weight of the crew down and also increase its power, injured his back in the week before the regatta so we raced with the same combination that won the E (over 55s) event. However, we were giving away too much and TSS, with ex-Grosvenor sculler, Chris Williams, sculling in the 3 seat, had a cracking start, which meant that within seconds we were bobbing around in their not-inconsiderable wash and couldn't get a rhythm until they were about 3 lengths ahead, far too much too recoup in a short 1000m race.
So we only came home with one medal each from Henley but this is one more than any of us had ever acquired before so we were all thrilled.
The crew was:
Bow: Steve Walker (steering) (oldest and lightest - 64kg)
2: Brian Chapman (rebuilt following a motor cycle crash two years ago)
3: John McMahon (rebored after a heart attack two years ago)
Stroke: Mike Allwood (only kept alive by daily exercise)