June Racing 2010
Upper Thames Strong At Women's Henley Regatta
Upper Thames Rowing Club turned in some notable performances at the Henley Women’s Regatta last weekend. They came away with triumphs in two of the Elite events. The regatta featured crews from around the world. A number of records were broken during the course of the three day event, with a strong north-easterly wind blowing up the track against the stream creating choppy but quick conditions.
In the Elite lightweight single sculls, Antonia van Deventer beat off a strong field to secure a trophy for the first time at the Henley Women’s regatta. A former GB International, Antonia first beat the Catherine Infantino, the U.S. lightweight champion, racing well to win by two and a half lengths.
After rowing away from Gernie of Aberdeen RC in the semi final, van Deventer managed to squeeze out nearly a length from Copeland of UL in the Final, before being pegged back to half a length in a thrilling race for the line. She now heads for the Royal Holland Cup in Amsterdam on 26th/27th June, again accompanied by her sister Julia who is her coach and a former Leander cox.
Emma Windham and Bethan Thomas, rowing as an Upper Thames/Henley RC composite won the Elite double sculls. Their three-and-a-half length victory against Sir William Borlase’s Grammar School RC was comprehensive, and caps a first class series of results for them in the double scull this year.
Emma and Bethan have also won at Wallingford and Ghent regattas, and now they turn their attention to the quadruple scull event with clubmates Vicky Myers and Hannah Moon at Henley Royal Regatta next week. The quad was pipped in the semi final at the Henley Women’s Regatta by a strong composite crew from Nottingham and Leander, who went on to win comfortably in the final.
Upper Thames very nearly won a third Elite title in the lightweight coxless fours in a particularly difficult event this year. The crew of Becks Sadler (stroke) Naomi Ashcroft, Katie Pollard and Kat Leech beat Marlow in the semi-final to set up a clash with Mortlake Anglian and Alpha RC in the f final. Despite repeated attempts in a gutsy row they just couldn't quite get past their opposition, and ended up three-quarters-of-a-length short.
The prizes were presented by Miriam Luke (nee Batten) herself an Upper Thames member and a pioneer of women’s rowing at international level. She has won a “full set” of medals (gold, silver and bronze) at World Championships and became Britain’s first women’s Olympic medallist when she took silver in the quadruple sculls at Sydney in 2000.
Men Excel at Reading
Strong Junior Squad at Blenheim
Upper Thames Rowing Club juniors notched up a staggering 17 wins last weekend.
The younger members of the squad journeyed to Blenheim Palace lake where an inaugural regatta took place designed for less experienced rowers.
Coach Richard Berkley said: “This is just the sort of event we needed for members aged ten to 13 years, many of whom only started rowing last September.
"Despite this they came away with seven gold, seven silver and three bronze medals out of 16 events entered."
The older, more experienced members of the junior squad raced at Reading amateur regatta which attracts a high quality entry. Over the two-day event, Upper Thames won the boys J14, J15, J16 and J18 singles events.
The girls won the J16 doubles, where Bella Sale and Violet Dixon showed their potential by winning in a year group above their own.
In the quad races Upper Thames took gold in the girls J12 category and the boys J13, J15 and J16 classes.
Upper Thames at The Metropolitan Regatta, Dorney
The Metropolitan Regatta was held last weekend at Dorney in good racing conditions. On Sunday the Women's Senior Quadruple Scull of Emma Windham (stroke), Hannah Moon, Vicky Myers and Bethan Thomas, rowing as a Henley / Upper Thames composite, won their category by a substantial distance over Maidenhead and Nottingham University.
The crew got off to a fast start, and continued to row away from the field over the remainder of the course, finishing many lengths ahead in a time of 6 min 56 secs.
An hour later the Women's Intermediate 1 Coxless Four won a close race against Mortlake Anglian RC. Upper Thames (crew: Becks Sadler, Naomi Ashcroft, Katie Pollard, Kat Leach) lead off the start and gradually pulled out to a few feet at half way. Stroke Becks Sadler managed to push the crew on to a half length victory by the end of the 2000m course. The time of 7 min 12 secs was one of the fastest times of the day.
Coach Ali Gill, herself a three time Olympian, summed up the weekend by saying: "The girls have had another very good weekend in competitive events, and are enjoying their fruits of all the hard work they have put in. I've told them you have to enjoy every win because you never know when the next one is going to come along!"
A third win of the weekend came from another impressive performance by the J18 Quadruple Scull on Saturday, who managed to come through the field as they had done the previous week in The National Schools Regatta, to win a very close race by a canvas. This time they beat Windsor Boys School, who have a history of rowing success on the school circuit.
The Metropolitan Regatta, which dates back to 1866, is one of the premier events in the UK domestic rowing calendar. Crews from all over the UK and Ireland use the regatta as an important part of their preparations for Henley Royal Regatta and Henley Women's Regatta.
Next weekend Upper Thames crews will be racing at Reading, The British Masters, Marlow Town and an invitation event at Blenheim, totaling nearly 80 entries, which is a club record. Upper Thames has nearly doubled in active members during the last two years since expanding it's facilities, and now has to have a waiting list due to the increased demand.
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