09/07/06

Henley Veteran Regatta

Surprise of the Henley Veteran Regatta on Saturday 8th July was an unannounced visit by Lord Snowdon. When he arrived late on Saturday afternoon he remarked on how long it had been since he had coxed a boat and wondered how different it might feel after fifty years. He promptly got into the cox’s seat of the winning Crabtree RC eight and steered it over part of the course.
As Anthony Armstrong-Jones Lord Snowdon coxed Cambridge to victory in the 1950 University Boat Race. He married Princess Margaret in 1960 and was created the Earl of Snowdon in 1961.

Crabtree Rowing Club is drawn from former Cambridge University oarsmen and was entered in the Veteran ‘C’ category (average age 43 years). It won by two-and-a-half lengths in the final against Abingdon in 3 min 12 sec, the fastest time of the day.
The 2006 Henley Veteran Regatta was easily the most successful in the 12 year history of the event, with more than 300 crews competing from all over the world. Nations represented included Croatia, Hungary, Germany, Norway, Australia, and the USA. Local clubs did well with Upper Thames Rowing Club reaching four finals and Henley RC two.

The Upper Thames composite women’s eight had a particularly eventful win in the final of the Veteran ’C’ category (average age 43 years). The crew was made up of Jo Wilby (bow), Nicola Dale (2), Jenny Page (3) and Gurli Medcalf (stroke) from UTRC, with Tideway Scullers School’s Kate Grose, Pauline Bird and Brendan Desmond at (5), (6) and cox respectively, and Nottingham Boat Club's Bernie McCabe at (4) and Helen Bloor at (7).

The semi-final too was not without incident, the UTRC women’s crew having to give an eight-second start to the Thames RC Veteran ‘D’ eight. At the start Thames had rudder problems and steered straight across the course into the path of UTRC, grinding the race to a halt.

Following a sporting gesture by UTRC to have a re-row, Thames ‘D’ got off to a good start and it was then the turn of the UTRC's crew to run into problems as the No. 2 girl came off her seat after the fourth stroke. Fortunately Thames again had steering problems and ran into the booms, leaving UTRC to a leisurely row down the course.

Then came the final against the Star composite crew who have an unbeaten record at Henley Vets. Star got off to a flying start, with UTRC trailing by half a length, and this continued all the way down the course. At the mile marker on the Henley Royal Regatta course, with just 20 strokes to go, UTRC responded to the cheering crowd and put in a dramatic push for home to win by just 2 feet in 3 min 35 sec, the fastest women’s time of the day.

Other Upper Thames finalists included the crew of Jo Wilby (bow) Melanie Reichelt, Jenny Page and Gurli Medcalf (stroke) which lost to a Thames RC composite by less than one-third of a length in the Women’s ‘C’ category coxed fours ; a men’s ‘D’ coxless four (Graham Lloyd bow, John Ewans, Charles Hamlin and Paul Stuart-Bennett stroke) which went out to Greenbank RC Falmouth in the fast time of 3 min 46 sec; and a category ‘C’ coxless pair (Johnny Woodiss-Field and Peter Jacobs) that lost to Melbourne RC Australia.

Henley Rowing Club’s Tim Lincoln sculling in a composite with Arnold Cooke of Minerva RC won the Veteran ‘G’ double sculls beating the double from the Occoquan Club from Virginia, USA. In fact both members of the Occoquan crew were German nationals from Rostok but Occoquan is a loosely-knit club with members all over the world and featured in six finals in composite crews winning all of them. Occoquan brings an international dimension to its regatta entries and is able to choose crews that meet exactly the age limit for the appropriate category.

This Henley/Minerva composite has rowed in every Henley Veteran Regatta since the event started and has never been defeated.
Henley RC’s Pat Ward and Karol Braun also did well to reach the final of the Veteran ‘H double sculls where they lost to the Christiana Roklub, Norway, crew.

Rowed in bright sunshine but with a remarkably strong headwind, this really was a Henley Vets to remember.