British Masters gold and silver win for St Neots women

St Neots Rowing Club sent 5 crews to the British Rowing Masters Championships at Nottingham last weekend. Two of the crews brought back a gold and silver medal after a day of beautiful rowing conditions and fierce competition.

The gold medal was won by the victorious novice ladies crew of Rachel Tackley, Lynne Taylor, Louise Rushworth and Ali Young, coxed by Sarah Porteus. These ladies have been aiming to lose their novice status for some time and this was also a successful return to the crew by Ali Young after injury. They dominated the race throughout and were well ahead of the second placed crew with a time of 4 minutes 15 seconds over the 1km course.

The silver medal was won by the women’s Masters C crew of Tash Wilson, Lynne Taylor, Louise Rushworth and Helen Knowles, again coxed by Sarah Porteus. The race for second place was a strong one and the ladies pulled away strongly from the third placed crew as the finish approached in 4 minutes flat.

The ladies Masters D eight came 6th in their final, a race where the last three boats were separated by just .007 of a second, and it was unlucky that the eight came at the wrong end of this time in 3.26. Sarah Porteus, Sarah Davies, Dione Page and Ali Brown joined Helen Knowles, Tash Wilson, Lynne Taylor and Louise Rushworth in this crew, coxed by Rachel Tackley.

Ali Brown and Helen Knowles went in the first race of the day in their Masters E double final, coming in fifth. Their performance showed that improvements have been made since their previous race last year, with a time of 4.47.

The only male to race was John Knights who came in 4th in the heat and 6th in the final in his Masters F category of single sculls. John’s comment on finishing was ‘That was hard work’.

Club Chairman Mick Staddon said:

I am so pleased that the novice ladies have finally won a race and lost their novice status. It’s always a pivotal moment in the rowing world and the ladies have received the club’s traditional ceremony of being thrown in the river.”