03/04/2011 St Neots on the Thames: Head of the River Races 2011

Three crews from St Neots have been racing at National events in London over the last few weeks as crews attended the major head races of the year: the Women’s Head of the River, Head of the River Race & Vesta Veterans Head of the River. Each event was raced on the 4 ½ mile stretch of Thames between Chiswick & Putney: the Boatrace course in reverse, attracting both international & UK crews. Crews were lucky to have calm & still conditions at each of the events, unusual for the Thames & even more so with sunshine this weekend.

On the 19th of March, Alison Brown, Mia Hartwell, Natasha Wilson, Helen Knowles, Sam Lawrence, Sarah Davies, Dionne Page & Robyn Staddon, with cox Sarah Porteus, made the trip to London to compete in the Women’s Head of the River Race. Over 300 ladies’ crews attended the event. With good conditions, St Neots managed a time of 22:34, moving up nearly 20 places from their start position of 256, to finish 237.

It was then the turn of the Men’s squad to perform this weekend. On Saturday, St Neots sent one eight to compete in the prestigious Head Of the River Race. Graham Mailer, Clive Emmerson, Steve Stanger, Mick Lawrence, Alistair Mackie, Mick Staddon, Simon Winter, Kevin Sadler & cox Robyn Staddon pulled together to finish 269th overall out of over 400 crews racing in this major event, beating 51 crews in their category with a solid row.

The women then rowed the 7.5km course again the following day, the IM3 crew that raced 2 weeks previously altered by the addition of Sarah Porteus & Jemma Phillips in the bows of the boat with Mia Hartwell as cox. This was the Vesta Veterans Head of the River Race; conditions were once again excellent and the crew completed the course in 24:34, finishing 9th in their category.

20/02/2011 Cambridge Winter League 2

10 crews from St Neots competed this weekend in the second event of the Cambridge Winter League 2011.

Calmer conditions allowed 8 members of the novice squad from St Neots to row in their very first external competitive event, recording the fastest time for their category. Alison Brown coxed a mixed eight of Rachel Tackley, Alison Young, Maggie McLaughlin, Mark Farmer, Simon Winter, Fiona Flack, Angela De Stefano & Louise Rushworth who beat competition from Isle of Ely by 13 seconds, putting in a time of 12:41.

The Men’s IM3 eight also had a good row, placing 9th on this occasion by completing the 2.6km course in 09:59. This strong performance has now placed the crew 10th out of over 200 entries, based on their cumulative time. Final placings will not be revealed until the club competes in the third & last leg of the Winter league races on March 13th.

Women also had a successful day racing on Sunday. The crew of Natasha Wilson, Mia Hartwell, Sam Lawrence & Robyn Staddon were coxed to victory by Charmian Hardwicke, recording the fastest women’s four time of the day, beating opposition from Norwich & Cambridge clubs.

The women’s IM3 eight - coxed by Sarah Porteus - also greatly improved vs. their previous performance, shaving off a 2minutes 30 seconds to complete the course in 12:28. The best time improvement of the day, however, was seen by the Junior 16 quad. With a clear run down the course, Bryce Poynter, Alex McCurrach, Sam Winter & Kyle Morrison coxed by Nick Shorten managed to beat their previous time by 3 full minutes: a massive improvement in only 6 weeks.