St Neots Small Boats Head 2013

St Neots Rowing club was blessed with beautiful weather and good river conditions for its annual Small Boats Head on Sunday. Crews from as far afield as Newark and Leicester, Norwich and Broxbourne joined many local clubs to take part in this 2,600 metre race downstream. Entries had to be closed early due to the large number of crews wanting to race. The event is seen as a good first head race experience for juniors in particular.

Held over 5 divisions, each with 50 or more boats, the crews set off at intervals to complete the course. The fastest time was set by the Norwich men’s J18 double in 8 minutes 58 seconds. St Neots juniors achieved 7 wins, the fastest of which was by Rory Tynan and Adrian Vuylsteke in their novice double in 9:28. Other wins went to Josh Davies in the J17 single, Lauren Parren and Louise Shorten in the women’s J16 double, and Voirrey Taylor and Zoe Adamson in the women’s J15 double. Of note was a further win by Voirrey in the women’s J16 single event as she beat off competition in an older age group. Zoe and Lauren both won their singles categories as women’s J15 and novice. Whilst not winning, Molly Harper came a respectful third in the women’s J15 singles category, beating 11 other crews.

Senior entries were fielded in both the men’s and women’s categories and this was the first event for the novice women’s coxed four, who put in a good time in their first race, just one year on since they first sat in a boat.

The winners’ pots were presented by the club’s new captain, Ali Young, who has just become the third lady captain in the club’s history.