Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s annual Scratch Regatta took place early on Boxing Day morning and over fifty members managed to leave their beds after the overindulgence of the Christmas festivities. The crews were supported by friends and relatives who came down to the river to watch the spectacle and cheer

“This year the scratch regatta had each crew racing in two races. The crews were selected from Junior, Senior and Masters squads to ensure close and exciting racing”, said coach Helen Smith, joint organiser. “All races were over a short sprint course from the Ferry to the Club grounds on the Town stretch of the River Avon”

The racing provided great interest to early morning sightseers and visitors watching from the Recreation Ground, The Royal Shakespeare Terrace, Bancroft Gardens and The Tramway Bridge. Said Dawson Curnock, Chairman for Stratford Boat Club, “The scratch regatta caught the imagination of all that came down to the river and gave us added impetus to move further ahead for fundraising in 2018 to achieve the funds to refurbish and replace our fleet and equipment”

Stratford upon Avon Boat Club will be back on the river this week and after the New Year training hard for the 2018 head season, the Senior squad’s entry at Henley Royal Regatta and their own regatta in June

For media coverage, see Stratford Herald online http://www.stratford-herald.com/80316-rowers-out-force-boxing-day-regatta.html  and p14 and Stratford Observer online https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/perfect-conditions-to-blow-away-the-excess

For more excellent pictures of the Boxing Day Scratch Regatta, see Stuart Baines’ great selection https://1drv.ms/f/s!AiW2DAyn9tg9jItWian0uMO6VCC78Q

Saturday 9th December saw Junior members of Stratford upon Avon Boat Club compete in the 2017 British Rowing Indoor Championships (BRIC) at the Olympic Velodrome in Stratford, London. This year saw a record number of entries from both home and abroad with all spectator tickets sold out before the event.

Sophie Elstone, Harriet Hodgson and Will Clarke from the J14 squad and Nixie Brunt from the J15 squad competed in front of a crowd of well over a thousand cheering spectators, performing magnificently against such high calibre competition.

In the Year 9 500m events, Sophie Elstone came third in her heat to be placed finally in tenth position with a time of 1:50.4, with Harriet Hodgson in twenty first place with 1:54.8 out of a field of sixty eight competitors. In the boys 500m heat, Will Clarke fought hard for a well deserved twelfth place in a field of twenty four with a time of 1:42.1.

Nixie Brunt won a very well deserved Bronze medal in her Year 10 500m event alongside fifty two fellow competitors. With an amazing time of 1:40.9, Nixie narrowly missed Silver by less than half a second and was only 2.5 seconds behind the Gold medal position.

The afternoon saw the age group timed events, with the J14s competing over four minutes and the J15s five minutes. In the Y9 four minute races Sophie came thirteenth with a distance of 1008m with Harriet thirty seventh with 962m in a huge field of ninety two competitors. Will Clarke finished well, in nineteenth place rowing 1065m against fifty two competitors.

Nixie in the Y10 five minute race finished in tenth position with a field of seventy one, with an outstanding distance of 1305 metres.

Stratford upon Avon Boat Club Junior Squad Coach Trevor Tiller competed in the Men’s Open 2000m event: this was against members of the Great Britain rowing squad along with newcomer to the sport Sir Bradley Wiggins. Clearly pleased with gaining a new personal best of 7:32.1, Trevor was also surprised to discover he was only seventy seconds behind Sir Bradley.

Further local entries included recent Stratford upon Avon Boat Club learner Millie Hodgson winning the Silver Medal in the Year 7 500m event with a time of 2:01.8 and just missing out on a Bronze in the Y7 two minute time event by a mere three metres!

Harriet and Millie’s father Ed Hodgson also raced in the Masters 40-49 age group, pushing fantastic times in both his 2000m and 500m events with times of 6:50.3 and 1:28.6 respectively.

Said Stratford’s coach Trevor Tiller, “The day’s events and results have shown what great progress our own members are making and how in parallel with the water based side of the sport, indoor rowing has developed to be so inclusive with Junior, Senior, Masters and Adaptive events and competitors ranging in age from eleven to those  well into their nineties! A successful, promising and enjoyable day for competitors, spectators and families alike … with training plans already in place for next year!”

Unfortunately, the Club’s attempts to compete on Sunday at Monmouth Christmas Head were thwarted by the weather as the event was cancelled

However, a cold but otherwise beautiful day saw the potential for throbbing frost bitten fingers as Walton on Thames Rowing Club held their major small boats head race on Saturday on a beautiful three kilometre stretch of the River Thames in London

The event one of the biggest of its kind in the country for singles and two person crew boats and attracted well over six hundred entries with a huge contingent from across all the London clubs ensuring a very high level of competition throughout the day with crews determined to squeeze one more competitive race in before the Christmas festivities begin

Racing was spread across three divisions with boats starting every ten seconds throughout the day providing an excellent spectacle to onlookers and lively competition on the water for crews. Stratford upon Avon Boat Club was represented at the event in three crew categories during the day

First off was the coxless Masters E age category crew of Richard Nelson and Simon Beard. A solid race rating thirty two stokes per minute saw them up against National Champions Tyrian Boat Club and although they were unable to overcome them, Stratford pushed them very hard to secure a well deserved second place in a time of twelve minutes and three seconds with less than a minute and a half separating all four crews in the event

Following close behind was Gary Clay and Tom Doherty in the double scull Masters E age group race. A field of nine crews containing National Championship medalists lead to some hard but very close racing with only one minute and nine seconds separating the entire field. National Medalists and home crew Walton put in an excellent performance to win the event in a fast time of eleven minutes and thirty eight seconds. Stratford finished in a very creditable mid table position in a time of eleven minutes and fifty nine seconds in a dead heat with Molesey Boat Club and beating Bentham Boat Club by a mere one second over the three kilometre course!

Women’s representation for Stratford Boat Club saw Christine Goodwin competing in Women’s Novice single sculls in a large field of twelve competitors. Racing towards the end of the day in rapidly dropping temperatures, Christine nevertheless put in a solid performance to finish in a very respectable time of fourteen minute and thirty eight seconds

Said Tom Doherty, Masters’ Vice Captain, “It was a great experience to come to such a high quality event for the first time and see all of our crews put in some very competitive performances.” 

Those members who stayed Stratford based over the weekend were involved in the Club’s Clean Up Weekend. Said Laurie Flintoft, Committee Member responsible for Land and Buildings said, “A lot was achieved over the weekend with all squads working together to tidy and clean the premises.”

For media coverage, see Stratford Observer online https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/stratford-young-guns-star-at-british-indoors and Stratford Herald p20 and online http://www.stratford-herald.com/79872-stratfords-junior-rowers-excel-british-indoor-championships.html

Last weekend saw the 2017 Hampton Small Boats Head which attracts the finest young athletes from rowing schools and clubs throughout the South East and further afield. This year was no exception with over 770 crews competing.

A frosty Saturday morning greeted Stratford upon Avon Boat Club athletes as they arrived at the Thames in Hampton: the white heat of Stratford junior sculling however soon thawed the ice as racing got underway!

The women’s junior 15 double sculls event saw an excellent performance earning ninth place from Nixie Brunt and Mili Wilcock with Mya Kenny and Maiya James also in the mix recording 19th of the 33 crews entered. In the women’s junior 16 double sculls, Molly Gill-Swift and Emily Browne were 12th fastest and an equally impressive combination of Mimi Hill and Talei Dunn arriving 16th across the line.  The latter performance being notable with Talei still in her early years of rowing and Mimi more usually seen in the coxswain’s seat.

The single sculls is often seen as the gladiatorial event at any sculling competition with athletes pitching their technical skill and physical fitness against one another. In the autumnal sun of East Molesey the battle raged. In the women’s junior 15 single sculls Alice Baines registered a superb 11th position biting at the heels of a good number of junior 16 scullers. In the junior 16 single sculls Khloe Curnock, Katie Wellstead and Jess Weisheu showed their class with 18th, 21st and 24th places respectively in a high quality 50 strong entry list.  Said Steve Wellstead, Stratford Boat Club’s Junior Co-ordinator, “The result of the day however went to Emily Browne who once more opened the taps and unleashed her formidable power to take second place in the junior 16 single sculls. An extremely good result indeed!”

Meanwhile at nearby Avon Masters & Evesham Senior Head, Stratford’s Women’s Novice 4x+ had a pleasing win on a sunny, cold morning but otherwise perfect conditions for four kilometre course. Stratford’s opponents were Ross and Evesham.  Stratford finished two minutes ahead of the Ross ladies and a satisfying four minutes ahead of Evesham on their own home water. Stratford’s crew were Alfie Nash cox, Clare Nash, Helen Helliwell, Rona Fitzpatrick and Rosie Stone.

Crew captain Rosie Stone commented, “A solid performance maintained over the distance and excellently coxed throughout by Alfie Nash!”

Stratford Men’s coxless four also bought home some silverware from Avon Masters & Evesham Senior Head after winning the race for IM1 crews. The crew contained three new rowers to the Club plus Stratford’s Captain of Boats Oli Smith who stroked the winning boat. Max Marcus, Mark Tarrant, Patrick Hourigan and Oli won their race by over a minute from a crew from Bewdley and ended up as the third quickest crew of the day.

Said Bill Sullivan, Stratford’s Senior Men’s Squad coach, “Stratford men’s squad has grown rapidly this autumn with the addition of eight new rowers and the squad will spend the next few months getting in some hard training before next summer’s regatta season and hoped for entries for Henley Royal Regatta.”

Saturday also saw Stratford upon Avon Boat Club Masters’ squad make the short trip to local neighbours Evesham Rowing Club also for the Avon Masters and Evesham Autumn Head. The event held on the picturesque River Avon over four kilometers made for some challenging steering on a meandering and in places narrow course. A beautiful sunny but very cold day saw a number of crews braving the weather in coxed and coxless fours, and quad, double and single sculls.

Stratford’s Masters were lead off in division one by the Masters’ D coxed four crew of Richard Field, Richard Anderson, Graham Cann, Dave Edwards and cox Jane Connolly. The crew competing in their first ever long distance head race were looking for a steady performance and although unsuccessful in winning their event, recorded a very respectable time of twenty minutes and thirty three seconds.

Closely following on their heels were the Masters’ E crew of Richard Shepherd, Richard Nelson, Simon Beard, Tom Doherty and cox Lucy Breakwell. Maintaining a steady rate of thirty two strokes per minute, they were able to make up ground on the preceding event crews from Worcester, Warwick and Stratford. Despite being held up on a very narrow section of the course by a slower crew, they were still able to record a very good time of seventeen minutes and forty seconds to win their event by almost two minutes over Warwick Boat Club, a time which would also have won the Masters’ D younger age group event!

Division one racing now moved to the small boats and Stratford were represented by the Mixed Masters E double of Gina Fusco and Phil Marshall. The crew were up against a very good National Championship medal winning crew from Derwent but nonetheless put in a very good performance to finish second in their event in a time of twenty minutes and forty two seconds.

Bringing up the division were the single sculling races .The competitors who had been waiting in the very cold conditions for some considerable time were eager to race and thaw out. First off for Stratford was Stephen Haighton competing in Masters F/G single sculls. Haighton in his first ever single sculling event produced a very creditable performance to win his event in a time of twenty minutes and forty three seconds over competitors from Ross, Pengwern and Bristol clubs.

Last but not least was the Women’s Masters’ E single scull of Kjersti Woolley. Starting at the rear of the field after a long wait on the start, Kjersti soon made time up on the field in front of her to finish in a very respectable time of twenty four minutes and ten seconds to finish in second place in her event.

With most competitors deciding to thaw out in the afternoon, the second division contained only one Stratford crew. Sian Maher and Tom Doherty in a last minute partnership competed in IM3 mixed double scull. Despite never having been in a boat together before the race, they recorder a very respectable time of nineteen minutes and nineteen seconds to finish just over a minute behind the winners from Warwick Boat Club.

Said Tom Doherty, Masters’ Vice Captain, “It was great to see a range of masters, senior and junior crews braving the winter chill to compete and record some very impressive results.”

For media coverage, see Stratford Herald p15 and online at http://www.stratford-herald.com/79258-stratford-crews-enjoy-success-evesham.html and Stratford Observer online https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/rowers-claim-success-on-multiple-fronts

For more great pictures of Hampton Small Boats Head, see Stuart Baines’ selection https://1drv.ms/f/s!AuJoEG1Fov50hNBqDdT3z9IYSK91ZQ

In addition to an eight, two new doubles/pairs have been added to Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s fleet. This goes someway to both remove a ‘pinch point’ in the availability of heavier hulls and gives Stratford Boat Club the flexibility to refurbish some of their lighter doubles during the year without significant detriment to the running of the club

The Club has a long standing tradition of naming Club boats after ladies, elves, sprites and spirits who appear in Shakespeare’s plays. A brief ‘internal’ naming ceremony took place on Saturday so that the boats could be put into immediate use. It is hoped that there will be a more ‘civic’ ceremony when the weather is more clement and the Club can thank the donors more personally

The new boats include:-

8+ (80-90kg): Titania

2x/2- (70kg): Hermione

2x/2- (95kg): Cordelia

The introduction of the boats into the fleet requires quite a big shuffle of racks, blades and rigging within the boathouses themselves which is already very tight for space

Said Oli Smith, Captain of Boats, “The addition of three boats, ten pairs of sculls (oars), the riggers and trestles represents a massive expenditure for the Club in the last two months on equipment alone! This is something that we could not have done without the huge support of the Town Trust and our own collective fundraising efforts in combination with the Club’s regattas and lettings

Dawson Curnock, Club Chairman, commented further, “This clearly demonstrates that Stratford Boat Club can invest in the fleet at this high level, mixing new and second hand as required but only if we continue to work hard on fundraising, sponsorship and, most importantly, look after equipment we already have!”.

Cordelia is a name already familiar to Stratford Boat Club as this is the name of the coxed pair which was found in the loft during the recent refurbishment and now adorns the ceiling of the Club Room. It is believed that Cordelia was put into the loft just after the Second World War

Dawson Curnock also gave a ‘libation to Poseidon’ pouring a small amount the champagne used for naming the boats into the river to ask for rowers’ safety and good luck!

For media coverage, see Stratford Observer p36

Stratford upon Avon Boat Club observed a two minutes’ silence on this Remembrance Sunday to honour those who fell in the World Wars and other conflicts. The Club’s thoughts were led by the Club’s President, Paul Stanton

Wreaths were laid at the memorial in the Club grounds by the youngest member Toby Sartain and Peter Wyatt, the oldest member: seventy six years separate their rowing experience! Peter Wyatt narrowly missed being selected of Britain’s Olympic rowing squad in 1948 and 1952 and ran with the Olympic torch into Stratford upon Avon prior to the London Olympics in 2012

All the crews and rowers came off the water during a busy Remembrance Sunday to attend the act of remembrance. Said Steve Wellstead, Stratford Boat Club’s Junior Co-ordinator, “The memorial is literally at the heart of the Club and our sporting life goes on around it: this was an opportunity to stop, reflect and remember those Stratford Boat Club members who had died so that we can live in peace and enjoy our sport.”

For media coverage, see Stratford Observer online https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/fitting-remembrance-at-boat-club and https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/news/honouring-those-who-served-on-remembrance-sunday-in-stratford and Stratford Herald p2

On Saturday 4th November, a large Junior contingent from Stratford upon Avon Boat Club competed over 3km in the Henley Long Distance Sculls. Raced over an extended Henley Royal regatta course, the event is attended by many of the top clubs and schools in the country. Junior athletes ranging from J14 to J18 represented Stratford over two divisions with a strong headwind early on presenting challenging conditions for competitors.

The event, a major competition on the pre-Christmas winter racing calendar attracted almost 600 entries primarily from the London and the south east areas of the country, providing very high levels of competition for Stratford crews throughout the day.

This event was a step up on anything the Junior Squad have done before especially for two Stratford J14 quadruple sculling crews who enjoyed a good row and gave a good account of themselves. The J14 girls’ crew of Elisabeth Edwards, Sienna Rawlings, Sophie Elstone, Abbey Meggeson coxed by Mary Walton finished sixth of twelve boats and in the Open category, a mixed crew of Amelie Sartain, Harriet Hodgson, Will Clarke, Conar Aitchison coxed by Julia Zampronio Gurden produced a good time to finish third against four other all boy boats.

J14 Coach Trevor Tiller said, “It’s great to see our young athletes developing their technique and stamina to the point that they are able to come to Henley and compete with the best young rowers in the United Kingdom.”

There were some strong performances across the older age groups with both J15 (Dan Cox and Max Griffiths) and J16 (Fred Tyler and Joe Hodson) boys’ double sculls achieving good results with each finishing sixth in fields of sixteen and seventeen respectively. J16 girls also produced some excellent sculling with Emily Browne, Jessica Wiesheu and Katie Wellstead finishing fourth, eighth and ninth respectively in single sculls and Molly Gill-Swift and Khloe Curnock achieving a very good time to finish fourth in large high quality field of twenty one double sculling boats.

Stratford boats competed well in other categories including J16 Geoffrey Flambert (24th) and WJ15’s Nixie Brunt (8th) and Jasmine Mountney (10th) in single sculls and Maiya James, Mili Wilcock, Mya Kenny. Alice Baines and Naomi Sergeant in a J15 girls quadruple scull (13th) and Theo Mordaunt, Claire Teakle, Maddie Griffiths and Sofia Ward in a J18 coxless quad (10th).

Meanwhile, a change in the weather from a glorious late autumnal week of sunshine and mild temperatures to cold and continuous rain greeted Stratford’s Masters’ Squad as they also competed in the Henley Long Distance Sculls Head.

First up for the Masters Squad saw a head to head between Neville Hand and Gary Clay against Kjersti Woolley and Thomas Doherty in Masters E double sculls .With no mixed event Kjersti and Tom were rowing in the Men’s event but still gave Neville and Gary a good fight just being overtaken at the finish.

The good row by Gary and Neville saw them just fail to take the overall winner’s prize by seven seconds to Bradford on Avon in a time of thirteen minutes thirty eight seconds with Kjersti and Tom finishing in fourteen minutes and twenty eight seconds.
The afternoon division saw Tim Lunel competing in the very competitive Masters D single sculls event in a field including former Olympian Guy Pooley. Tim produced a very good row to finish in a time of thirteen mins and fifty six seconds and an overall midfield position of sixth.

It remained for Christine Goodwin to complete the Masters’ entries racing in Open Women’s second level sculls. In a strong field of eleven competitors, Christine put in a greatly improved performance from last year to finish again midfield in a time of fifteen mins fifty two seconds in seventh position.

Said Tom Doherty, Masters Vice Captain, “It was great to see Gary and Neville racing together for the first time and to also see continual improved performances from Christine and Tim”

A change of river for the Masters’ Squad on Sunday for Stourport Small Boats Head saw a much needed improvement in the weather with sunshine, higher temperatures and local competition making for a good days racing over a 4km stretch of the Severn. With a following wind and a positive stream fast times were the order of the day.

Stratford were represented by their mixed Masters’ crew of Kjersti Woolley and Thomas Doherty in Masters E division who put in a much improved race from the previous days effort at Henley to beat a number of the men’s and women’s crews. Said Kjersti Woolley, “Although no official times have been released, we were very pleased with our improved performance.”

For more great pictures of Henley Long Distance Sculls, see Stuart Baines’ selection https://1drv.ms/f/s!AiW2DAyn9tg9jIIGqT0pAxsBXLuLNA.

For media coverage, see Stratford Herald p15 on our successes and online http://bit.ly/2yOiE89 and Stratford Observer online http://bit.ly/2yhRcvd

Success on the water for Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s Junior squads continued at the Evesham Junior Head on Saturday.

A magnificent win by Fred Tyler and Dan Cox in their J15 double scull, gaining two minutes from their closest opposition over the 1900m course, was later followed by a further medal win for Fred in the single sculls event with Dan a very close third.

The J14 ‘mixed’ quad crewed by Martha Usselmann, Elisabeth Edwards, William Clarke and Abbey Meggeson valiantly coxed by Conar Aitchison fought hard for an impressive against the odds victory. Overcoming the loss of their rudder shortly after the start, Conar showed admirable composure controlling his winning crew over the awkwardly bending course against strong opposition.

Said coach Trevor Tiller, “Racing throughout the day saw some very close racing producing promising performances from the Stratford squads in preparation for the forthcoming season.”

‘Head’ races are time trials with boats starting individually at fifteen second intervals, originally started with winter ‘off season’ training in mind, they are competed for over various distances and are now a regular feature in the winter rowing calendar.

Also competing but on the Thames were Stratford Masters who showed early national form when they represented Stratford upon Avon Boat Club at this year’s Pairs Head of the River on the Tideway in London with the Club’s Masters E pair of Simon Beard and Richard Nelson.

The Pairs Head is the premier national long distance race held annually for crews of two competitors, raced over 4500m of the Championship Boat Race course on the Thames. The first major national event of the winter season, the Pairs Head is unique combining all age categories from sixteen year old Juniors to eighty plus year old Masters. The crews were blessed with ideal weather and water conditions on the day with almost five hundred crews racing up the Thames in a festival of quality rowing. 

Pairs Head 2017

Competing in the Open Championship category for combined Masters D and E age groups and racing against a field of fourteen top crews from around the country, Simon and Richard finished in fourth place overall in fifteen minutes and forty eight seconds, improving on their starting position in the draw by almost two hundred places and overtaking numerous other crews. This puts down a strong marker for Stratford Boat Club’s prospects of success at this early point in the season particularly as this event was the first to be held under new British Rowing rules pitting older against younger men without any handicap advantage.

Said Richard Nelson (stroke), “We kept our pace under control and had a good row. It was a great early success to build on as the season progresses.”

For media coverage, see Stratford Herald online http://www.stratford-herald.com/77167-stratford-boat-club-get-head-start-impressive-performances.html  and p15, Stratford Observer online https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/stratford-show-good-early-national-form-at-evesham-and-on-the-tideway and p31.