Pewter at Ironbridge

Posted: 28 Jun 2010

Sunshine and glinting pewter were on the agenda this weekend at Ironbridge as Stratford rowers brought more silverware back to the club.

It was a great weekend, at the historic gorge, for messing about in boats and the Stratford men were not disappointed.

Paul Johnson and Luke Russell, who were still basking in the glory of their novice double sculls win the week before, found themselves in their new category of Intermediate 3.
They met their opposition Ross in a straight final over the 500 metre course.
Both crews were bow ball to bow ball at the start but Stratford began to take the lead after the first 200 metres.

Their supporters were stationed at 300 metres and Luke said: “We heard everyone cheering, it was great. We sat up and really pushed on, the stroke got longer and we pulled away.”

The men beat Ross by 1.5 lengths.

Stratford was also represented by the Novice coxed four of Charlie Harrison, Pete Molson, Ewan Cameron, Steve Hinkley and cox Andy Hale.

The men faced another local crew of Evesham in their first heat.

Following a good start they held onto a slight lead over the course, a final pressure and rate change saw them win by a length.

The crew have had less than 12 months rowing experience and even less race experience but did themselves proud impressing their coach, Jennifer Smith, who said it was the best she had seen them race and it was a well deserved win.

In the second heat against Peterborough inexperience crept in and crew technique suffered under the pressure and Stratford was unable to make an impact on Peterborough, losing by one length.

All crews were happy to have achieved a win and some good competitive racing and look towards more summer racing.

For more information about Stratford rowing log on to: www.stratford-rowing.co.uk
Stratford is also hosting a fun rowing event on July 10th where lots of people who have never rowed before will take to the water in a variety of crews and colours to compete against each other.