No Slacking for Stratford in the City of Dreaming Spires!

Stratford upon Avon Boat Club started the weekend on Saturday travelling the comparatively short way to Oxford to compete in the Oxford City Royal Regatta hosted by City of Oxford Rowing Cub: the regatta has been running consistently on the Isis River in Oxford since 1841 with only occasional breaks due to war.

Stratford’s WJ17/18 athletes Martha Usselmann and Hannah Broome in the Women’s Double Sculls event had a close race off the start against City of Cambridge who then pulled away and beat Stratford to the final. Said Helen Smith, J17/18 Coach, “Martha and Hannah were happy with their race, as they hadn’t previously raced a double together and kept a strong effort against the more experienced crew.”

On Sunday, Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s adaptive squad followed up its recent highly successful trip to Maidenhead with another day of great results at the Oxford Sprint Regatta. The crews competed in four events on the day and won them all!

All the singles races took place in the morning: adaptive athlete Lee Cairns competed in two events for wheelchair users. His first final was against his club mate Rob Pedley: Rob’s larger physique and somewhat better technique on this occasion took the honours with Rob winning by three lengths over his plucky rival.

Lee’s second event saw him race Luke Payne from Sudbury in the final. The pair had had an epic encounter at Marlow earlier in the summer with Lee beating Luke by half a length. This latest meeting reflected Lee’s fast development over the last few months with Lee leading from start, finishing with a comfortable win over his opponent from Suffolk.

In the afternoon, the adaptive pairs final was another all Stratford affair between Gillian Middleton and Dan Godefroy with Gillian and her support rower overcoming Dan and his support rower Joe Moore by about a length. Gillian’s ‘never say die’ attitude perhaps proving the critical factor in this well matched struggle!

This left Ian Ward and his mother Paola to try to complete the clean sweep against another mixed crew from Marlow in the final of the adaptive doubles. The race proved close but the Stratford family crew kept their nose in front most of the way and better steering in the latter half of the race gave them a win by a couple of lengths.

Head Adaptive Coach Mark Dewdney commented, “This regatta looks like the end of the season for us: sadly no one wants to race us at the Bank Holiday weekend Gloucester Regatta! That is disappointing but we are going out on a high! Stratford’s adaptive section have been invited to compete in Italy in October so we have plenty to look forward to! As always, a big thank you to the adaptive support crew, helpers and buddy rowers from other clubs: we were also honoured to have our President Paul Stanton and Vice President Colin Upchurch visit and support us during the regatta: their encouragement means a lot!”

For media coverage see Stratford Herald online https://www.stratford-herald.com/sport/sprint-regatta-glory-for-adaptive-athletes-9270535 and page fifty one and Stratford Observer online https://www.stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/rowing-stratfords-adaptive-squad-continue-fine-season-with-clean-sweep-at-oxford-sprint-regatta and back sports page https://www.stratfordobserver.co.uk/editions/view/?/Stratford/2022/08/26&pages=024

Stratford’s Adaptives Prove Themselves at Maidenhead!

Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s adaptive squad took the long journey to Maidenhead to compete at their regatta on Saturday. Five clubs entered eight different events for the disabled. The other clubs won one each. Stratford won the other four; four of the five adaptive events they competed in.

Jake Blatcher also attended and raced in both his single and as well as a support rower with some of his adaptive colleagues. In Jake’s first race, his opponent from Reading University took an early lead. However, Jake closed the gap consistently and his opponent, feeling the pressure, started to make mistakes and as Jake came alongside, the Reading man made a fatal mistake resulting in his capsize and defeat! Jake’s second race was against a large sculler from Ardingly: this was an epic encounter that Jake lost by just a quarter of length!

First up from the adaptive squad was Andy Morris racing Watson from Oxford in his singles’ final. The Oxford sculler was given a twenty second head start: Andy succeeded in clawing this back by halfway down the course eventually winning by a comfortable four lengths.

Rob Pedley then took on a sculler from Lagan (Belfast) in his final: this was Rob’s first event. The competitor from Northern Ireland was also given a twenty second head start. It was only in the last one hundred metres that Rob poked his nose in front, winning by a few lengths as his opponent faded.

The next event turned out to be an all Stratford final as new boy Dan Browne took on the more experienced Gillian Middleton in Mixed Ability Doubles/Pairs. Dan was given a head start which he and his steerer, Joe Moore, never relinquished: this was Dan’s first win after a few tries.

The final win for Stratford Boat Club came in another Mixed Ability Doubles/Pairs event. The final was between a Lagan and Maidenhead combined crew and Dan Godefroy and Jake Blatcher from Stratford. This was an exercise in better technique overcoming a lot of effort. Rowing smoothly down the whole course, the result looked inevitable well before the finish, Dan and Jake drawing applause from the crowd for what looked like effortless rowing.

Rob Pedley kindly agreed to race Akhurst from Marlow who otherwise would not have had an opponent: this was a tremendous race with the experience and technique of Marlow against the brawn of the Stratford man. As with the previous final, technique came out on top with Akhurst winning by a few lengths.

Commenting on the day, Stratford Boat Club’s Head Adaptive Coach Mark Dewdney said, “We are pretty happy with the outcome. It has been a while since our last event and I was concerned we would be a bit rusty. We are off to Oxford Regatta in a fortnight and hope for similar results!”

For media coverage, please see Stratford Observer online https://www.stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/rowing-stratfords-adaptive-squad-dominate-at-maidenhead and back sports page https://www.stratfordobserver.co.uk/editions/view/?/Stratford/2022/08/12&pages=024 and also Stratford Herald online https://www.stratford-herald.com/sport/adaptive-squad-show-their-class-9267932 and page forty five.

Stratford’s Adaptive Squad Show Promise at Oxford and Juniors Finish 2020 Competition!

Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s adaptive (disabled) squad raced at Oxford on the weekend. Building on recent success, they won five events and came extremely close to winning a couple more.

The Oxford City Rowing Club regatta was solely for disabled rowers with the usual two day regatta being cancelled for Covid reasons.

Pride of place goes to Kelly Donald in the wheelchair user women’s single sculls event. Competing in her first event, she beat a plucky and experienced City of Oxford sculler in the final by a little over a length.

James Bastin’s win in beating his Stratford colleague Gillian Middleton in the final of a doubles event was also a first win in his first event. A great performance from the visually and physically impaired athlete. Gillian competed in two events and a win for her must surely be just around the corner.

Xander van der Poll, a Stratford Great Britain Paralympic hopeful, won a very close final against another Oxford opponent. Further wins were completed by Ian Ward supported by his sister Sofia and Hattie Throssell with Paola Ward.

The unluckiest pair of the day were Jake Blatcher and Dan Godefroy. Competing in two events, they lost the finals by just a foot in each case. Steve Binns, in his fifties, had a tough draw against a much younger Guildford opponent.

The squad’s next outing is at Stratford Boat Club’s own regatta on Saturday 18th September.

Not to be out done, Stratford Boat Club’s Junior Squad was in action over the weekend finalising the concluding junior heats of the 2020 President’s Sculls. Yes, 2020 President’s Sculls, just over a year after the first races and very much in the style of Tokyo Olympics affected by Covid restrictions and disruptions!

Some close racing was delivered by Freya Watts as this year’s junior champion who won by one length in the final.

Said Steve Wellstead, Junior Co-ordinator and J17/18 Performance Squad Coach, “Well done to all entrants: we’ll be having the trophy presentation soon!”

The original trophy was initially presented by Ian Cartwright, the then Captain, to Derek Eardley in 2004 during his tenure as President of Stratford Boat Club to mark his many years of service to the Club and was to be raced for annually in coxed fours.

Over the years, the competition faded from the annual calendar and was reinstated comparatively recently as an annual sculling competition in three categories – women, men and juniors.

Paul Stanton, Stratford upon Avon Boat Club President commented, “We hope that the President’s Sculls award will continue to inspire all members to continue with sculling at a high level and further contribute to all sections of the Club mixing and communicating with each other. Our congratulations go to Freya Watts who has won the Junior Award. Our thanks go to all those who supervised this final by marshalling and safety spotting on the bank and from the launch.”

For media coverage, see Stratford Herald page fifty five

Stratford’s Masters’, Adaptive & Junior Squads Competing at High Level!

The Junior and Masters squads of Stratford upon Avon Boat Club were in action again over the weekend on the hallowed waters of Henley-on-Thames.  As the trailer rolled into the historic town, the conditions could not have been better and gave no indication of what lay ahead.

Henley Town and Visitors Regatta provided high quality side by side racing over 800m on the Henley Royal Regatta course. Warm up complete, the Masters’ double scull of Henley Town and Visitors Regatta took to the water and made short work of their Guildford Rowing Cub competition in the first round. Steeling themselves for the final, the Hayton/Doherty combo turned swiftly and lined up against a quality crew from Poole & Warwick clubs. Sadly, victory was denied by a tight margin with the Poole/Warwick composite taking the win.

Then, it rained: with a biblical downpour in full effect the WJ18 quadruple scull of Jasmine Mountney, Isabelle Watts, Alice Baines and Mili Wilcock fully expected Noah and his Ark to be competing! Rowing up in the Senior Women’s event, the Stratford Boat Club athletes were drawn against what can only be described as a rowing super group consisting of Irish and Estonian national team members.

Unfazed, the J18 Stratford crew took their place on the start. The flag dropped and the girls went off well and held the Twickenham Rowing Club/ Thames Rowing Club/ Neptune Rowing Club composite to no more than half a length for the first half of the race. Experience won out in the end however and the composite took the win and went on to win the event overall. Commenting, Steve Wellstead, Junior Co-ordinator and J18 Performance Squad Coach commented, “That’s racing and indeed, the luck of the draw: onwards and upwards to Stourport Boat Club Regatta next Saturday!”

The Stratford Boat Club’s every increasing adaptive (disabled) squad competed at Maidenhead Rowing Club Regatta on Saturday. Xander Van Der Poll won his debut event in his single: in the final, he defeated a sculler from Northern Ireland by a considerable margin. Xander, a former King Edward The Sixth School pupil, is in the Great Britain Paralympic pathway system and hopes to represent Great Britain in the Paris Paralympics in 2024. He is one of two such athletes being developed by the Club’s adaptive section and can be seen on the Avon early most mornings training when not at Bristol University studying for his medical degree.

Gillian Middleton also made her first competitive appearance after only a few months rowing and an impressive one it was: she and her crewmate Joe Moore were only overhauled by a strong Marlow crew in the last few strokes of the final.

Paola and Ian Ward, in their final, were similarly overtaken close to the finish line by an all male Guildford crew. Dan Godefroy and Jake Blatcher were beaten by a technically excellent City of Oxford crew.

Said Mark Dewdney, Stratford Boat Club’s Head Adaptive Coach said, “Due to many last minute changes, some Stratford rowers were put in races against much faster opposition: on this occasion, this reduced our chances of multiple wins that we have had in most regattas in the last few years. Nonetheless, well done to all the rowers and helpers! We were very pleased with the general level of performance. Xander will face tougher opposition in the future so his training and steps along the GB Paralympic pathway will continue in earnest: Gillian’s performance was the star of the day! Stratford’s adaptive section is interested in everyone rowing as well as they can and we are happy as long as everyone rows well. The squad’s next outing is at Oxford on the 21st August in an event just for adaptive/disabled rowers.”

For media coverage see Stratford Herald online https://www.stratford-herald.com/sport/squads-show-they-can-compete-with-the-best-9211185 and page fifty.

For more great pictures of Henley Town & Visitors Regatta, see Kathy Baines’ selection at https://1drv.ms/f/s!AgY7EiDB2lCOhMdRfeSXA-kVvsp4wA

Stratford’s Adaptive Squad Makes Racing Debut!

Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s adaptive squad went to its first event of the season last Sunday.

Stratford is one of the “Big 5” adaptive clubs that dominate the scene in the South of England. All but one of these clubs attended the Time Trial that was rowed over part of the Henley Royal Regatta course. The five squad rowers from Stratford were Jake Blatcher, Dan Godefroy, Hattie Throssell, Ian Ward and Mark Sanders. A couple of athletes, due to their disability, require experienced club volunteers to row with them. For Dan and Jake it was their first competitive event.

Jake won the prize for best junior men’s performance of the day. Mark missed out on the men’s adult prize by 0.1 of a second to a Marlow sculler. The other athletes all produced times that bode well for this summer’s regatta season.

The adaptive squad was revived at the Stratford Boat Club in 2015: since that date, the squad has grown steadily. “We have athletes with a variety of disabilities: some just require a little extra support. Safety is always paramount: we can deal with most issues but not all. The emphasis is on participation and enjoyment but it always great to get a win at these events” says Mark Dewdney, the Club’s Adaptive Coach.

The squad’s next competition will be at Marlow on the May Bank Holiday Monday.

For media coverage, please see Stratford Observer online https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/adaptive-rowers-impress-at-henley and Stratford Herald page 16 and http://www.stratford-herald.com/97512-stratford-boat-clubs-adaptive-squad-makes-racing-debut.html

For those interested in learning more about adaptive rowing at Stratford Boat Club, please contact the Club via the Club’s website http://www.stratford-rowing.co.uk/contact