Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s juniors competed at Gloucester Autumn Head at the weekend and after a tough 7km row up to the start line with a headwind most of the way, the U16 girls double crew comprising Martina Bruce and Lilly Parsons set off down the 5km course at a fast but controlled rate. As they passed the halfway mark, they were still looking strong, working together to maintain a good boat speed and a tight line around the bends. They unfortunately got held up slightly by slower traffic as they passed under a bridge but soon managed to overtake. In the last section, they picked up the pace and gave everything they had, motivated by a J18 pair bearing down on them at an impressive speed. They finished the race in good form with a time of 24:45 and managed a respectable fifth position out of eight competitors in their class amongst strong competition.

The wind persisted into the afternoon as the J16x2 crew of Reuben Stanford and Connor Birrell set off, ranked second and looking to maintain or better that prediction. A steady and fast pace kept them in touch with first place hopeful from Hereford and brought them side by side for the last 1.5 km of the course. Good river positioning throughout and pushing the pace led them to a first place finish in their category by thirty seconds as well as the fastest double on the water for the long course and seventh fastest out of one hundred and thirty one boats!

The sight of sunshine at Gloucester Autumn Head for the first time in years was a good omen however conditions soon worsened for the J17/18 squad in the morning division on the long 5km course with very gusty wind all morning. The WJ18 4x- of Martha Cooke, Maria Ntoukaki, Tessa Parkin and Martha Baines came second in their event. Seb Happel and Euan Richter rowed up a category in the OJ18 2x event and came third. Imogen de Pennington, trialling for GB in the W U19 1x event, sculled a fantastic race to win this key event, watched on by British Rowing staff.

In the afternoon, the conditions were much improved. The women’s J18 double sculls of Martha Baines/Tessa Parkin, and Orla Linforth/Erin Appleton sculled really nicely to take third and fifth. Finally, Ed Appleton rowing up a category in the OJ18 1x Band 2 event, sculled with great technique to take second place.

Commenting, Hugo Happel, J17/18 Coach said, “All athletes managed the conditions very well and displayed some great sculling: well done to all!”

Stratford masters Thomas Doherty, Pete Spivey and Rebecca England represented the masters’ squad at Gloucester Autumn Head. In quite blustery conditions, Tom Doherty and Pete Spivey competed first in the masters F double sculls beating the only other entry into the category from Taunton by three minutes over the 5km course. Following this, in the afternoon division, Thomas Doherty took to the water for a second time to row in a mixed masters double with Rebecca England, thus completing a mammoth 28km over the course of the day. While the duo felt disappointed in their time, having had to slow down through narrow bridges due to traffic in front, they too came away with a medal.

Although the rest of the country was experiencing the high winds, the course at Gloucester on the canal was relatively sheltered and the event was able to take place with fair racing for all and great results from Stratford Boat Club as a whole.