The Women’s Masters C VIII coxed by Jen Carey with Amanda Bowden, Suzie Radley, Rebecca England, Jeannette Caldicot, Katie Burman, Fiona Schultz, Lucy Scarlett and Gina Fusco had a fantastic row at Stourport Regatta at the weekend beating Avon County easily. The crew took advantage of the staggered start, pulling away around the outside of the bend and Avon County failed to respond. As this was her first regatta, Katie Burman summed the event up well saying, “I loved learning and laughing with you all!”
Following this race, four of the women split into a smaller boat class and raced twice more in a coxed four. Despite being a masters’ crew, they were racing at senior level age 19-27. They beat Furnival B crew easily in the semi final and narrowly lost to Furnival A crew by a foot in the final. Jeannette Caldicot reflected, “It was a really solid row. We
were neck and neck for the first half of the race: then Furnival pulled away and we came back on them. We believed we were close to coming through at the finish.” Jen Carey, cox, said, “Everybody gave their best, I couldn’t have asked any more of them. It was an excellent race!”
The first masters’ race of the day, in drizzly conditions, was the Low CRI men’s VIII, stroked by David Phillips followed by Thomas Garner, David Vazquez, Tim Hayter, Gary Kinley, Dave Edwards, Andrew Lear, Richard Forrest and coxed by Jen Carey: the crew had a strong start at rate thirty seven strokes per minute, led by stern pair of David Phillips and Thomas 
Garner. Both crews stayed level to the 500m bend. With a settled rate of thirty four strokes per minute, the crew began to take their inevitable disadvantage of the outside of the bend: Bewdley used their inside line to creep forward and out of the bend the bows were level. Into the last 250m the Bewdley push to the line proved too much for Stratford and Bewdley took the lead by a canvas across the line. Commenting, Amanda Bowden, Stratford’s Masters’ Vice Captain said, “A well rowed 1000m by Stratford, this crew is making good progress, maybe next time!”
Our thanks go to Dave Edwards for towing, to Elisabeth Edwards for her support and all the other members who have coxed, coached and subbed in for training sessions.
On Sunday, Stratford raced again in the 500m sprint races. The mixed double of Fiona Schultz and David Phillips raced hard, demonstrating boat winning speeds. Despite competing in a borrowed boat, they lead the semi final all the way, unfortunately being overtaken in the last stages by Derwent Rowing Club.
For media coverage, please see Stratford Observer online https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/rowing-stratford-boat-club-masters-make-progress-at-stourport-regatta and Stratford Herald online https://www.stratford-herald.com/sport/masters-secure-regatta-victory-9378935
