Tag Archives: James Bastin

Boat Club’s Successes in the City of Dreaming Spires

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Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s Masters’ Women’s coxed four of Rebecca England, Adrianna Abreu, Lucy Scarlett and Fiona Schulz had a very solid row in their first heat at Oxford City Royal Regatta. Ably coxed by Debs Thompson and while racing at senior level against a much younger crew from the City of Bristol Rowing Club, they maintained composure off the start despite being slightly down on their opposition. As the race progressed and both crews settled into their pace, the Stratford crew used their power well to level and then start to pull away from Bristol. Moving into the final stages of the race, Stratford were up by just over a length and did well to hold off their very fast finishing opponents to take the win. In the semifinal, Stratford faced Wolfson College Oxford’s first four, a crew who had won their own heat by over five lengths. Again, Stratford were able to start strong and hold level with their opponents over the first part of the race: however, despite pushing them all the way, the young college students proved too strong for Stratford, beating them by two lengths. Commenting, Fiona Schulz stated, “We had a good row pushing the eventual winners to their closest finish of the day.”

The Masters D composite quad of Gina Fusco , Naomi Holland  (UTRC) , Ellie Davis and Christine Goodwin had a smooth and strong start to their first race at Oxford City Regatta against a very good crew from Henley Rowing Club. Gina Fusco at bow steered a clean course and Ellie Davies set a great race rhythm allowing the crew to settle in quickly to their race plan and pull away from their opponents. The crew powered through the rest of the course successfully saw off the last minute push from Henley resulting in a clear semifinal win of a length and a half.

In the final, the crew met Falcon Rowing Club, a Masters E crew with a seven second head start off the stakeboat due to the age handicapping system. Despite another fast and smooth start, great pace and two strong pushes, the quad were unable to claw back their opponent’s lead and crossed the line in second place. Whilst disappointed to not bring home another medal, the crew were pleased with the improvements in their race performance and could clearly see the results of some very focussed and hard training sessions in the lead up to the race. The masters women would like to thank Dawson for towing and navigating the very demanding trailer park!

Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s adaptive squad raced at Oxford Sprint Regatta on Sunday. It being their last outing of their successful regatta season, of the five events entered, Stratford won three and the other two were narrow defeats in the final. The result of the day was Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s adaptive squad impressive win in a doubles event. James Bastin is registered blind and has other impairments. Racing with one of his occupational therapists, he consistently moved away from his opponents down the 500m course, winning by a comfortable five or six lengths, He was cheered on by his clubmates, friends and family. Commenting Head Adaptive Coach Mark Dewdney said, “It’s always a great day when James wins. He overcomes his disabilities with a smile on his face.”

Mother/son combination of Paola and Ian Ward dominated their mixed doubles event beating Marlow by four lengths. Gillian Middleton and racing partner Neville Hand’s final was again against a Marlow crew: this was close until half-way when good technique started to tell with the Stratford crew crossing the finish line around three lengths ahead. Isaac Clarkson, 14yrs, lost his singles final to an 18 year old and far larger rower by two lengths. He teamed up with Neville Hand (78yrs!) for the best doubles final of the day. The crews were never more than a few feet apart. However, City of Oxford came out victorious by about one foot, City of Oxford’s only adaptive win of the day. Commenting further, Mark Dewdney said, “It’s been an odd season: in the spring events were lost due to flooding and next week’s Ross regatta has been cancelled due to too little water! We would have liked more opportunities to race but when we got the chance, we had about an 80% win rate: we must be happy with that!”

For media coverage, please see Stratford Herald online https://www.stratford-herald.com/sport/coxed-four-beaten-but-medal-joy-for-bastin-9379966 and page forty three and Stratford Observer online https://www.stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/rowing-stratford-boat-clubs-masters-and-adaptive-scullers-impress-in-oxford

Stratford Clean Up at Oxford

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Sunday 20 August saw Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s J13 and adaptive crews take on the 500m Sprint course at City of Oxford Regatta with stakeboat start by Jesus and Keble College boat house. In the morning division, competing in the WJ13 2x event, the doubles of Orla Linforth/Erin Appleton and Maria Ntoukaki/Naomi Sime steered a good course but were beaten by very competent crews from Oxford City and Thames Scullers (eventual winners).

In the afternoon division, competing in the J13 1x event, Rory Rowan, Euan Richer, Seb Happel, Noah Rutter and Ed Appleton sculled very well too but were beaten by more experienced scullers from Falcon Boat Club and Oxford City, rowing on their home waters. Said Hugo Happel, J13 Coach, “Overall, the J13s bagged some worthwhile experience on the Thames, taking away many positive learning points.”

First on the water was the women’s J15 double of Lily Warren and Alexandra Francis who won their first round against a crew from Upton: however, they then lost their semi final to a strong Wallingford crew by three quarters of a length after a close race and a commendable sprint finish.

In the open J15 doubles, Xavier Sissins-Roffey and Theo Richter raced a formidable Falcon crew who had the advantage as they were on home water and despite a strong racing start which gave the Stratford crew an initial lead, lost to the eventual winners of the category. Also in the open J15 doubles was the mixed double of Poppy Baines and James Albrighton, who, despite never having rowed together before, gave an impressive performance but were beaten by tough opposition from a Wallingford crew.

In the afternoon division, Seth Vondrak won his initial race against a Falcon single by a comfortable four lengths. Progressing on to the next race he showed great sportsmanship in requesting to race his opposition from Wallingford in the semi final, despite the fact the Wallingford single had been initially disqualified which would have secured him a spot in the final. After a closely battled race, Seth narrowly missed out on his spot in the final. Also competing in the singles events, Alexandra Francis competed against a strong single from Wallingford in her semi-final and, after a very close race from start to finish, she won by just two feet which meant she progressed through to the final where she met another Wallingford single who she also beat to win the women’s J15 singles event.

Stratford’s J16 squad entered two crews, the first being a WJ16 quad with Aimee Appleton, Eloise Cooper, Esme Elfwood and Lucy Sartain: rowing up against seniors due to lack of competition in their age group, the quad lost narrowly to a strong Abingdon crew. The Stratford boat finished strongly gaining with every stroke but Abingdon held on to cross the line just a quarter of a boat length ahead.

In the same division Molly ‘V’ Vondrak enjoyed success in the WJ16 single sculling category. Following a confident row and comfortable win over Wallingford in the semi finals, Vondrak went on to the final against a sculler from Exeter Rowing Club. It was nip and tuck over the first half of the race but the Exeter sculler was unable to maintain the pace with Vondrak taking the win by a comfortable margin and collecting a medal.

Stratford’s senior women’s squad of Amelie Sartain and Alice Baines, racing together as a combination for the first time in over two years, had a strong first race against Bentham Boat Club in which they found their rhythm halfway through to power away to a four length lead over the finish line. In the final they drew a strong crew from Reading Rowing Club who jumped out to a length lead off the start but the Stratford double stuck to their plan and rowed through the competition on the inside of the bend and winning the event in style!

Stratford Boat Club’s adaptive section also joined the Club’s J13 squad on a sunny Sunday for the Oxford Sprint Regatta. The morning saw all the adaptive single scull races. There were several really good performances from Stratford’s adaptive section: Andy Morris, who has remained undefeated for most of the summer, again won his event overcoming his final opponent from the local City of Oxford Club by several lengths. Stratford’s adaptive thirteen year old Isaac Clarkson then had a very convincing win against an adult opponent from Marlow. Rob Pedley competed in two events and suffered a narrow defeat in the first race but winning his second final very convincingly over a Sudbury sculler.

Jess Dowdeswell had the hardest task of the day competing against a Paralympian from Kenya. Although Jess was beaten, this was the best performance of this her first summer of racing. Both coach and Jess were very pleased!

All the adaptive double races took place after the lunch break. These events saw another three Stratford Boat Club adaptive wins. Andy Morris and Isaac Clarkson, teaming up to defeat Guildford by a few lengths and then Daniel Browne and his support rower, Neville Hand, won their event in the most exciting final of the day, defeating a plucky crew from Marlow by a mere two feet! The last win was in an all Stratford final between James Bastin/Neville Hand and Phil Startin/Andy Morris. Phil winning his first ever event by a couple of lengths commented, ”My first regatta: what a fantastic day! Thank you Mark, Andy and everyone!”

Mark Dewdney, Stratford’s Head Adaptive Coach commented further, “With the exception of a few races on the Bank Holiday, this wraps up another very successful regatta season for Stratford Boat Club’s adaptive squad. We will be visiting Turin for an international event in early October and we have many exciting projects in hand to bring rowing to a wider audience of adaptive rowers.”

For media coverage, see Stratford Herald page forty one and online https://www.stratford-herald.com/sport/winning-ways-for-crews-at-oxford-9327338 an and also Stratford Observer online https://www.stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/rowing-boat-club-scullers-clean-up-at-oxford

For more great pictures of City of Oxford regatta, see Kathy Baines’ excellent selection https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21APoYhH8AIy0FjnU&id=8E50DAC120123B06%21100237&cid=8E50DAC120123B06

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

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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