Tag Archives: Stratford Masters Women

Stratford’s Adaptives Clean Up at Marlow and Nottingham

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Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s adaptive section attended both Marlow Town Regetta and the British Masters Championships at Nottingham over weekend. The highlight was the 14 year old Edward Owen-Smith winning the Chelton Cup at Marlow. The cup is battled out between the fastest male scullers. The final was between Edward and Marlow’s Hussein. Hussein had a much faster start but Edward’s better technique and fitness soon told and he ended up a convincing winner. The Wards, Paulo and Ian, competed in the Mixed Doubles event. Unfortunately, they got caught on a buoy early in their race which put pay to their chances, eventually losing by just a couple of lengths.

The Masters Championships were offering adaptive racing for the very first time. The Stratford scullers, Gillian Middleton and Ricky Clutterbuck, finishing second and third in their respective events. Head Adaptive Coach Mark Dewdney commented, “Both sculled well against some first class opposition. I am very pleased with them both. We attend some events to ensure the sport expands: the four clubs who competed at Nottingham will hopefully ensure the same opportunity for other adaptive rowers in the future.”

Also competing at the weekend were Stratford Masters Women: rowing in one of the last races of the day Ellie Davis and Gina Fusco competed in 2x Women’s Masters 50+ in a final of six crews. Ellie and Gina set off at a rate of thirty six strokes a minute and settled into a rhythmic row at rate thirty two strokes a minute. Feeling strong as they came to the last 200m they unfortunately hit a buoy and had to recover their pace and missed the win by one second. Ellie Davis commented, “Despite no medal, we were pleased with our performance coming fourth out of twenty four crews competing in Women’s Masters 50+.”

For media coverage, see Stratford Observer back sports page https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/editions/view/?/Stratford/2026/06/19&pages=24#page/24 and online https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/rowing-stratford-boat-clubs-adaptive-athletes-star-at-marlow-and-nottingham also Stratford Herald page forty five and online https://www.stratford-herald.com/sport/owen-smith-leads-stratford-s-adaptive-rowers-with-chelton-cu-9470667

Stratford’s Masters Take to the Tideway Again for the Vesta International Masters Head of the River

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Stratford Masters Women were on the Tideway again for the second time in two weeks competing in the Vesta Head along with two hundred and ninety six other crews. The Masters D VIII crew was ably stroked by Fiona Schultz with Corinna Burger at 7, Jane Cryer at 6, Abby Symons at 5, Helen Helliwell at 4, Claire Booth at 3, Caroline Collins at 2, Claudine Pearson at bow and Jen Cary coxing.

In windy conditions, the crew had a solid and stable row, following a fast line set by their cox: the crew would like to thank their coach, Sam Hill and their race day supporters – Alfie Nash and Lizzy Collins for all of their support.

After a very long and cold two hour wait at the start, Stratford’s Masters C mixed 4x of Rebecca England, Pete Spivey, Lucy Scarlett and Tom Doherty (bow) began their race on the iconic Boat Race course right at the back of the pack. They started steadily, ensuring their muscles were warm before building the rate and power over the first few hundred meters. Hitting their race pace of thirty strokes per minute, they settled into a good rhythm and responded well to the call to push through Chiswick. This enabled them to smoothly and efficiently overtake the crew in front. From Hammersmith, conditions became trickier with greater gusts hitting the side of the boat. Despite this, Stratford powered through to take third place in a very close and high quality field.

For media coverage, see Stratford Observer online https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/rowing-stratford-boat-clubs-masters-women-back-on-the-tideway-again-in-vesta-international-head-race and back sports page https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/editions/view/?/Stratford/2026/04/03&pages=24: also see Stratford Herald online https://www.stratford-herald.com/sport/stratford-masters-women-impress-at-vesta-head-on-the-tideway-9460190 and page thirty nine