Regatta defeat for Dad’s Army

A CREW from Henley Rowing Club, affectionately known as “Dad’s Army”, competed at this year’s royal regatta.

The senior men’s eight, which qualified for the Thames Challenge Cup on Friday, has an average age of 42 and 18 children between them.

The crew comprises Tom Jost, Dom Pivonka, Robbie Kennedy, Rob Edmondson, James Padmore, Nick Friend, John Gelling, Elliot Cole and cox Rose Copus.

Between them, they have previously featured in more than a dozen regatta finals and won several.

Mr Gelling won the Fawley Challenge Cup in 1997 and 1998, while Mr Friend and Mr Padmore won the Thames Cup in 2005 and 2015 respectively.

Mr Edmondson is Eton College’s rowing coach and Mr Jost has the same role at Claires Court School in Maidenhead.

The crew took to the water on Wednesday but were well beaten by Royal Chester Rowing Club.

Their opponents took an early lead and Henley were unable to close the gap, losing by two-and-a-quarter lengths in a time of seven minutes and one second.  

Mr Friend, 41, from Harpsden, is the son of John Friend, a regatta steward and former Henley Rowing Club president.

He is married to Steph and they have three children, Alice, seven, Jack, four, and Daisy, one. He said: “This is my 13th race at the royal regatta, although I effectively retired in 2009.

“Then a group of us got together and had a few beers and said how great it would be if we could row together.

“We all have children, so it’s not something that we are able to take extremely seriously but we all just love the sport, so we decided to make it happen if we could.

“We ended up having a squad of about 17 and we just went from there. The prospect of rowing again meant some got really excited about it.

“We have two core sessions — on Thursdays, when we have a couple of beers afterwards, and on Sunday mornings, when we have coffee in town.”

Last year some of the crew competed at the regatta after the boat was “selected”, which meant it did not need to qualify.

However, they were then knocked out in the heats.

Mr Friend, who is a new business director, said: “We had a few younger ones last year so this year was more about getting our age group to qualify, if we could.

“It hasn’t been easy but qualifying was 100 per cent the achievement for us.”

Mr Cole, 40, a shipbroker from Greys Road, Henley, is married to Katie and they have three children, Felix, seven, Amelie, two, and nine-month-old Margot.

He said: “It began as a bit of a social club because Henley never really had a Masters section and after last year we decided to escalate it and try to get this group of dads into Henley.

“A lot of us haven’t rowed for more than 10 years so to be back is brilliant but all of us have been juggling a multitude of things.

“I am up at 5.20am to go to work in the City and I’m back at 6pm and then kids need to be bathed and put to bed. Then I could go to the club to do weights or an ergo and that would be about 8pm.

“It has been exhausting but it has been really satisfying to get this social group of former rowers back racing and we are all really good friends. Qualifying this year makes us really feel that we have earned our place.

“We are grateful to our respective wives putting up with this folly but it has meant a lot to us to be able to do it. We have all been at the pointy end of things at Henley and it has been great to be back here.”

The one female in the crew is cox Rose Copus.

The 31-year-old, of Gainsborough Crescent, Henley. joined the club last year to cox after a rib injury meant she could no longer row. She said it had been fun competing with such an experienced crew.  

Mrs Copus, whose husband Rory was also a cox, said: “I am an anomaly, not just because I’m female but because I am the only one without kids.

“I joined Henley Rowing Club as a cox so I could race. I can still get in a boat and paddle but I am not able to row at a good level due to my rib injury.

“I was small enough to become a cox, which enabled me to continue in the sport I love. In some ways it has been quite seamless.

“I used to row in the bow seat and had to steer so it has not been that difficult. It is more about learning what to say. My husband was a very good cox and coach so I have had a few tips from him but a lot of it is intuitive and I get feedback from the crew.

“All season people have been in and out of the boat so it have been a rotating collective. It is great fun and I really enjoy coxing them because they have been there and done it. They have lots of experience.

“When we came through the time trial on Friday I thought we had a great race and there wasn’t much more that we could have done and we were absolutely buzzing.

“As a cox, you carry a lot of responsibility to make sure you don’t call the wrong thing. It is the best or worst job in the world but it has been great to be able to do it with them. Their wives and partners are the heroes for allowing this to happen.”