Leander dominate head of river races

THERE was success for Leander Club at last Saturday’s women’s eights head of the river race.

Thirty Leander athletes took to the tideway for the annual event, alongside crews from Upper Thames, Henley Rowing Club and Shiplake College.

A total of 320 crews totalling 2,880 athletes charged down the course from Chiswick to Putney.

The Leander A crew were the defending champions and featured two-time Olympian and silver medallist Karen Bennett in the bow seat.

Conditions were favourable and with a clear run the Leander A crew stormed down the track to take the overall victory.

Next up, starting fourth, was the full club-based crew which was stroked by Abi Topp. At the first timing marker this crew was only one second down on the A crew, which showed they got off to a strong start.

As the crews approached their tideway base, Fulham Reach Boat Club, they were in an attacking rhythm heading into the final stretch.

Cox Henry Fieldman steered an excellent line and pushed the crew to their limits with the Leander B crew finished 8.5 seconds behind the squad eight and second overall.

All was being set up for a Leander first and second place finish with only the GB scullers composite eight containing three Leander athletes could challenge this ranking.

Starting 51st, the sculler eight, which had only been put together on the day of the race, finished fourth overall.

Leander also fielded a young club development eight which contained current gap year athlete Isabel Diaz and finished seventh overall.

Upper Thames had two senior women’s eights racing. The A crew of Alice Pickthall, Tilda Mann, Sophie Lane, Lauren Herrington, Rachel Borrows, Hope Kannor, Yasmin Ryman-King, Emily Paul and cox Freddie Bryce broke into the top 30, finishing 29th.

To finish just over one and half minutes behind the full-time professional athletes in the Leander crew is a strong result.

The crew had a very good race catching the two crews who started immediately in front of them. Unfortunately, the crew lost some valuable time as they tussled with Durham University B crew and were forced slightly off the best racing line.

The B crew of Emily May, Elise Cope, Lucy Darke, Claudia Adams, Lucy Bird, Ella Wandless, Beth Arscott, Chloe Knight, coxed by Zoe Thomas finished 64th. The crew raced with a lively rhythm setup by Chloe and Beth in the stern. Henley Rowing Club had four crews racing, all Juniors, including the under-15 squad.

The first eight where looking for the third win in a row and the crew of Freya Weiser, Tilly Macartney, Gwennie Hunter, Issy Kelland-Shorthose, Nonnie Luke, Tabby Hall, Ailish Harkin, Pippa Jamieson cox Matilda Ley produced the fastest time of the day.

They were 9.4 seconds quicker than Headington in second place and this would have put them 17th of all the crews competing.

However, the crew where penalised 10 seconds for getting to the start two to three minutes before race time rather than the stipulated minimum of five minutes before. This put them into second place 0.6secs behind Headington and 22nd overall.

The second eight Ella Dickson,Sophia Spanswick, Nicolette Pagdin, Leah Reddy, Emily Simmons, Abigail Smith , Emma Eltze , Sophie Eltze and cox Allysha Stokes, finished 92nd overall, also having incurred a 10 second time penalty and were 15th of the 44 junior crews competing. The third eight of Daisy Janes, Freya Smith, Annabelle Hunt, Florence Lenthall, Lilya Wild, Abilene Artherton, Francesca Reeves, Jess Mack and cox Ruby Rodger finished 122nd overall and 22nd in the juniors.

The J15s of Martha Dickson, Evelyn Meeks, Lilian Graham, Lucy Green, Chloe Hughes, Jemima Painter, Jemima Butterworth, Molly Hall and cox Eden Kent finished 158th overall and 28th in the juniors.

Shiplake College's girls squad boated a first eight. Despite having to wait for two hours on the water before racing, due to having a late starting number, the crew maintained high spirits while waiting in the cold conditions for their time to race.

The crew comprised Jessica Weir, A Merritt, Georgia Catlin, Emily Over, Emily Downing, Lara Vahle, Amelie Parker, Sophia Foreman and cox Monty Walker finished and were the fifth fastest school crew on the day.

Meanwhile, following the cancellation of the Hammersmith Head, Shiplake College managed to get a late entry into the University of Reading’s Head of the River race over the 4.7km course.

The boys’ first eight demonstrated their strength by finishing second overall, finishing only behind Oxford Brookes University’s first eight. The second eight beat St Edward’s and Eton’s second eights.

The girls eight finished behind St Edward’s while the girls’ quad won the senior women’s event, finishing ahead of second placed Hartpury College by 26 seconds.

Elsewhere, year 9 had their first ever formal fixture, racing against St Edward’s and Radley College. Each school entered three octupoles to compete in some side-by-side races. Shiplake boys had the upper hand, beating both St Edward’s and Radley College.