Leander crews strike gold at Metropolitan Regatta

LEANDER Club delivered strong performances at last weekend’s two-day Metropolitan Regatta, held in breezy conditions at Eton Dorney Lake, where they came away with three gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

Elsewhere there was a first and second place for Shiplake College while a Henley Rowing Club junior sculler made it to the A final.

Leander’s first A final of the regatta saw their women’s eight finish in sixth place before the women’s quad picked up a silver medal. The quad had a strong second half, pushing hard through the middle 1,000m to challenge for the lead. Eventually Leander finished second behind Reading University but overturned the Bath composite who had beaten them in the time trial.

The men’s double sculls saw the Leander duo of Dan Jones and Alex King lead from the start to secure gold while a second Leander double finished in fifth place.

A highly competitive men’s eight final saw Leander finish second narrowly behind winners Cambridge University. A second Leander eight finished in fifth place.

The Leander men’s quad secured gold. The crew opened a strong lead early on in the final and fended off late pushes from strong opposition to secure first place. Leander’s women’s composite four with University of London powered their way to gold after a sprint finish while the second four secured bronze.

In the men’s pairs, Leander fought back from sixth place after 500m to secure a fourth place finish while in the single sculls, Calvin Tarczy overturned fourth place in the time trial to secure bronze in the final.

Eleven Henley junior girls raced in their single sculls event. In the time trial Charlotte Tong finished eighth of the 35 scullers to progress to A final. Chloe Hughes, Jess Mack and Nicolette Pagdin finished 13th, 14th and 15th respectively for a place in the B final. Scarlett Hyde, Molly Hall and Evie Meeks made the C final, Sophie Floyd and Tilly McKenzie Smith the D final and Holly Jackson and Jemima Butterworth the E final.

In the A final Tong was on the start line with some of the country’s best scullers, including Olympian Imogen Grant. While the top scullers moved into a clear lead Tong was in a battle with scullers from Dublin and Dart Totnes in the lanes next to her. Tong eventually finished eighth, picking up a trophy as the only junior to make the A final.

Of the 14 Shiplake College crews that entered the regatta, five made an A final and another five made a B final.

It was a first and second place for Shiplake in the open coxless pairs A final where Ed Galer and Isaac Dean won their race ahead of Henry Day-Clark and Luca Hunt Davis. In the same race, William Harper and Finlay Rhys-Jones finished eighth.

In the women’s coxless pairs A final, Amelia Westbrook and Alice Darge finished fourth, while the quad of Henry Day Clark, Luca Hunt-Davis, Edward Galer, and Isaac Dean placed sixth in the open coxless fours A final.