Pop star has paddle as fun regatta returns

SINGER Will Young competed in the Wargrave and Shiplake regatta as the event returned for the first time since the coronavirus pandemic.

He was one of more than 1,000 people who took part in 316 races across Friday and Saturday.

Competitors ranging in age from five to 81 raced in skiffs, canoes and punts on a 400-yard stretch of the River Thames between the two villages.

Young, 43, took part in the scratch dongola racing, which involves six people kneeling in a punt and paddling.

His team won three races to make it to the semi-final where they lost to the eventual winners, Crew O.

Young, who grew up in Hungerford, said: “I came to the regatta when I was very young, although this is my first time competing. I am very, very tired but have had a great time. It is such a mixed thing, with all the kids racing with adults. I loved it.”

Teams for the scratch dongola are selected at random, meaning team-mates often have not met before. Ben Badcock, who was part of Young’s team, was surprised when he saw he would be racing with the Pop Idol winner.

Mr Badcock, 52, from Watlington, said: “It was completely random. He just introduced himself as Will. I was like, ‘I know you from somewhere.’

“I am more of a Radio 4 fan, so I wouldn’t recognise his music, but I recognised him.

“He was brilliant on the water. He just mucked in. He didn’t behave like you might expect a pop star would. He was just really humble and down to earth, just a person enjoying themselves down by the river with some mates.”

The star’s appearance signalled a jubilant return for the regatta after two years of cancellations due to the coronavirus pandemic. More than 2,000 spectators attended the 155th year of the event over the two days in glorious sunshine. Some ate picnics on the riverbanks, while others joined large queues for beer tents and food stalls.

A record number of 130 people took part in a swim competition on Saturday morning, which featured 1km and 2km races.

Gill van Zwanenberg, a member of the organising committee, said: “We are so excited to return and it’s wonderful to see so many regular families here again.

“The tragedy of the two-year gap is that a lot of the youngsters missed out on racing in the younger categories. If you were 10 when the pandemic started, you’d now be too old for the under-12s.

“The attendance was down about 20 per cent from the pre-pandemic years but we expected that. I think a lot of families just forgot to stick it in their diaries.

“However, it has been a fantastic return. It is an amateur event, so we are very much of the opinion that anyone and everyone can take part.” Matthew Pearson-Miles won the gentlemen’s single punting in canoes watched by his grandmother, Christine Sorsbie, 85, who can remember the first year the regatta returned after the Second World War in 1946.

Mrs Sorbie, who lives in Shiplake, said: “It was a lot smaller back then but I remember a live band played throughout the day and there was a fairground.

“One thing I don’t miss is the lavatories. They used to just be a hole in the ground with a wooden seat. It was revolting.”

Peter Simmonds, from Winchester, attends the regatta most years and won the boys’ double sculling skiff race in 1951 and 1952.

He said: “I remember there used to be a lot fewer cruisers and a lot more punts. It’s a great family day out. That has always stayed the same.”

Four-time winners Andrew and Charlie Pooley won the double punting in canoes with both dressed as Father Christmas.

The father and son duo from Shiplake have competed in previous years as
Vikings, pirates and in bowler hats. Charlie, 23, said: “The outfits are pretty hot but it is all just a bit of a laugh. We always try to have a bit of fun with it. We have had kids running up to us all day asking if we have a present for them.”

Mr Pooley, 56, said: “It’s a great family event that caters for all generations. What’s so good is that people just have fun and don’t take things too seriously.”

Laura Bower, a member of the organising committee, laughed: “Coming from the Pooleys, that is not true — they are one of the most competitive families here!

“People say they don’t take it too seriously but when it gets to the final round, all the teams start having these really intense team talks.”

Mrs Bower, 41, is the fifth generation of her family to race at the regatta with her great great grandfather competing in the very first event 167 years ago.

“I feel very much part of a legacy,” she said. She was joined on the river by her mother and sister Delia and Amie Etherington, and daughter Isabel, four, whom she hopes will become the sixth generation to compete.

Mrs Bower has competed every time since she was five and this year was no different as she won the Thames dongola with her team Pequod Evacuees, named after the boat in Moby Dick.

Simon Davies, who competed with her, said: “We got off to a great start but about halfway the opposition crossed into our path and we collided.

“I thought we were going to go under but luckily we regained our lead and ended up winning.”

Colin Caffell travelled from Cornwall to watch his first regatta since he left Wargrave in 2006.

He said: “I’ve missed this so much. We have a similar event in Cornwall every couple of years but nothing like this. It has barely changed at all since I was last here. This could be 50 years ago.”

Sue Rutter, 83, of Leicester Close, Henley, has been to every Wargrave regatta since 1957 except two. She said: “It is much bigger now than how I remember it when I was small. But one thing that has stayed the same is it is a lovely family event.”

Ms Rutter won the ladies’ dinghy race and the dongola back in the Sixties but is now past competing.

“I’m very happy to just sit and watch,” she said.

Suzie Scofield, of Victoria Road, Wargrave, first competed in the regatta when she was seven.

This year, she watched her five-year-old son Archie compete in the junior dongola dressed as Spider-Man.

She said: “What is so lovely about this event is that kids can join in the fun.”

After the racing there was an awards ceremony and the regatta ended with a fireworks display at 10pm watched by spectators on boats and land.