17th May 2008

Triple Whammy for Twickenham at Thames Ditton

Seniors

Twickenham Senior Men and Women claimed a double triumph at Thames Ditton Regatta on Saturday with victory in the S3 4+ categories.

Working through a drizzily morning and 8am start both the Men’s A and B boats came through their opening encounters.

The A crew (Stroke: Ian Bell, Mike Dowell, Pete Crush, Adam Ellis. Cox: Sam Grant) saw off the challenge of Kingston RC, while the B boat (Ashley Waterman, Phil Banerjee, Clive Burrows, James Easton. Cox: Suz Dungey) beat Reading Blue Coat school.

In the semi-final the B crew had a tough draw against Kingston Grammar School and despite a determined effort succumbed to a strong schoolboy outfit.

The A boat took on Eton and after a tussle off the start, proved too strong for the youngsters and progressed to a final against KGS.

Before the Men’s final the Women’s A crew (Stroke: Caroline Wagner, Gayle Farmer, Nic Butler, Una Green. Cox: Sam Grant) had their own final against Kingston Grammar School in WS3 4+. With a bye to the final and only three crews competing a ‘points free’ pot was on the cards.

The race was neck and neck for the first 500m with the crews matching each other stroke for stroke. However in the second half of the race Twickenham turned the screw to pull away to a length and a half victory.

Half an hour later it was the Men’s turn to take on KGS and the race followed a similar pattern to the Women’s final.

Again the race got off to a tight start, with the crews locked together for the first 600m. But as the boats came up on the enclosures it was the Twickenham boat that made a move, pulling into a two length lead by the time they crossed the line for their first pot of the season.

There was also a final for novice sculler Nic Butler. Making her debut in the event, Nic duly came through her semi-final against Kingston RC but could not overcome J17 sculler Taylor from City of Oxford in the final…but got the plaudits of the assembled Twickenham masses on the bank regardless!

All in all great preparation for Twickenham Regatta on Sunday 25th May…and two pots for uber-cox Sam Grant!

Gayle Farmer

Development Squads

Saturday saw the novice girls face their first Regatta race. After a few disappointing results in the winter head races, the squad was fired up and ready to go for this new challenge. The draw for put us in a straight final with Wallingford – a real possibility of some silverware.

Arriving at Thames Ditton and the Twickenham “Camp” we were met with news that Twickenham novice boys had won their first heat in the 8 (also against Wallingford). No-one said it but the thought crossed everyone’s minds that if the boys could beat Wallingford then…..

Morale and spirits were high and whilst we prepared our boat we cheered on several more Twickenham rowers in their heats. Before we knew it, we’d all donned our (still very new) Twickenham race kit and were pushing off the banks at Thames Ditton.

The race start nerves were palpable but fantastic coxing by experienced Jenny Cropper helped us to hold it together to get a good start. After around 20 strokes we could see we were pulling away from Wallingford and our biggest struggle was not to let the taste of victory distract us from the job in hand. Nearing the finish line we passed the Twickenham Camp full of confidence and pride – surely this had to be a club win. And surely enough, bouyed by our supporters’ cheers, we crossed the finish line with 3 lengths on wallingford.

First Regatta, first Pot – novice ladies made up.

The novice boys couldn’t let the girls take all the glory and quickly followed with a win in their first heat as a 4. They weren’t able to clinch a win in the 8 and 4 finals but solid performances in all the Thames Ditton races gave the whole novice squad a new level of confidence and ambition. Roll on more regattas, Twickenham novices mean business!

Margot Cooper & Sally Owen