11th March 2009

Sunday 22nd February saw both women’s crews from Twickenham enter the Hammersmith Women & Juniors Head; a warm-up to the Women’s Eights Head of the River a fortnight later.  Both crews had been de-camped at Thames Trademan RC on the Tideway for some vigorous training (initiation also for the B crew!) for the two weeks prior to the event.

The A boat, crew number 25 stroked by Sam Grant had a strong start, overtaking a Mortlake & Anglian Alpha crew before BarnesBridge.  ‘No mans land’, between Barnes Bridge and Chiswick Eyot saw the crew sharpen with technical focuses and overtook another three crews; two in the space of just 20 power strokes.  Coming round the bend towards the finish after the magenta magic had taken hold, the crew overtook another boat and were hunting down Auriol Kensington (boat 19) to finish strongly – and managed to hold off a strong Vesta crew to beat them by just 0.15 seconds!

The crew finished in a time of 12minutes 55.9seconds, coming second from a pool of 11 boats in the senior 3 category but 17th overall out of 62 boats.  The B boat, crew number 38 stroked by Margot Cooper turned in a very respectable 14minutes 16.9seconds, finishing 52nd overall.

And so to the main event on Saturday 8th March, the annual Women’s Eights Head of the River and the longest head race of the season at 6.8k.  Glorious conditions prevailed in the pre-race outing with the planned rain holding off, however the wind picked up as the day went on making conditions in some parts slightly tenuous.

The A boat were boating in the strong position of crew 81 thanks to last year’s efforts and after only a 25 minute wait, turned to start.  The start had improved since the previous race and it wasn’t long until they were in a three-way tussle going through Barnes Bridge.  The power and confidence of the crew took hold and Twickenham soon pushed past after the other boats bowed to the onslaught.

Back into no man’s land again on the approach to Chiswick Eyot and the crew ploughed past another boat with a series of technical calls.  The second lamppost of Hammersmith Bridge beckoned and early into the final third of the race, buoyed by the amount of support they had on the bridge, Twickenham passed yet another crew going past the Harrods building.  Pushing past Fulham FC, the crew sharpened before the final phase from the black buoy and the final 500 metres saw Twickenham emptying the tank to overtake another crew going over the finish line.

The strength of this crew was especially demonstrated by the time taken at HammersmithBridge, the finishing post for the previous Hammersmith Head, smashing the time by almost a minute.

Much jubilation followed that evening as the crew received the results.  The A boat pulled out a 7 year best for this event, finishing 59th out of 300 in a time of 20minutes 36.51seconds and 14th out of 69 in the senior 3 division.

The B boat started in position 145 and had a solid row, pulling in another respectable time of 22minutes 21.20seconds.  The B boat raced as ‘time only’, however had they entered divisionally, they would’ve been ranked 222nd out of 300 and 51st out of 64 boats in senior 4.  Another great result – especially considering the majority of the boat have been rowing for less than 6 months and the crew had only two outings together before the race – another feather in the cap for award-winning Head Development Coach Corin Margetson.

Both crews now look forward to training camp in April and pulling in some more fantastic results in the upcoming regatta season.

Crews:

A boat: Stroke: Sam Grant, 7: Christine Palmer, 6: Vicky Owen, 5: Una Green, 4: Gemma Taylor, 3: Charlotte Holloway, 2: Jenny Day, Bow: Richmal Roseman. Cox: Vicky Cheevers

B boat: Stroke: Margot Cooper, 7: Rita Pape, 6: Nicole Gilbert, 5: Ros Hering, 4: Erica Hamnett, 3: Rebecca Willans, 2: Samme Brough, Bow: Louise Nicholls. Cox: Nick Burkitt.

Author: Vicky Cheevers