15th July 2009

Spike and Robert entered Vet E 2x again this year and achieved a good win against Ardingly who had previously beaten them at Twickenham and at National Vets Regattas.

The build up to the event last Friday went well with basing of the 2x at Henley Rowing Club and two excellent sharp outings on Mon and Wed evening. Fri morning we were down early for a thorough warm-up, then with encouragement from some of Robert’s work colleagues (his employment is based at Henley) we executed the race plan – we have a very fast yet reasonably economical start and drew ahead of Ardingly, slowly they began to reel it back, this was followed by a push at 500m to ensure they couldn’t exploit the small lead they then had, then Spike called a perfectly timed final push, 20 strokes to go, which saw us reel them in and edge ahead a canvas by the line. The rating stuck at 34/35 most of the way with a good stroke profile and we felt deeply satisfied with the result. Over the Summer Spike has engineered quality improvements into our stroke which has allowed us to slowly ratchet up our performance.

Later on Fri in the semis we were against Dart-Totnes, the National Champions and lost by 2 lengths. Dart-Totnes went on to win on Sat against Poplar and Blackwell.

Speaking with Dart-Totnes later we learned they train on the water 6-7 times per week, starting at 5.30 am each weekday. At the weekend they have a regular all-Club singles race, starting up to 14 abreast and slowly channelling into line astern jockeying for position. This made us realise how serious veteran training can be and how all-Club events like this can raise the performance across several squads.

We expect to be back together again in the 2x in early Autumn to enter the Head races. Would any crews like to challenge us on our home patch – we should all stand to gain?

Robert Bailey