Head of the River & Veterans Head of the River - 2014

A weekend of disappointments for MIRC, due to the full range of reasons: poor weather, poor race organisation and poor results.

The Head of the River was abandoned mid race this year due to extreme wind over tide conditions around Hammersmith, leading to multiple sinkings.

Our IM2 crew did get some racing in before the abandonment.

The next day, the Vets Head was held in much calmer conditions, however, and I am not totally sure what happened here, the race was badly mistimed.  The lead boats went off while the stream was still ebbing - ie INTO the stream.  It turned at some point around the setting off of the D category boats.

The impact on results was stunning; with clear discrepancies in timing as the tide got faster and faster with the older male Vets and ladies categories getting the most benefit. The consequence in times, made analysis of the results difficult: for example, a ladies 8 came 2nd overall!, and our F crew beat the C crew by a minute (compared to the Quintin Head, where the timings were correctly reversed). Consequently times and positions for the crew are not very credible.

That said, it was a very pleasant day, with good hard racing, so all was not lost.

 The Vet C crew.

The Vet F crew.

Thanks to our ever suffering coxes, Jo, Liz and Tui, and our small but very vocal band of supporters.

Fours Head and Vet Fours Head of the River

The Fours Head weekend brought with it calm and serene conditions, a reasonable stream and some fast times.

The men in the Fours Head on Saturday put in two crews: the new combination of Alex Marlow, Tom Suanders, Chris Mollison and Matt Nicholls (arguably our 2 best men's doubles); and the Juniors in an unusual combination of Jack Grace, Pierre Flasse, Andrew Collins and Ross Porter (Andrew had to sub in for Jake which resulted in a crew swap around).

The senior quad sculled at IM1, and despite coming 104th with a solid time of 19.53, came in the 2nd half of their category - such is the competitiveness of the Fours Head.  Tom did mention that it was a bit of a slog, as it was a melding of 2 different styles - so some work to be done there.

The seniors can be seen here at about 1.20 into the video.

The juniors came 150th in 20.11.  Pretty good for a scratch crew and when you compare it to the seniors, but at the same time, the Junior category at the Fours Head was very competitive and our boys came roughly midfield.

They can be seen here at about 0.39 into the video:

On Sunday, 3 Men's Vets crews competed.  The superb mixed Medway/MIRC Vet B quad with Lewin Hynes, James Knight and Shaun and Michael from Medway, came 3rd overall in a field of just over 200, and 2nd out of their category of 6 with a very fast time of 19.21.  A fantastic result, though they were a little disappointed at not winning a pennant.

The ex Novice Vet C 4x of Darren Prentice, Bob Barber, Jez Massey and Ali Machin completed the course in a very reasonable 22.02, and should be proud of the achievement.  Despite the reality of promotion to Open status from Novice and then competing at one of the top events of the year, they all seemed very motivated from the experience.

Finally, the experimental Vet D 4x of Ray Phillips, Ollie Barton, Gerraint Evans and Richard Huggins had a strong row and came in mid-field with a time of 20.46.  They are definitely progressing in the right direction: beating Vesta, who just pipped them in the first heat at Henley Vets in the summer, and slowly closing the gap with Ardingly.

A big thanks to the loyal trailer towers, wellie monitors, and general support who came along over the weekend.

Veterans Head of the River - 2012

Maidstone Invicta's Veterans continued their impressive start to the season with a 20.18 min 45th place at this year's Vesta Veterans' Head of the River.

We came to the event pretty confident in our abilities, and buoyed up in the knowledge that we would be using the "Ray Long". 

Liz Ridgway accepted our offer as cox and we were buoyed further that her timely bout of "food poisoning" last week made her 1 stone lighter on the day.  Not sure if anyone actually asked how she was ;).

I advised Liz to keep the number of pushes to one or two maximum, given we are old men; so she dutifully packed about 20 in.  The first 3 coming immediately after the start in order to overtake Bewl's Sunday crew.

The Bewl looking better than they rowed - 2 min 20 behind us.  Notice their equipment!

I advised our stroke, Geraint, to rate about 30, given that we are old men; so he dutifully maintained a rock solid 32 all the way.

I advised the crew to beware of the nasty chop and wind that always hits you after Hammersmith, and of course, the chop happened at Barnes.  It was much calmer after Hammersmith.

The relative calm after Hammersmith Bridge.  3 miles in and some of us are panting hard.

I gave up offering advice and sank back into my own annual private hell, which is rowing the Championship Course, and vowing never to do it again.

The crew behind us were noisy mustachioed Frenchmen from Boulogne, festooned in all sorts of strange clothing and looking like extras from "'Allo, 'allo".  They looked like they were only here for 'le Rost Bif', but they really pushed us all the way, only fading at the end and losing to us by just 7 seconds. 

Johnny Frenchman from Boulogne in the chop at Barnes.  They rowed much better than they looked!

We didn't see anybody else in the race, though we caught up on the 3 crews ahead of Bewl, so we knew we had done well.

We came 8th out of 40 in the Vet D category, and 5th of the UK crews.  Still lots to work on, but a good place to be.

Thanks to Kate Povall and Archie Hodgkinson for support and welly monitoring.

Head of the River Eights and Vesta Veteran Eight Results

Maidstone Seniors and Veterans were in competition over the weekend at their respective Head of the River Eights Events.

The results for the Head of the River can be found HERE

In the IM2 event, our crew came 42nd out of 77 with a time of  18.47.93.
In the IM3 event, we came 88 out of 128 with a time of  19.47.65

Pictures stolen from Oli Arscott's FB page.

Guys, please feel free to edit this to give the blow by blow of your adventures!

The results for the Vesta Veterans Head of the River can be found HERE

In the Vet D event, we came 12th out of 42 with a time of 21.15.55
In the Vet Novice event, we came 2nd out of 7 with a time of 23.21.86

Clearly the river was much faster on the Saturday ;)

Darren and Jez need to square earlier!

 Pics provided by Roger Mobbs and Graeme Hodgkinson.

Well done everyone - now for the regatta season!

2011 Head of the River and Vesta Veteran Head of the River Draws

Head of the River can be found HERE

Vesta Veteran Head of the River can be found HERE

HORR Saturday 21st March and Vets HORR Sunday 22nd March 2009.

For the first time ever the Junior Squad entered the Head of the River Race (HORR). As Maidstone's second eight they started 219th on Saturday 21st March racing in the Senior 2 category. The event saw over 500 eights race from Mortlake to Putney on the River Thames and was the first time many of the crew had rowed the event. Over the four and a quarter mile course the crew over took 7 boats and caught another two. The crew came 40th overall in a time of 18:38.65 behind some of the worlds best athletes including those back from Beijing. The junior crew finished in the highest place the club has ever achieved and were the highest placed junior crew in the event. Well done to the whole crew and thanks to the parents and coaches who supported the crew during the day.

HORR Crew MIRC II (Bow to Stroke):-Sam Blackwell, Ben Farrar, Morgan Hellen, James Crumpton, Alex Torbica, Will Tew, Josh Pendry, Craig Turner, Cox - Ross Porter.

The senior men also entered a crew and came a respectable 213th with a time of 19:45.75.

HORR crew MIRC I (Bow to stroke) Cox:  Alastair Cooper,  Geraint Evans, James Knight, Stephen Slade, Mark Tomkins, William Purnell, Rich Ridgway, Guy Sticklee, Cox- Sue Mobbs.

On the Sunday, Maidstone Invicta were back up on the Thames again for the Vets Head of River Race. This time they entered 4 eights, 3 Mens crew and a women’s crew. With over 170 boats entering into the race our Vet A mens (6 + the cox had raced the previous day in the senior mens HORR) crew crossed the line in a time of 20:59.15, the 36th fastest time of the day, followed by our Vet D crew with a time of 22:03.26, Vet C,D,E Novice crew came home in a time of 23:09.08 and not far behind them was our women’s Vet B, with a time of 23:14.26.

Kate Beaumont and Laura Johnson