This year was the first time that MIRC had a full senior crew to represent the club at Henley Royal Regatta.
Chris Mollison and Stuart Hampshire competed in the Double Sculls Challenge Cup event racing against a composite crew, D.J.Lowe and T.W Hennessey, from Adelaide Rowing Club and Adelaide University Rowing Club. The Australian stroke man had just missed out on a place in the Australian International Rowing crew.
Their nerves were unfounded as Hampshire set a good rate throughout the race and Mollison steered a brilliant course. MIRC had a fantastic start and managed to push away from the other crew almost instantly and settle into their race pace, which kept them ahead of the competition up to the first marker point, the Barrier. At this point the opposition’s experience showed as they started to come through the Maidstone crew, though Maidstone were by no means off the pace as they continued to push hard to the line. MIRC stayed with their opposition until the last 750m when the Australians pulled away to win by 1 ¾ lengths. Maidstone finished in a time of 8.02 just two seconds behind the winners.
Hampshire and Mollison were very positive about their race and both very pleased with their efforts as were the Maidstone supporters and their coach Ray Cassidy . The crew now look forward to their next race at National Championships in Nottingham where they hope to win a medal in their double scull.
Laura McGrillen
