Cold? - Check.
Blowing a gale? - Check.
That will be standard conditions for the Masters regatta season so far then. The worst aspect was a steady 20 knot headwind, which was slowing down crews by 20 to 30 seconds, and making for choppy conditions.
We took 2 crews to the Henley. Messers Chapman and Marshall in the F2x and the Vet D 8+ - the only changes from Nottingham being Rob Kenway replacing Harry (who was umpiring and, despite ugly threats, was refusing to accept bribes) and Lois coxing.
The double were first off against Cincinnati. These guys were terrifyingly good, combined with the rough water not suiting our lightweight(ish) double, they were 4 lengths up by the 500m mark. They went on to win the event easily.
The Eight had a bye into the quarters, where they met Nottingham BC, who had beaten Stourport. Notts have a strong reputation, and had come 3rd at the Masters Champs last year, but had not been seen on the calendar this year. They must have been rusty, as we beat them by 1.75 lengths in a headwind which made it difficult for both crews to obtain full length. Despite the slow time (like everybody elses) - 3.47 minutes, we are calling that one a scalp!
On Sunday (with more benign if not perfect conditions), the Eight were more confident in our clash with Marlow in the semis, who we have beaten before (just). We put absolutely everything into it at the start, taking a 1/3 length by the 500m mark. But with all credit to them, they slowly clawed their way back, and we had nothing left to hold them off, eventually losing by 4 miserable feet in a time of 3.27 :(.
We were gutted, but will come out of it stronger, I am sure. Marlow, then went on to lose easily to Crabtree (Cambridge Alumni) in the Final, who are in a league of their own in this event.
Watch this great video of the epic tussle:
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