The big freeze in the early part of 2012 continues, and on a
morning when ice on the Medway stopped rowing at Maidstone, we were advised
that the ice on the Thames had been cleared
by river traffic and the Molesey Veterans Head would go ahead.
After a really enjoyable and successful event last year, we
vowed to return, and were once again warmly greeted by our hosts. It is almost the perfect Veteran Head – 3k
downstream (so not too far); plenty of beer and cakes in the wonderful Molesey
Clubhouse; and also plenty of old friends to catch up with: including Lawrence (ex
MIRC now Tideway Scullers), Simon de Maria (rowing in his Putney colours) and
of course the Bewl Sunday crew.
MIRC Veterans only took one crew this year, with the Vet F
crew still in its infancy and the Novices not wanting to waste any valuable
training time to actually compete ;).
The Vet D’s came 4th out of 9 last year in a
tough field, beaten by Crabtree (of course), Weybridge and Tideway
Scullers. This time they were in a field
of 7, but this time, none of the above boats were in their category. “Maybe, just maybe…,” thought their captain
on the way to the Thames.
We kicked off hard, and kept there, settling in at 32, with
Molesey (who we beat by just 4 seconds last year) hard on our heels. They were outrating us – possibly 33 or 34,
were a big crew, but not too tidy. It
looked very close at the end, and we thought they had caught us during our
traditional end race fade. The other
boats in our category had disappeared out of sight, and we knew it was just us
two in it.
And so it was, we won by just 5 seconds, and came 4th
overall in the field. A really great
result, 2 wins out of 2 for the year, and early achievement of our objective of being top quartile in the country
– the ultimate test of which of course, will be the Vets Head of the River in
March.
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