Competition was more intense than ever before, and it is becoming clear that this is a tougher regatta to win at than the Masters National Championships.
All 4 crews got through their early rounds on Friday to return on Saturday.
The B double of James Knight and Lewin Hynes lost their final against Peterborough, who dazed all on the bank with a cruising rating of 38-40. The slower, but more powerful strokes of the MIRC double kept them ahead until the last 100 metres where the Peterborough crew found another gear to row through and win. Hard lines.
The D Quad (Ollie Barton, Geraint Evans, Ray Phillips and Richard Huggins), having taken revenge on a Vesta crew who narrowly beat them last year in the first round, met the favourites, Broxbourne, in the semis, only to crash out against the posts at the end of their start. A result of faulty steering, a bad crosswind and a tendency of the crew to skew off to bowside on the start. It was very disappointing. Broxbourne went on to win the event.
The biggest surprise for MIRC was the success of the D double (Huggins and Evans), who beat a strong Ardingly crew in the first heat; and a competent Bath/Chester composite in the semis, but were seen off in their final by a scarily strong crew from Kingston in the final.
So, three finals and no wins for MIRC, but after some very hard racing there was really no disgrace.
