Tideway Scullers School

On Friday and Saturday the various veteran groups – and some of the more experienced members of the women’s squad – were out in force at Henley Veteran Regatta.

Men

The E 8+ – the main boat of the veteran men’s group – had an easy win against X-Press on Friday, but then lost by a length to Crabtree in a very tough race early on Saturday morning.

Bill Cox of Potomac Boat Club, USA, teamed up with Mark Alloway to win E 2x. They then joined Mike Peregrine and Chris Williams to win in the D 4x – a very satisfying win over the boat that had beaten them at Nat Vets by two lengths. The G 4x – a composite with Rostock – won comfortably, but the F 4x was very unlucky to lose by a foot.

Robert Rakison and Andy Ripley (F 2-) won their heat comfortably but had steering problems in the final against Lake Washington and were unable to make up the distance lost after hitting the booms on their third stroke. The F 4- were beaten in the final by a very good crew. The standard of racing continues to rise year by year!

The club was also represented in what was probably the most talked-about race of the event: Steve Redgrave’s return to racing in C 4-. In the draw as ‘Molesey composite’, the bowman was John Beattie, in a TSS vest and the crew beat Tyrian in the final by a couple of lengths.

Women

The WB 4- of Rebecca Caroe, Kate Grose, Pauline Bird and Chelsy Dudman met Peterborough City in the first round, beating them by clear water, then faced a Cantabrigian composite in the final. The first attempt at getting off the start resulted in a (equal blame) clash and restart. Once the race was underway the Cambridge crew held on well until about halfway, then the TSS crew pulled away to win by three lengths.

Rebecca went on to win WC 4- in a Cambridge composite, and also raced the WC 2x in a TSS/Cantabrigian composite, winning over the Strathclyde Park/Inverness boat. Claire teamed up with Belinda Davies for their third outing – and Belinda’s first in TSS kit – in the WA 2x. A consistent row in their heat against Milton Keynes (featuring fellow TSS member Nicky Hocking) led to a four-length win and put them through to the final. They faced the established Globe/Vesta composite, who have raced together at all of the main regattas this season. A cracking final resulted, with the lead changing hands several times. The crews were level coming into the last ten strokes, but the composite’s experience of winding together meant that they just pipped Claire and Belinda on the line.

Belinda – racing in Quintin colours – reached the final of WB 1x, while Emma Cox made the final of WA 1x.

The WC 4x struck lucky when one crew scratched and their heat became a semi and moved to Saturday. They now faced a seasoned Leicester/Derwent composite, but responded to the challenge with a good start and kept level until stalled by a crab. They recovered quickly but their opposition had taken the lead, which they maintained to the finish.

The final of WD 2x turned out to be an all-TSS affair, after a bye to the final for one crew and a victory over Gloucester in the semi-final for the other. Jo Al-Janabi and Elspeth Pinckney took an early lead and, despite being hard pressed, held on to win.

Rebecca, Pauline and Kate were joined by Claire McIntosh in a TSS/Upper Thames composite 8+ (though in fact all but one of the crew were past or present TSS members!). This was a much-anticipated re-run of last year’s gut-busting final, which TSS/UTRC won by just a couple of feet. Prior to this the Star composite (formerly known as UK Gold) had won the event for five years on the trot. This year, Star were ready, and most of their crew raced only in the 8+, as opposed to the usual Scullers madness of cramming in as many events as possible.

The first round for both crews was relatively easy, Star meeting the Avalon crew from the USA and TSS/UTRC against the Lea composite.

The final was strongly contested by both boats, neither getting more than half a length ahead at any point. At the Barrier, Star had their noses in front, but the TSS composite came back level by Fawley and gradually clawed their way, painfully slowly, gaining a woman at a time to achieve the final one-third of a length lead that they held to the line. The crew received many congratulations from people who had stayed for the last event of the day in anticipation of a good race – they were not disappointed. Congratulations also to the Star composite, who were very worthy opponents. See you next year!