Henley Masters 2018

The top class racing at Henley didn’t end with Henley Royal – Henley Masters Regatta took place on the famous boomed course on the 13th and 14th July, and YCRC crews were out in force this year in the small boats.

Our intrepid scullers started the regatta off early on Friday morning, with Darren racing in the MasD1x, and Anne in the WMasD1x shortly after. Both sculled their way masterfully to their heats to the next round, where they came up against tough opposition in the form of scullers from Grosvenor and Tideway Scullers (the eventual winner) respectively, and were knocked out.

Two YCRC doubles were racing, Paula and Hilary in the WMasE2x and Margit in a composite with Naomi from Trentham RC in the WMasB2x. Paula and Hilary put in a great row, but were beaten by the eventual winners Wallingford RC, whilst Margit and Naomi missed out on the final by an achingly close 1 length margin to Putney Town.

It wasn’t all sculling though! The WD4- of Anne, Lucy, Kate, and Ali went up against Ardingly in a straight final, losing by 2.5 lengths, and our reigning WE2- champions, Philippa and Karen, were drawn in another straight final against a crew all the way from North Shore Rowing Club in Sydney. Unfortunately, the distance the crew had travelled from down under hinted at their speed, and the margin of defeat for YCRC was the same as in the 4-.

Whilst there were no medals headed back to York, all of the competitors raced hard and did themselves proud, especially those who were newer to rowing, or were returning from recent injury – it takes a firm heart to take on the boomed course, even more so in coxless boats! Well done all.

 

WE2- at Henley Masters 2017. Photo: Paula Widdowson.