Henley Royal Regatta 2011

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Henley Royal Regatta 2011

2011 Thames Cup crew

From left: Andy (Peggles), Oli, Simon, Sam, Adam, Chris, Dom, Warren

Kneeling: Tony (cox), Lenny (coach)

 

With the regatta starting in the next day or so the Pimms and Campari was locked and loaded and the plant sprayers primed but there was the more pressing matter of racing to take care of. We had been drawn against Agecroft who we had never raced this season and they looked like they could be a fair bit faster than us judging on previous races but this wasn’t a worry. We settled into Bisham Abbey and then went for a paddle on Tuesday evening on the, now overcrowded, regatta course as this was going to be a whole different experience for some of the crew who have been used to some quite low-key races. The build up to this race had been made all the more exciting as we had decided to swap the position of the stern pair and two and three at the last minute so it was good to get some solid pieces in down the course.

On the Wednesday morning of the first round race against Agecroft in the Thames Challenge Cup we ate breakfast in a grand hall at the Abbey, probably fitting for the occasion. We drove over to Henley and got out on the water for a quick morning practice just loosen things up and then racked our boat below the USA women’s eight, who you would definitely not want to get into an argument with! After some rest and choice words from the coach, Lenny, we boated for the race and set off up to the start. The weather was perfect and we waited on the start for the umpire, we were well drilled at getting away fast and we didn’t disappoint, Agecroft were about half a length behind us off the start as we pulled away and settled into our rhythm. We held them off as they pushed against us and we pushed back as the boats were overlapping all the way down the course. Passing the regatta enclosure, Agecroft put in one last big push and almost drew level with us but they couldn’t sustain it and as we wound we pulled out a three quarters of a length lead over the finish line.

This was by far the best win of the season and I think some people had written us off even before we started, but we had the grit to keep Agecroft at bay. This meant that we were going to face the Thames RC ‘A’ crew in the next round, who were one of the favourites to win the Thames Cup.

We had to get back to Bisham Abbey to rest for the next day, although it would take something extraordinary to happen for us to defeat Thames RC on Thursday. We arrived at Henley on Thursday morning and boated, buoyant from the win over Agecroft, and like the day before we got out the blocks very fast and led Thames by about a quarter of a length after the first few strokes. But by the end of the island they had started to pull away from us and we couldn’t rein them back in.

Despite the defeat to Thames RC, this had been a brilliant Henley 2011 campaign as the squad had only been formed this season and the eight had three novices in it as well. With the racing over for this year it was time now to put on our glad rags and move away from the boat tents and more towards the bars for some well earned refreshments.

Well done guys!