Crews compete against the region’s best

STRATFORD Boat Club’s J16 squad were in action last weekend, taking part in the 4.5km Worcester Head on the mighty River Severn, reports Chris Best.

The event attracts top crews from the area as the traditional warm up to March’s Tideway events and this year did not disappoint with Stratford’s crews up against the region’s finest.

First to go was the women’s coxed four of Martha Cooke, Becca Smith, Maeve Dunn, Poppy Warren and Josephine Cooper (coxswain). The girls were ‘rowing up’ to compete in the senior event and delivered a superb performance to record second place in band two, just six seconds behind Cardiff University.

In Division 2, the WJ16 coxless quadruple scull of Millie Smith, Martha Baines, Isla Dunn and Tessa Parkin sculled well with Parkin positioning the boat to make maximum benefit of the stream conditions. The crew recorded a third place behind City of Bristol and Hereford Cathedral School whilst leaving Kings School Worcester and Cheltenham College behind in the process.

Also at Worcester Head were Stratford’s sister club, King Edward VI Boat Club. Their 4+ squad of S McMahon, A Stevenson, A Xifaras and S Richardson were racing on the water for the first time with the club. With the aid of cox P Baines, the crew rowed along the 4.5km course to set a stunning start to their rowing careers.

In an open event contested by nothing but university squads from as far afield as Sheffield, there would have been no disgrace in a crew at least three years younger falling behind. In the end however, the squad blasted through to beat Sheffield University leaving KES in a one second neck and neck race with Birmingham University. With a total time of 16.37 minutes and a fifth place, the five KES rowers returned home having positioned themselves proudly.

Also on Saturday, Stratford Boat Club’s adaptive squad were on the water in Stratford with Gillian Middleton undergoing an external British Rowing assessment for her L2 Coaches’ Certificate - the squad’s first ‘home grown’ disabled athlete to gain the qualification. Meanwhile, adaptive rower Curtis Dickens is working with coaches at British Rowing’s Paralympic training camp in France.