An unsatisfactory win for Ed in Vet D 1x, after a first round on very rough water on the flood tide. With a flooded footwell it was a relief to pass under Hammersmith Bridge and find slightly calmer waters. The final, in the afternoon involved 45 minutes of waiting in the boat, which apparently gave time for the organizers from Auriol and Kensington to go and look for the other competitor at Putney Town RC, the rules about late arrivals apparently having been waived. It was finally decided that Mr Journeaux definitely wasn't coming and the resulting row over past the club somehow lacked the excitement of side by side racing. The women's eight narrowly lost to St Paul's. Half a length up approaching the bridge, our women had the outside of the Hammersmith bend, and couldn't hold off St Pauls in really awful water, but were comfortably ahead of Putney Town.
You spend years waiting for a shiny new Hudson, and then four arrive at once. His and hers fours and pairs.
Originally intended to simply spur crews to do long distance winter training, the Eights Head of the River Race has become a highly prestigious race in its own right, attracting overseas competitors and elite crews. Held at around the same time as the University Boat Race, it gives club rowers a chance to compete over the course made famous by global TV coverage. When you're based at Hammersmith, that course is the back yard which always gives confidence in dealing with rough water. The Sons of the Thames crew had a long wait to start, but picked up over 100 places to finish in the top 200. In contrast to recent years, conditions were quite good. The race was won for the first time by Oxford Brookes University.
There were summery conditions yesterday for the Quintn Head - or the start of it anyway. Five Sons eights took part with a decent result for the best of our men's crews, which placed sixth out of 24 in the IM3 division.
November 8th gave us a strong tail wind to Hammersmith Bridge, where it changed to a head wind, kicking up lumpy water down to Putney. Conditions like these are nothing new to us, and may have helped a number of the Sons crews who competed. The stand-out result was the Vet A coxless four who won the category pennant. The crew contained three who've learned to row at the club, one just last season. Also worth a mention, is the Vet D 4x crew who finished second in category, just eight seconds behind national champions Bewl Bridge.
An active women's squad has been one of the positives of the season. On a sprint 500 metres course at Staines the girls came away with a couple of wins taking the coxed fours at IM3 and the coxless pairs at IM2. This last saw an all Sons final and a close race with Lena and Colleen holding a tight line on the final bend and coming in just ahead of Mia and Erin. Both pairs looked good, underlining the excellent progress the whole squad have made this year which must have a lot to do with Drago's coaching. Fawssett also won in Vet D 1x.
McLachlan, Scrine, Fawssett and Smith represented the club in the Vet D quad event. After an easy win in the heat, they were forced to work hard in a final against a Wallingford quad featuring the pair who'd beaten Smith and McLachlan to Gold in the IM3 2x final at the Masters. Sons got away to a good start, and held off the fast finishing Wallingford crew to win an eight boat event.
If you want to race a pair at HRR there's only one option - the Silver Goblets, an open event which attracts its share of internationals. So just being invited was an achievement for our own Pete Reynolds and Mirko Brinker. Come the day, the Sons pair did far more than just take part, easily beating a Lady Rohesia combination that included a Wyfolds winner from the previous year. The next round featured full-time professionals and World Silver medalists Foad and Landridge and an honourable exit for the best pair we've had in ages. It's particularly pleasing that Mirko has done all his rowing at Sons after coming to the sport through our learn to row course in 2011. The commentators on the excellent new Henley TV feed noted the crew's good technique - a credit to them and coach Sam Haeta.
The Masters 4x of McLachlan, Smith, Fawssett and Baldwin came away with a Gold Medal in Vet D quads IM3. Smith and McLachlan also won Silver in Vet E 2x IM3. The open events on the previous day didn't go quite so well. Despite having the proven partnership of Scrine and Boerike in the boat, the quad could only make the final of the Vet D quad event.
The 28th March brought the Veterans' Head of the River Race. Favoured by the weather gods, who've blown the main HORR into cancellation for the two previous years, the race again had decent conditions. The Sons mens' Masters C crew had a good row, getting down the course in 20.13 and finishing sixth in a competitive category won by Molesey BC. In the Mixed Masters C, the club's scratch crew, coxed by Hugo of Broxbourne RC, won the division. A spirited attempt to chase down our own Mixed Masters B crew failed by three seconds.