It was a very busy & successful weekend (22-23 June) for Sudbury Rowing Club, with competitors rowing at both St Ives and Henley Women’s Regattas. Both events had beautiful weather & ideal rowing conditions.
At Henley Women’s Regatta, the first day began with time trials over 1400 metres.
The full racing course was a 1500 metre stretch of the Henley Royal Regatta course and the weather was glorious with a slight head wind. The banks were lined with spectators and competitors who had travelled from as far as Australia, Netherlands and USA.
Jen Titterington (SRC) and Bev Goodchild (IPS) formed their composite double and, entering the Rosie Mayglothling Cup, easily qualified from their time trial as the second fastest Aspirational Double Scull. Despite other very quick crews, they beat Clydesdale in their first round race, going on to beat Molesey in the quarter finals. They reached the semi-finals comfortably where they faced a double from Twickenham, a World Class Start centre. It was a cracking race with the Twickenham crew jumping out to a lead of a length and the Ipswich/Sudbury combo attacking continuously in the second half of the course. The margin came down and down but the Finish line came too soon with Twickenham winning by around 1.5 metres in a time of 5.28.7, 9 seconds faster than the other semi final. Titterington and Goodchild reflected that they could not have attacked any earlier and had rowed exactly the race they had wanted.
Two of Sudbury’s Junior rowers also qualified to race at Henley, which is a huge achievement and a fantastic experience for them.
Amelia Moule competed in the Junior single sculls event in a field of 23. Qualifying from the time trial in the 12th fastest time of all the Junior scullers and progressing to the next round in a time of 6.16.
A. Moule was drawn against a rower from Thames RC who she had raced twice before this year with the score at 1-1 before this race. Amelia was faster out of the blocks and typically aggressive in the first half of the race, as she got out to a lead greater than one length, with her bows ahead for much of the race. However the Thames sculler made a late push for the line taking the win by 3/4 length in the very quick (unofficial) time of 6.16.9
Martha Bullen rowed as a member of the Isle of Ely J16 quad, who qualified fastest of all crews in their class.
It was always likely to come down to a test between themselves and the girls from Henley Rowing Club, the semi-final between them was the best race of the event. Unfortunately the Ely quad did not have their best row and Henley beat them by 3/4 of a length in 5.14.5, a time 7 seconds faster than the other semi. Henley went on to win the event comfortably.
Over at St Ives Regatta many other Sudbury rowers were gearing up to compete in their races. Sudbury came away with an impressive list of wins, starting off the day with the WJ17 single of Amelia Maskell winning against Peterborough by one and a half lengths.
A. Maskell went to win the WJ18 double with race partner Helena Griffiths beating Deben by an impressive 3 lengths. Op. J18 double of Byron Bullen and Sam McLoughlin came through to easily win their race against Stowe. B. Bullen went on to win his Op. 1x race with a quarter length lead against Peterborough. More wins swiftly followed in the Op. 2x of Morgan and Owen Moriarty, beating the Poplar Blackwall crew easily and the Adult squads taking up the winning charge with Kate Wallace winning her first W.2 single race against St Neots by three lengths. Mx MasA double of Tim Wallace and Poppy Grosch won against Broadland by one length. T. Wallace and P. Grosch followed this up with an easy win in the mixed doubles against Hillingdon. The W MasB double of Sophie Lovegrove and Jen Ward came through to win easily against the Isle of Ely in their final and the Op. MasF double of Jeremy Millbank and Sean Moriarty won their race against West Norfolk by three lengths.
Great performances were seen from all our competitors and we are particularly proud of our W J14 and W J15 who raced in their singles for the first time.
An absolutely amazing weekend of racing from Sudbury Rowing Club. Well done to all!
