Peterborough - The Head of The Nene
Boat Club
Peterborough Head
After a month of hard training on the Tideway it was once again time to venture out of the capital in search of a healthy slice of competition. The destination this time was that glamour town that is Peterborough. A seven o'clock departure was early but not unreasonable and the journey up the A1 relatively uneventful, apart from the service station sex shop! (about 30 miles short of Peterborough, if anyone's curious...)
For anyone who's not been to Peterborough, and is perhaps thinking of taking some time out to visit, I really wouldn't bother. In particular, don't bother looking for points of interest along the river - it has that dull, drainage-channel-esque monotony that can only be found in parts of the east of England. Apart from the bridge and moored boat about halfway down the long course, the most interesting thing anyone saw on the bank was a cow!
With almost the entire club in attendance (apart from those preparing for GB trials - more on them later), we were looking to dominate the results, and take home as much pewter as possible! The race itself was split up into three separate divisions, of which we had entries in the Fours and Eights divisions. First up, and going off second in the division, was an `elite' men's coxless four, who ended up a respectable 3rd in their category and 6th overall in the division. Next came a couple of men's coxed fours, who finished just 1 second apart and each won their categories (`Senior 2' and `Senior 3'). The impressive women's quad then romped home as the fasted women's crew by some 15 seconds. The two women's coxed fours also performed well, with both coming second in their categories, by just 5 and 3 seconds respectively.
So far so good, three wins out of six, and with 7 eights racing in the next division there were high hopes of building on that total. The top crew this time was the `Senior 1' men's eight, who had something of a point to prove after being beaten by some schoolboys at Wallingford Head in December (albeit with a slightly different line-up). They proceeded to prove that that result was an anomaly, but unfortunately couldn't find enough speed to take the overall win and had to settle for second, 12 seconds adrift Agecroft RC, and in a time of 14:19. Just under a minute back was the `Senior 3' eight, who were unlucky not to take the win in their category after being held up by a barrage of slower boats part way down the course and ending up just 3 seconds behind the winning crew. Also in attendance were a couple of men's eights from the novice squad, who were looking to pick up some pots in what was only their second proper race. The first novice boat put together a decent race, finishing in 15:57, but that first win proved elusive as Pembroke College and St Peter's School beat them into 3rd. The second novice crew also had a good row and ended up 47 second slower that the first boat, a time which was good enough for 6th place in the category. However, the most convincing performance again came from the women's squad, with the 1st eight winning their category and being the fastest women's crew by over 20 seconds! The women's second eight were slightly less spectacular, but still managed 5th in `Senior 3', and the women's novice eight had a solid row, also finishing 5th in their category.
So, there you have it, and after a considerable amount of derigging and trailer loading it was back on the coach and back to Putney (and on to the pub...) for the lot of us. The total of 4 wins, and a glut of 2nds and 3rds, represented a reasonable if unspectacular (by IC standards) haul for the day, but by and large we were pretty content.
As I said earlier, the top few guys and girls at the club took part in the third round of GB squad trials on the weekend after Peterborough. These are held at Boston over a 5km course and are compulsory for all athletes wanting to represent Britain during the coming season. Easily the most impressive result for the club came courtesy of Will Laughton, who really put himself in the mix by finishing fifth (and 2nd in the under-23 category) in the single scull. Also racing were 3 men's pairs, who came 12th, 14th and 15th, along with 3 women's singles, the best of which was Mel who came 28th (5th U-23).
