Dorney lake, Eton 03/05/2015, this was the first regatta of the season for the men’s squad. After a promising block of training following a top 100 finish at Head of the River it would be a good test to see how the training would pay off.
The crew of the elite 8+ in attendance was:
1: J Webber, 2: J Spink, 3: J Huelle, 4: R Stirling, 5: D Ord, 6: B Corkery, 7: B Chrichard, 8: P Minchell and Coxswain: P Brailey.
Upon arrival at the Olympic lake the squad were met with the news that due to the wind the race may become a time trial. Fortunately this didn’t materialise but it highlighted from the outset that the wind would be significant.
One of the downfalls of last season was the poor starts. This had been a key focus of the training leading into the race and after the first 500m it had paid off with the men in second place behind Lea. By the halfway point they had slipped back to third where they held of Downing until the final few meters being knocked down to fourth by 0.1s.
With two novices in the boat that started rowing less than a year ago and two more who were racing at novice last summer it was a fantastic result. The winner of each of the five heats would qualify for the final with the six fastest losers going into the Repechage. The boat missed out by only 1.2s, a deficit that can be found in the next two weeks in the lead up to Nottingham.
Full result (Heat E only):
Pos Club 500m 1000m 1500m Finish
1 TRC 01:37.3 03:16.5 04:56.0 06:33.1
2 LEA 01:35.7 03:15.7 04:57.2 06:34.2
3 DOW 01:36.8 03:17.6 04:59.2 06:36.2
4 EXE 01:36.4 03:17.3 04:58.7 06:36.3
5 CBR 01:39.7 03:24.1 05:11.0 06:57.1
6 CAM 01:42.3 03:29.5 05:23.9 07:15.9
Author: Abby Bartram