Last Sunday a mixed Masters eight from Exeter rowing club won at the Veterans Head of the River rowing race in London. They won a pennant for the fastest in category and the fastest mixed crew with a final position of 35th out of 217 boats and quicker than many all male crews. The boat contained four male and four female rowers with an average age of 40 and took about 20 minutes to cover the 4.2 mile course. The race was exciting with an intense battle between Exeter Rowing Club and London Rowing Club (with an ex-World Champion on board) throughout. This result is especially pleasing because the crew members usually scull (row with two oars) in smaller boats rather than sweep (row with one oar) all together in a big boat.
Molesey were the fastest crew lead by Olympic gold medalist James Cracknell. Sir Bradley Wiggins in his first competitive race on the water was in the Tideway Scullers crew that came third overall.
Crew from stroke: Matt Jacobs, Jo Thorp, Helen Ellison, Lisa Cocks, Dave Moody, Dave Byrnes, Dani Wall, Eleanor Burke. Abby Jones was the cox.