Northwich Spring Head – Sunday 3rd April, 2016
We entered twelve crews at Northwich on Sunday (the drop from Lincoln’s seventeen explained by the absence of all bar myself in the masters categories, and the lack of boat doubling forced by the restriction of the singles entries to the first division only). We managed three wins on the day, which is good going, considering the much higher class of entry. In the first division (singles) Josh Rhodes and I both had convincing wins in J13 and masters F singles (respectively), and in the third division, Ethan Campbell-O’Connor and Will Doleman (the latter racing for the second time that day) won the J14 doubles by three seconds (our closest finish). The nearest we came otherwise was Will’s sister, Kate, who was about three lengths from the winner of W.J17.1x.
Elsewhere in the first (singles) division life was tougher. James Doleman (IM3) encountered an older and much larger sculler (a previous national J23 erg champion) from Grosvenor, who won by more than twenty seconds (and was fastest single of the day by a wide margin), and his brother Will (J14) lost by a similar amount to Queen’s Park High School (his oppo did a time that would have won J15s as well and placed third in J16s, so no shame there). Milly Payne (J16) finished fifth out of six, and her sister Sophie (IM2) and Cesca Meynell (IM2) were equal third (bar a tenth of a second) out of four. Lucy James (who is J13, but had to race J14 for want of opposition) came a respectable eighth out of ten (and less than a second off seventh).
In the second division we had our first debut crew of the day. Ellie Meynell and Hannah Munns (J13) sculling a freshly painted Auntie M (many thanks to Rob Thornton for his efforts). This was Hanna’s first competition and they did well. They suffered a minor clash within five strokes of the line with the winning crew (Liverpool Victoria) who were overtaking, but no harm was done to crews, boats, or results (although our crew did attract a penalty for obstruction – basic rule of thumb, if you are being overtaken you must give way, regardless of circumstances – it should be noted that none of the umpires had been issued with loudhailers).
The third division also saw a debut crew. Tom Ellershaw (whose father, Matt Rowbottom, has represented the club in the past) and Joe Leckie, had their first race in J15 doubles. They came sixth out of seven, and kept out of trouble...nearly. Theirs was a very crowded finish, as several faster crews started behind, and were catching them en masse as they crossed the line (one of these crews was our J14 double, but more of that later). Anyway, everyone finished without obstruction, but the crew just behind ours didn’t realised that they had finished, and kept going (there was no bell or horn to indicate crossing the line, just a murmur from the timing judge, so this was a common error). The overtaking crew’s bow overlapped our crew’s stern and pushed the boat sideways (watch any video of the notorious ‘Bumps’ races and you will see this game played with eights). The inevitable result is that the stern of the boat in front is turned by the bows of the boat behind, and the boat in front ends in the bank, and (in this case) the crew ends in the drink. All was well, no harm to the boys, small harm to the boat, and slightly more harm to the Captain (who had to carry said boat, with official assistance, to the car park from the finish – where, on arrival, said official opened the bow and stern canvasses to check for water, as they couldn’t believe the boat could be that heavy without being waterlogged – but they were dry.)
And finally, back to Ethan and Will, who overtook Tom and Joe at the line, having started four boats behind. This was a wonderful effort from them both, and their winning time compared well up the age range, and would have given them fourth out of eight in J15, and second out of three in J16.
Oh, and the weather was perfect. Bright sun, and a healthy (if chilly) tailwind. Who could ask for more?