Chertsey Regatta 2011

Well Chertsey & Shepperton Regatta certainly lived up to its idyllic English Summer skiffing event. The weather was absolutely fantastic & in between those annoying disturbances of having to race, we were all able to soak up the sun & enjoy the wonderful relaxing environment in the Dumsey Meadows.

Singles Success

It was certainly a day for some successful singling with winners in three categories. The Gents Novice Restricted Single Sculls was certainly one of the most hotly contested events, with 3 of our contenders Christopher Coveney, Russell Guy & Simeon Wishlade in amongst the additional 8 racers. In the end Simeon had to fight through 3 heats to get to his final, the first win by only 1/4 of a length & his final against his TVSC opposition in his fastest time of 2 min 9 sec by a margin of 2 lengths.

From one end of the status spectrum to other, saw Crispin Allen competing in the Gents Junior Senior Single Sculls, which as it turned out was to be his last. Indeed Crispin's progression to Senior status was to be no easy affair as he was forced to a dead heat against his younger & larger TVSC opponent. However size isn't everything & Crispin showed how technique & tenacity can win through as he triumphed in the re-row by 3/4 of a length. At last we have a very capable Senior racer for The Skiff Club, well done Crispin.

Last but by no means least came a straight final in the Ladies Novice Restricted Single Sculls between Kim Burridge & Jennie Jurianz who had been subtly coerced into racing in singles. In a time of 2 min & 30 sec Kim came across the line to take the prize but my thanks go to the both of them for bringing home another Ormiston point for the Club.

Double Bubble

Our other 2 points of the day came from our two Gents Doubles crews. Now the first pairing of Tom Lee, Brind Waldron, coxed Heather Bateman certainly had a story behind them. First of all it had been a stroke of luck that Tom Lee had returned a day early from holiday to be able to substitute for Stretch who was suffering with flu. So it was great to have an equally powerful stroke man to jump in at the last minute. But when it comes to stamina & determination you can't fault Brind, who had only had 2 hours sleep from the night before. Why you may ask? Well certainly not from the all night revelries that some of our younger members have been tempted by. No Brind had been working until 3 am & had agreed to be onsite at Chertsey by 6 am to help with the course laying & he wasn't about to let the organisers down. So they both did amazingly well to come through 2 tough heats to win the Gents Novice Double sculls in 1 min 55 secs by a mere 1/2 a length. Sterling stuff guys!

Our last point of the day came from an equally cobbled together pairing of Simeon Wishlade, Robin Potter, coxed by Valeria Tretyak. Now these two guys only met for the first time on the morning of the race but as you can see my confidence in their individual abilities & joint capability was completely justified. It wasn't as if they'd had a chance to even have a practice heat, no, they were in a straight final of the Gents Novice Restricted Doubles against a WSPC opposition. I videoed their cracking start & saw them pull away comfortably as I ran back down the bank to film the end of the race. So I'm not entirely sure what happened in between because Valeria certainly had to push them hard to cross the line with only a 3 foot margin in 1 min 58 sec. I'm sure that with a bit more practice together these two guys will make a formidable crew.

So 5 Ormiston Points in the bag & normally that would be a good result & it was a cracking result. Unfortunately our nemesis DSPC did better, a lot better, winning 9 points. That means that we're back to a 5 point deficit in the league & an uphill struggle to get back on par. But we've done it already this year & I'm sure we can do it again, onwards & upwards.

We now have 2 weeks to prepare ourselves for the Sunbury Regatta on Saturday 13th so let's use that time wisely & get out on the water & give ourselves the best chance of success.

Cheers

Rog