The Skiff Club Mixed Doubles Marathon 2011

We had a cracking entry for this year's MDM, 27 crews, up by 10 on last year, possibly helped by the 12 crews we entered.

Well done to all our competitors, to Martin Roche & Amanda Leach for the organisation; the 3 timekeepers, 2 boat marshals, 4 Umpire/Race Monitors, 2 lovely ladies keeping us all fed & watered & last but not least 2 barmen. Add to these all that helped to get boats out, made cakes/sandwiches, & for those new to our Club, you've had a glimpse into what it takes to run a home event. Thankfully as our next Regatta takes a monumental effort, we should have plenty of helpers to spread the load.

After a few minor repairs the day before, like rebuilding a rudder that was falling apart, all of our 9 doubles were in play, augmented with 6 from DSPC. The morning threatened a few showers but for once on the day the weatherman had got it right & these had past before we were boated. Even the wind behaved itself with a moderate head wind for the leg upstream. Mind you it was enough to cause a capsize of one of the sailing boats at the top of Ravens Ait, impeding a couple of crews on their turn.

Old meets the New

It was a pleasure that the oldest Skiff Club (that'll be us then) was able to host the inaugural race for the newest club to come on to the scene, Sunbury Skiff & Punting Club. Their Senior crew, led by their Captain John Graham, were able to borrow our blades as they have none of their own at the moment & compete in a very respectable fashion. Lets hope that we get to see a lot more of them.

Now where's that No. 76 Gone?

So is it a little stressful organising an event like this? Maybe the answer came when Amanda was hunting for the number 76 to give to our TVSC opposition in the Junior-Senior class. Checked & double checked before the race, it had to be around here somewhere. Sheepishly I offered the comment, "perhaps it's the one that you gave me to pin on your back". Well that lightened the atmosphere a bit as we all had a good laugh about it. Phew!

How close can a Marathon Race get?

Now you'd think that if you raced for some 35-45 minutes that there would be clear winners in each of the categories. Well two Junior crews proved just how close it can be. Coaches & coxes will tell you to keep shoving hard until you're over the line & this race proved that point. We had what appeared a dead heat on our hands. I thought we could send them out to race half the course again like we have to in short course regatta races, especially as it wasn't any of our crews, but apparently that isn't the done thing. I would probably have been lynched if I'd suggested it. So over to the timekeepers.

Has the White Smoke gone up yet?

'A hairs breath', ' a gnats whisker' couldn't split these crews, not even down to a few hundredths of a second. Watches were checked, calculations re-calculated, meanwhile all the crews waited patiently, & waited, & waited & then waited less patiently. So I was dispatched to see what was keeping our diligent, trusty timekeepers, just as they rounded the corner. The smoke was white, now who's going to tell Amanda we need 3 extra pots? Ooh err .........

Our spanking new President

Now you try to introduce our illustrious new President in the way befitting of his new office & what do I get in return, titters of innuendos. He is our spanking new President & I was only expecting Keith Shore to shake their hands & offer the appropriate kiss on the cheek as he presented the tankards to the winning crews ........ nothing more.

So onto our successes ..........

The new pairing of Martin Roche & Verena Diehl proved highly successful, even after only a short outing last Thursday. Experience obviously shone through despite these two racing at Novice, what bandits, as they produced a time that outshone some in the first division, finishing 13th fastest out of the 27 crews that started, in a time of 35.51. Well done to Toni Weekes for coxing them to victory.

The next winners gave me particular delight as they secured the Novice Restricted class. Thinking back to a very snowy outing with Laura 'Snow Flake' Goddard in December, it was great to see the expression on her face when she realised that her & Henry Roffey had won their race. Henry having joined only in March has really come on leaps & bounds & with the steadying hand of Kim Burridge as cox, came home in 20th place overall in 39.58. Take heart Henry, you really haven't got to make up 4 minutes to win the novice class, you beat 2 of them today, & as I said Martin & Verena are just bandits.

It should be noted that The Skiff Club honours for our fastest crew went to our two stalwart Vets Keith Shore & Fran Kenden finishing in 35.33. Perhaps there was a threat of a spanking after all by their cox Hilary Shore as she drove then around the course at such a pace. Note to self, add to Coxes briefing notes on how to motivate a crew.

Thankfully wins were pretty much spread across 4 of the clubs; SC 2, DSPC 1, plus 1 in Vets, TVSC 1.5 & WBC 0.5, giving the season overall tally below:
 

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
 

Well done everyone, onwards & upwards.

P.S. Photos to follow in due course from 2 new members with big lenses (hmm not sure if that sounds right), so watch the website in due course.

Cheers

Roger