Henley Women's Regatta 2019
Friday - Time Trial
Our 4- arrived at Henley Women's on the Thursday evening to practice on the course for the very first time and returned on Friday morning for their Time Trial supported by family and friends including the heavily pregnant Womens Ex-Captain Georgina.
They pushed hard the whole way down the course and then nervously waited to find out if they had done enough...
They had.
They've made it through to the final 16 who will race on Saturday, Congratualtions!
Also entered was a composite in the Junior Double Sculls of Staines and Gordon's School. Unfortunatly they did not progress through to the final 16, but had a good time trial result - well done girls!
Saturday - Side by Side
Saturday Morning arrived and once again the team arrived at Henley with their supporting entourage.
They were drawn against Curlew who's crew have a wealth of experience at Henley including a previous winner.
Unfortunately for our Staines crew when things go wrong they come in 3's...
Firstly while having the boat inspection, bow's heel restraint snapped. Luckily their Coach Stuart was at hand and took his shoelace off to fix it.
Then came the second bow induced problem. Her seat pad was not in the boat already. So again Coach Stuart stepped up and ran back to the trailer to grab it - however in the meantime another one was sourced from Cardiff University's AA8+ (THANK YOU!!!) allowing the crew to boat.
Once up at the top bow the team prepared for the race by pulling up their AIOs... the third bad luck strikes. Bow's number rips off leaving only 1 safety pin in place. Fortunately for the crew there were no cameras at the top to record this moment, but they reported that bow and 2 were both facing backwards in the boat so 2 could re-attach the number while 3 was holding seemingly all of the blades and balancing the boat along with stroke. Sounds challenging!
After what felt like a very long time (2 re-starts just before their race) Staines and Curlew were finally lining up. This is what the year of training had lead up to. Staines crew had Curlew at the start, but just passing the Barrier Curlew pulled through and held their lead against Staines.
The Staines crew returned full of smiles and laughter about the fantastic race they had just had and they could now have a drink and enjoy the rest of the day. Congratulations ladies - fantastic effort, and well done to Curlew - best of luck in your next race!
