Peterborough Regatta
Bedford Rowing Club ended the Fiftieth Anniversary Peterborough Regatta with four overall wins and eight other crews having reached the finals. Plaudits were evenly divided amongst the men, women, novice and veteran crews competing over the 1000m multi-lane course last weekend.
In the men's Elite coxless fours event, the two Henley bound Bedford crews raced head to head for the first time. Both were winners of their heats and the competition in the final provided some crowd pleasing racing. The Bedford A crew of Gwynn Williams, Patrick Doyle, Jon Lemon and Adam Wood edged ahead to lead by half a length at 750m from Bedford B and local rivals Cambridge 99 RC. A call from Blair Clow the B crew bowman in the last 250m meters spurred on his crewmates Dan Pounds, Michael Hardy and Blaine Castle, who established a strong finishing rhythm to take the winners prize, with the A crew finishing in third.
Proving that the older he gets the better he races, Bill Sadler raced to victory in a composite crew in the Veteran D coxed fours, but was unable to repeat the feat in Veteran C, where he and his crew of Paul Knights, Huw Maltby and Richard White were beaten into second place. With Dave Powell replacing Sadler, the crew raced in Veteran B, but were again beaten into second by the same Peterborough crew.
Bedford based oarswoman, Caroline Kirman more famous for her rowing exploits, tried her hand at sculling, and came back a winner of women's Novice sculls. Also racing well at novice level were the Bedford mens and womens crew who both placed third in their respective events. The womens Novice coxed four containing Rachel Hunt, Soraya Mitchell, Ruth Blair, Mary Edmunds and cox Sarah Reay had an international flavour, with an Italian and an American racing for Bedford.
The sprint racing on Sunday saw the men's Senior I coxed four of Pete Stasiuk, John Melrose, Tom Robb, Dave Edwards and cox Christina Webb edged into third place as they were on Saturday, despite rating at over 40 strokes per minute for the duration. In the Novice coxed four event, the Bedford A crew with Andy Corner, Peter Byatt, Roger Griffs, Steve Feord and cox Richard Townsend bettered their third place on Saturday with a gutsy second place finish on Sunday.
Blair Clow attempted a rowing-coxing-sculling triple win, as he coxed the Mixed Elite coxed Four, containing Blaine Castle, Michael Hardy, Leslie Clinton and Julie Bavington to victory. However, he could not complete his winning tally, despite a strong finish, as he placed third in men's Senior III sculls.
See previous news article or return to news index.