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Veteran Fours Head
Coxless 4 retain title at Veteran Fours Head, London
Putney, Saturday 13 November 2010
Avon County Rowing Club’s Veteran F coxless four won at the Veteran Fours Head on Saturday. They retained the title they won in the 2009 event and in doing so completed the ‘treble’, having also won at the National Veteran Championships in Nottingham and at the Henley Veteran Regatta in 2010.
The crew, Derek Walker, Jim Dawson, Antony Constantinidi and Chris Brigden (coached by Jeremy Cheek) has had an unbeaten run of success at National Veteran events over the past two seasons. On Saturday, the storms which threatened in the build up to the race failed to materialise and the conditions on the famous 4.5 mile long Boat Race course on the tidal Thames were calm with a light tail wind. The event attracted an entry of some 200 crews, 25% up on 2009, which reflects the increasing popularity of Veteran rowing.
The Avon four won their class by a crushing 34 seconds over second placed Weybridge and were 41st overall from the 189 starters. It was a credit to the crew that they would also have won the younger Veteran E coxless event.
Starting in 95th position, the Avon four built up to race pace as they approached Chiswick Bridge and were at full speed as they passed the start timing mark. They quickly settled into a powerful cruising rhythm which the pursuing crew from Tideway Scullers RC of London could not match. As Avon drew away and lined themselves up on the middle arch of Barnes railway bridge, they overtook a quad scull and started to gain on several other fours. Avon continued at 33 strokes a minute along the crucial Chiswick reach and as they entered the long Hammersmith bend, became locked into a tense battle with a strong Tideway Scullers crew, racing with a cox in the younger E category.
Avon had to push hard for the best racing line on this bend, as the fastest band of water on the ebbing tide is narrow: barely the width of two boats. A big effort saw Avon draw level with the Scullers and, narrowly avoiding a clash of oars, they were well clear soon after Hammersmith Bridge. In the final run in from the Mile Post, Avon overtook another 6 crews and a hard row in over the last two minutes from the Black Buoy to Putney Pier assured their victory.
“I’m very proud of this crew,” said coach Jeremy Cheek after the race. “They have trained hard and well and the work we did to improve their technique really paid off.” Avon’s Veteran F coxless four will race at Wallingford in December, then will train for races in a composite eight man crew in Amsterdam and London in March.
Avon County also entered a Women’s Quad. The crew of Kath Finucane, Di Walker, Philippa Sondheimer and Gillian Beer raced well and finished fourth in their class. And in the G/H coxed four event, the Bradford on Avon/ Avon County composite crew were a highly creditable second.
