Bronze at world masters

TWO ladies from Loughborough Boat Club have followed up on successes earlier in the year to finish in third place in the World Masters Rowing Championships, held on the picturesque Lake Bled in Slovenia.

Zoe Poyner and Erica Gummery stormed to second place in their heat of the Women’s Masters ‘B’ Coxless pair, putting them in third place overall on time, narrowly behind an international New Zealand/Netherlands composite crew and a club crew from the Czech Republic.

The Loughborough boat, named ‘Therapy’, was transported by road across Europe to the venue, and looked superb in its red, white, and blue colour scheme.

“It was daunting leaving the narrow and familiar River Soar at Zouch behind us to square up to international crews in the middle of Lake Bled,” said Zoe Poyner afterwards. “It’s by far the biggest regatta we’ve competed in but the atmosphere was really friendly and the racing well organised. We had no idea what to expect, but it was a brilliant experience and we’re really pleased to have been competitive; now we have to focus on making up those few seconds and be the fastest in the world next time!”

Erica Gumery was similarly upbeat: “We are delighted to be the fastest GB crew in our category at such an amazing regatta. It’s a fantastic result and one we are very proud of.”

The Regatta attracted a record 4,700 rowers representing 860 clubs from all corners of the world.

During the regatta, the Loughborough duo also crewed up with two rowers from Derwent Rowing Club to race in the Coxed Four and Quadruple Scull categories, finishing ninth and 21st place respectively.