Boat club stages first regatta since 2018...
LOUGHBOROUGH Boat Club recently hosted 140 crews from 15 Rowing Clubs at its annual ‘Head Race’ time trial on the River Soar.
Calm water, light winds, and a beautiful Autumn day made for perfect racing conditions that were enjoyed by all ages and abilities.
The highlight of the day was provided by the Loughborough Students Open Quad, who set an all time record time for any boat over the 3,000 metre course of 10 minutes 31 seconds thereby earning the right to call themselves ‘ Head of the Soar’ and to fly the pennant awarded to the fastest boat.
Tom Kiel, Jake Young, Tony Reid, and Tom Blake had only been training together as a crew for one month but powered their way down the twisting course to beat the previous record set in 2003 by a massive 18 seconds.
Their victory was also sweetened by beating local rivals from De Montfort University Leicester, who finished 15 seconds behind.
Crews from Loughborough Students also recorded wins in the Open Double Scull, Open Coxed Four, and Womens Coxed Four, whilst Nottingham Rowing Club took home the Victor Ludorum pennant for the club with the greatest number of individual wins.
With the majority of Club members busy helping run the event, a reduced number of crews from Loughborough Boat Club competed in any of the three racing divisions, but Tim Ives and Lawrence Burke in the Masters Pair became the first and only home crew to collect one of the beautiful new winner’s medals designed by club member Di Hope-Cockayne.
Featuring the club crest, which is permitted to be the same as that of the Borough of Charnwood, and crafted in blue and gold enamel, the medals have sat in the cupboard for three years awaiting recipients after the event was cancelled in both 2019 and 2020.
A large crowd of rowers gathered for the medal ceremony at the end of the day to applaud the presentation of the medals to the winners by Club Captain Charlie Henry.
A huge team effort was put into the planning and running of the event, with club members carrying out a multitude of tasks ranging from helping register, launch and marshal the boats to a tight schedule, or timekeeping at the start and finish of the course, as well as rescue and first aid duties. Equally importantly, for the sake of hungry rowers, the kitchens were kept busy throughout the day supplying servings of hot food alongside numerous home made cakes, with the club bar open throughout the day.
As is normal in the inclusive sport of rowing, these races are equally important as social occasions as they are for the competition itself, and rowers from throughout the Midlands and even from as far as the Lake District mingled throughout the day to catch up with old friends from other clubs.
There is no doubt that this was one of the most successful and enjoyable club events to be held in recent memory.
List of participating clubs: Loughborough Boat Club, Loughborough Students Rowing Ltd, De Montfort University (Leicester) Boat Club, Derwent Rowing Club, Newark Rowing Club, Stourport Boat Club, Trent Rowing Club, Nottingham Rowing Club, Devil’s Elbow Rowing Club, Becket Rowing Club, Leicester Rowing Club, Burton Leander Rowing Club, Lakeland Rowing Club, Bradford Amateur Rowing Club, Nottingham and Union Rowing Club.