Masters among the medals at Nottingham
STRATFORD Boat Club rowers enjoyed glorious conditions at the Nottingham Masters Regatta, racing into a light head wind.
Amanda Bowden and Suzie Radley, racing in The Tempest double scull, grasped the opportunity to go off hard, moving quickly into the lead and stayed ahead throughout the race. The women were delighted to receive bespoke Coronation medals and completed the 1km race in a time of 4.07 minutes.
Shortly afterwards, Stratford’s Ed Lewry and Nick Sartain took to the water in the open senior men’s doubles. After a slightly slow start, they found some rhythm and pushed through the field before coming home third in a close finish.
Heather Hatton and Tom Doherty raced in a combined age group mixed doubles event against two Masters C crews with an average age of 43, two Masters D crews (average 50 years) and two Masters E crews (average 55 years).
A staggered timed start saw the Stratford Masters E crew chase down the other Masters E crew – national champions and race favourites Lakeland – out to the 250m mark. A concerted push saw Stratford stay with Lakeland at the halfway 500m mark. By this point, the younger crews were beginning to close in, leading to a hard third quarter of the race as Stratford worked to stay with Lakeland and hold off the four boats closing behind.
By the 750m mark, Lakeland had moved further ahead with a length of clear water and Stratford were level pegging with Warwick and Nottingham’s C crews. Big pushes from all three crews saw an exciting finish for second place with Warwick edging it by three seconds. Stratford and Upton were split by half a second ahead of Sudbury and the RAF.
Later in the day, Hayton and Doherty took to the water again in their mixed masters quad with Julian and Tabatha Scrivener from Upton Club to take on a Bentham/Maidstone composite crew in a head-to-head clash.
A fast start saw the Stratford/Upton quad quick out of the blocks rating 45 strokes per minute to establish a half-length lead by the 250m mark and they were able to continue to build on the lead for the remainder of the race, eventually winning by a comfortable margin.
