About Thames

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The 1950's

Autumn training, 1951 - the 'Lady Margaret lie-back'

Ronnie Symonds, the 1951-52 Captain, was the Lady Margaret Boat Club (St John's, Cambridge) finishing coach and his Deputy, Alistair MacLeod, was a Lady Margaret Blue. However, Thames never really mastered the excessive lie-back that for years characterised Lady Margaret crews and they dropped from second to third in the Head of the River Race.

The final of the Wyfolds, 1955

Thames: Gordon Dear (bow), John Pope, Alex Riemer, Hugh Denning (stroke). Kettering: J.F.A. Loasby (bow), G.I. Arber, P.H. Rowe, A.G. Bates (stroke)

This was an unexpected win from a four that had been plagued by illness. John Pope, who had not been rowing that season, came in at a late stage, and the crew came through to beat Kettering in the final by 1 1/4 lengths. It was particularly sweet for Alex Riemer at three. He had rowed at Henley for five seasons without winning a heat. At his sixth attempt, he won a Henley medal.

The Stewards' fours, 1956

Thames: M. Legg (bow, steersman), C.F. Porter, A.R. Davidson, J.M. Beresford (stroke)

R.A.F. Macmillan's crew: G.S. Dear, H.G.V. Denning, D.H. McLellan, R.A.F. Macmillan

Thames had two crews in the Stewards' in 1956, but the Henley Stewards insisted that the second crew should be entered privately and would not use the Club colours. Accordingly, they raced as R.A.F. Macmillan's crew with a white band across the blades and riggers painted white. As luck would have it, they met in the first round and had a great tussle, the 'official' crew only holding on to win by 3 feet. They had no such trouble again, beating Leander and London comfortably to take the trophy

The winning Stewards' four

Thames members of the England team for the 1958 Commonwealth games, Padarn, Wales

left to right David Badcock (spare man), Peter Thomson, Tony Hancox (Captain of Thames), John Stephenson, Ray Penney, Dick Workman, Felix Badcock, Dennis Mount. Kneeling Gordon Dear (spare man), Don Elliott, Tony Wober

Lake Padarn was not an ideal venue for the first four-lane, 2000 metre regatta to be held in Britain, and the finals were marred by a roaring tailwind that produced very rough water that all but sank the floating Judges' Box, though conditions for the heats had been very good.

The Thames eight were beaten by Canada, with Northern Ireland third, but they qualified in their repechage for the final by beating a Scottish composite eight, with the Irish again third. In the final, Canada beat Australia by 1 second, but Thames, though 15 seconds behind, took the bronze medal.

The Grand eight, 1959

The 1959 Grand eight were a strong crew and took the Marlow Grand from Leander before coming to Henley. At Henley, they met Leander again in the first round (pictured). Leander included the American Oxford rebel, Reed Rubin, and another American, Charlie Grimes, from the winning Yale 1956 Olympic eight. They tried to shake Thames out of their stride, going off very fast but they led by only 1/4 length at the 1/2 Mile. Thames passed them by Fawley, had 1/2 length lead at the Mile and dropped the rate to come in comfortably 1 1/4 lengths ahead.

This put Thames in the final for the first time since 1949, but their opponents were a formidable Harvard eight who had beaten London and Isis, the latter based on that year's winning Boat Race crew. In the final they took Thames by surprise by slipping ahead at the top of the Island. This unsettled Thames, who lost their stride and never found it again. Harvard had a length at the Barrier and won comfortably.

The crew had expected to have to row a trial for the European Championships in Macon, but with Isis committed to a trip to Japan, Thames were selected immediately after Henley, the fourth time in six years that the Club had produced a representative eight. Before setting off for Macon, the Thames eight won the Grand at Molesey, breaking the course record in both heat and final, and the Champion eights, beating London by nearly 3 lengths.

In FISA Championships at that time, there was only one repechage system, so it was possible to calculate whom one might meet in finishing second, third or fourth. Thus, if it were not possible to win the heat, it might not be in the crew's best interest to finish second either. At Macon Thames drew Italy, the holders, who had made only one change from their 1958 eight. In the other heat, strong German and Soviet crews met, and whoever came second or fourth in Thames's heat would have to meet either the Germans or the Soviets in the repechage.

It soon became clear that Yugoslavia and Poland, in Thames's heat, had also realised this. When, predictably, the Italians drew gradually ahead, the other three crews began to look for third place, and an extraordinary race developed. At 1500 metres, Thames were third but there was only 1/3 length between second and fourth, with the Italians a length ahead. The fun started with 200 metres to go, but Thames's lack of experience in this sort of tactical race showed up, the Yugoslavs suddenly dropping back and the Poles spurting, while Thames, believing themselves to be in the right position, were caught napping. Henley racing does not prepare one for this kind of thing and Thames lost the tactical battle. Yugoslavia came second, 1 second ahead of Poland, with Britain 1/2 second behind the Poles, the Italians winning by 1 1/2 lengths.

This put Britain and Yugoslavia against France and the USSR, the latter having eased off after being 1 second down on the Germans at 1000 metres. Thames gambled on a faster start but it did not pay off, the crew never getting down to the intended rate of 37 and scrambling over the course at 38. The Soviets won, with Yugoslavia, France, and Britain overlapping each other in that order, but only the USSR went through to the final. The importance of the tactical battle in the heat was underlined when Poland beat Switzerland, Romania and Spain to qualify from the other repechage. In the final, the Germans, who were never below 40, beat the Czechs, who had won their heat and had a young oarsman called Bohumil Janousek at three, into second place, with Russia, Italy and Poland finishing in that order behind them.

The German win by 10 seconds was the first major success of Karl Adam's Ratzeburg stable. They rowed with long oars and what would later become known as 'Macon' blades, and with revolutionary technique. Nothing since has matched the impacted of the sudden explosion of Ratzeburg on to the rowing scene. For Britain and Thames, it was very much a case of 'back to the drawing board'.

Standing, left to right Bill Griffith, John Stephenson, Ray Penney (cox), Kit Nisbet, Dennis Mount. Seated Robin Anderson, Felix Badcock, Geoffrey Page (Captain of Thames, coach), Malcolm Atkins (stroke), Brian Tanner