Recent Reports
2004 Olympic Games, Athens, Greece
TRC international Elise Laverick and Walbrook's Sarah Winckless capped a tremendous season in the double with a richly deserved Bronze medal. Elise has had a turbulent Olympiad, with illness and the whims of the selectors both making her life more complicated. This result is a great pay-off for her perseverance. Perhaps it was hearing her Dad shout 'Go Thames!' from the grandstand that made all the difference!
World Under 23 Regatta in Poznan, Poland
1 Great Britain 7:22.15
2 Australia 7:25.22
3 Canada 7:26.37
4 Ukraine 7:33.46
5 Belorusse 7:37.58
6 France 7:43.95
The Great Britain crew was:
Bow Natasha Page (Reading University BC)
2 Anna Bebington (Rob Roy BC)
3 Beth Rodford (Thames RC)
Stroke Alison Knowles (Thames RC)
Coach Gary Stubbs (Thames RC)
The crew rowed in 'Bryan Richards GM', loaned free by Thames RC and were based at Thames for much of the year. The result is a real success for Thames' High Performance Programme for women.
Well done to all of the crew on a fantastic result and we sincerely hope that they move up to an illustrious career in the GB senior squad.
Home International Regatta, 24 July 2004
Six Thames women represented England at the HIR - all winning Gold: Antonia Schmiegelow, Louise Engel, Emma James, Rachel Loveridge, Florence Temple and Caroline Smith. Their wins in the coxless pair, coxed four and eight helped England to an overall victory. Katrina Lythgoe and Sarah Watson represented Wales: Kat took Gold with Bryony Britten of Auriol Kensington in the lightweight double; Sarah took Bronze with Bryony in the lightweight pair.
National Championships of Great Britain, 16-18 July 2004
With medals and Home Countries selection up for grabs a large contingent of Thames women travelled to Holme Pierrepont. Katrina Lythgoe and Jo Ganley finally gained some compensation for their efforts, taking Bronze in the lightweight double and then teaming up with Esther Dingley and Lucy Smart of Wallingford for a Silver medal combination in the lightweight quad. The lightweight coxless four were just out of the medals - but did beat the Henley winners from Glasgow University. Emma James reformed her trials pair with Amanda Skailes of Globe and won a hugely deserved Gold ahead of pairs from Oxford and Oxford Brookes Universities. Two Thames crews made the coxed fours final. The B crew (drawn from the intermediate eight) came a creditable fifth while the A crew (drawn from the elite eight) won with ease. The elite eight came into the final with five members of the crew having already doubling up in other events. Moreover, the event featured a field of tremendous depth. In the event, Thames spent much of the race locked in a spirited battle with a feisty Vesta/Star & Arrow composite (the Star & Arrow element being former Thames international Guin Batten). Cox Caroline Smith stayed calm under pressure, the Thames oarswomen pushed on through the pain and Thames took the Gold by something less than three feet. All credit to our neighbours Vesta for a marvellous race.
Henley Royal Regatta, 30 June - 4 July 2004
The Thames women's Elite Eight was prequalified for the Remenham Challenge Cup along with the combined Great Britain Under 23 and Senior A fours, rowing as 'Thames and University of London'. Charlie Ware and Alison Knowles represented Thames in the composite. The two crews rowed in the Thames' matched Empacher 8's 'John Levy' and 'Maurice Rayner'. This was the first time a Thames crew, as opposed to a composite, had prequalified for the Regatta. Both crews were also selected by the Stewards. Racing in appalling conditions with racing times extended by up to 45 seconds due to the 21 mph winds, Thames beat Boston University in the first round. The Stewards were, for once, 100% correct in their selections for the Remenham: all selected crews won their first races. Thames then met the Thames/UL composite and in spite of an excellent row couldn't match their power into the headwind. The Thames/UL composite then defeated Princeton to take the Remenham Challenge Cup by three lengths. Congratulations to Charlie and Ali!
FISA World Cup Round 3 - Lucerne, 18-20 June 2004
The Great Britain Under 23 coxless four of Alison Knowles (Thames), Anna Bebington (Rob Roy), Natasha Page (Reading University) and Beth Rodford (Thames), coached by Gary Stubbs (Thames) took Gold ahead of Denmark and the Great Britain senior four. Alison and Beth become the first Thames members to make the GB heavyweight women's squad since Elise Laverick. Congratulations all round.
Henley Women's Regatta, 18-20 June 2004
A large Thames squad entered HWR 2004 covering most event categories in both Heavy and Lightweight. The Intermediate Eight raced with great credit holding a strong Oxford University (containing most of the Blue Boat) to two lengths. The intermediate coxed four also raced well and seemed to improve with every row losing, in a well fought race, to a group of perennial club 4+ rowers. The Lightweight coxless four were perhaps the most unfortunate casualty of the regatta, losing to the woodwork at an early stage: when they retrieved themselves and raced it was plain that they were on the pace and even with the unscheduled stop Glasgow (the eventual winners) were hard pushed to get the 3 lengths that they did. The Lightweight double scull (Lythgoe & Ganley) raced with great verve until they ran into the GB Under 23 Lightweight double in the semi ending their run. Sarah Park (Lightweight single ) continued her fight back from injury and demonstrated some good sculling until fitness took its toll and she was rowed down in the closing stages of her round. In the Elite single, Ali Sanders suffered from an uncharacteristically poor start and went out the winner by a hard fought 21/2 lengths. However, the Elite Eight held centre stage disposing of Skoll (Amsterdam) in the first round without being unduly troubled before rowing away from Boston in the semi-final in the fast time of 4:47 (5 seconds short of the record set by the 1996 Olympic 8). In the final, in spite of a poor row, the result was never in doubt. Thames led by clear water from the enclosure and despite a sustained attack from Nereus maintained clear water across the line. This is the first time a single UK club crew has won the Elite Eights at HWR.
'The Times' commented: Thames impress (headline)
Thames took the elite eights event at Henley Women's Regatta in style over
Nereus, of the Netherlands. Both crews beat American opposition in the
semi-finals, then the home crew led from start to finish in the final to win
by one length.
Metropolitan Amateur Regatta 29-30 May 2004
The Met was a weekend of few wins but many encouraging performances. The lightweight group (racing in single, double, four and composite quad) all moved on; the intermediate eight showed increasing pace through the weekend and the intermediate coxed four surprised themselves and others by reaching their final on both days. Only one medal came our way - but it was an absolute peach. On Saturday, the women's elite eight competed in the Open Senior 1 category against men's crews from Oxford Brookes and London amongst others. They raced superbly, initially vying for the lead before the men began to pull away, and maintaining strong technique at high rate against a stiff headwind. On Sunday, against Senior 1 women, they broke clear before 500m and eventually beat the second placed crew by 21 seconds.
FISA World Cup Round 2 - Munich 27-29 May 2004
Elise Laverick (Thames) and Sarah Winckless (Walbrook) moved up a level from their performance at Poznan with an excellent Silver medal behind the World Champion New Zealand crew.
Duisberg International Regatta 22-23 May 2004
In April, Alison Knowles and Beth Rodford performed splendidly at the Great Britain final trials, reaching the coxless pair A final and showing themselves as the fastest Under 23 pair. As as result, they were selected for the Great Britain Under 23 coxless four, along with Natasha Page (Reading University) and Anna Bebbington (Rob Roy); the crew is being coached by Thames's Gary Stubbs. The crew made its race debut at Duisberg: on Saturday, against senior competition and in difficult conditions, they finished fourth - hard on the heels of the GB senior four. On Sunday they comfortably won the Under 23 event making them a real medal prospect for the World Under-23 Championships. As a reflection of the level at which they are now performing, they have now been instructed by the Great Britain team manager David Tanner that they will race as part of the GB senior squad at Lucerne International Regatta in June. This is marvellous news for Alison, Beth, Gary and for Thames.
Twickenham Regatta 22 May 2004
After their baptism of fire at Ghent, the women's intermediate eight went to Twickenham Regatta and made short work of Twickenham RC (who had already beaten Weybridge Ladies) to take Senior 2.
Ghent International Regatta 8-9 May 2004
The senior women's squad went in force to Ghent and opened their 2004 regatta season in great style. Pick of the performances came from the elite eight, which took Gold on both days. On Saturday the crew split into two coxless fours, coming second and fourth in an extremely tight final against high-quality continental opposition. A second silver came from the lightweight double scull of Katrina Lythgoe and Jo Ganley. In the lightweight single, Sarah Park showed encouraging signs of progress and the intermediate eight and lightweight quadruple scull both raced well. For many this was the first experience of 2000m multi-lane racing and, as such was invaluable experience. Overall, the squad's performance was one of the best from a UK club at an event which is always highly competitive.
FISA World Cup Round 1 - Poznan 7-9 May
2004 Thames RC's Elise Laverick is now teamed with Sarah Winckless of Walbrook in the Great Britain double scull. In Poznan they came a very creditable fifth after only a very few outings in the boat.
Twickenham Regatta (May 2004)
The Thames senior four coxed four won their first point at Twickenham Regatta. They had a dramatic second round when a poor start left them heading towards the foliage, they recovered well and set about closing the gap to the opposition, rowing past them around the outside of the final bend and winning by 3ft. The final went according to plan and they quickly moved past Staines and led them all the way to line. They now move on to race senior 3 at the Met.
Novice Women (May 2004)
Women's novice VIII won at Wallingford Regatta, beating an Oxford college composite crew by a second. The Evening Post Cup (I think) is above the bar but we've got to give it back next year.
Novice Men (April 2004)
I'm happy to report that we have eight less novice men following their win at Hammersmith Regatta. They won the heat by about three lengths from Shiplake and Poplar Blackwall and I think the verdict of the final was easily against St. Hughs colledge Oxford.
We also won Novice 4+ at Burway Head a few months ago.
Junior Rowing (March 2004)
Some excellent recent results to report to you from the junior club over this term.
Racing opportunities have been a little thin on the ground and through the first half of this term we have had to rely on racing amongst ourselves to get our junior crews ready.
Meanwhile the Bradbury girls Ro and Guen joined the TRC Novice squad in January, rowing to victory with the at Remenham and Burway. Younger brothers Ed and Hal have been coxing this group.
Our first all junior showing was in the Westminster Invitation Head in early Feb. despite appalling water conditions the Putney High J16 quad managed to beat all other female entrants (8 other crews from KCL, St Pauls, Westminster and IC) and were thus first across the line.
At Henley Junior Head our Thames/PHS composite WJ15 4x+ beat all others in the category but had to be content with a moral victory as they were deemed time only for racing in a different division to the others.
Our youngest single sculler Catherine O'Riordan of Notting Hill and Ealing School, aged 12, won the fastest female sculler at the TSS Invitation Head racing against several of the TSS cadets to win her Easter Egg.
Meanwhile in the Womens' Head the Bradbury girls helped pull the TRC Novice first eight to a highly respectable 85 th place whilst a PHS/TRC composite crew went up 24 places to beat 40 adult crews, despite their aged Carbocraft and Macons! Well done and thanks to Charlotte Steel for coxing them.
In the Schools Head PHS sixteens came fourth in their Quads category and Thames 5 th and fifteenth in J15 and 14 girls quads. These three results should earn them places at the Junior Inter regional competition in April.
In March we will race at Teddington Sculls.
British Rowing Trials
(Saturday 7th February 2004)
Alison Knowles and Beth Rodford performed strongly to win the women's pairs division at the third British trials, beating strong pairs from University of London and Oxford University. Hopefully, this result should position them well for Under 23 selection in the summer. Also racing well were Emma James and Amanda Skailes who came fourth.
Details can be found on the Boston Rowing Club website.
Remenham Challenge
Remenham was a great success for the club once more this year and TRC were the clear Victor Ludorum. It was a superb effort by the crews involved and the support given by all was fantastic.
The women's squad completely dominated their events. The WI crew won by over a minute over the next non-TRC crew and the Women's novice A crew would have won the WI event were it not for the Thames boats in that event! It's great to see the squad so successful as a whole once again and proves that you can be an elite club by being the best at every level.
The men turned in a good performance with the ME boat being only 4 seconds behind a stacked London crew and even Reedie conceded that Thames rowed better - he actually thought Thames had won. The MI crews came 5 th and 7 th behind Molesey and LRC crews. The men's novice crew were excellent and came second in their race only 6 seconds behind the winning Molesey crew and beat, amongst others, the Kingston intermediate crew.
The veterans also won and the second veteran crew came 4th - the Treasurer maintained the veteran's reputation as the rowdy element of the club (and indeed largely created that reputation) by nastily booing any LRC crew he saw.
4 pennants out of 7 and 2 second places in the events we did not win is a brilliant result. Well Done.
Fours Head
The women were most successful in the event winning two pennants and getting
one second place and a share in another.
Mens' results were also pleasing and at least on a par with recent performances.
The only problem being what seems a very questionable decision to disqualify
the Thames/Oxford Brooks composite crew. This penalty is being appealed.
The veterans did commendably and won a further two pennants for the club
on Sunday. Bizarrely, despite eye witnesses who both saw them not only
finish, but also overtake crews AND beat John Robson, the results claim
Ted Wainman's boat did not finish. Again the result is being queried and
we expect his win as the only boat in VetA 4+ to be reinstated and the
comment corrected to "Has no finish".
Charlotte Steel replies:
Have read your race report I feel I need to defend my 'Slims' squad! Ted's
crew did beat Robbo's crew on absolute time by 17 secs, however Robbo was
racing Vet B (in fact only one year off VetC) and Ted Vet A - if the appropriate
veteran handicap system was used then Robbo's lot would have beaten Ted's
lot comfortably!!!!! So although they won their division as only entrants
they were actually beaten by 3 other older coxed crews - one of which was
us!
I.e. - Of more significance is the TRC Vet C crew (called ATACS) not only
comfortably won the C4+ division, but also beat the fastest C4- by 66 seconds
and Ted's crew by 31 seconds (with no handicap - for an age gap of at least
10 years!). Thus overall the Slims still reign supreme!!!!!!!!!!!
Pairs Head
Well done to all who took part in the most fun race of the year.
Congratulations especially to our pennant winners in what seems to have
been a strong year: the club again won 2 full pennants and had shares
in a third. Generally a strong performance was turned in by crews often
having had little practice in their combinations and in a couple of cases
using hastily borrowed equipment.
Winners
Women’s Elite 2Beth Rodford/Ali Knowles 1/3
Women’s Senior 2 2-Caroline Wood and Jen Ablitt 1/32
Women’s Vet 2x Pauline Rayner/ J Darling (Barnes Bridge) 1/8
Other results (order as they appeared on the web):
Men
Elite 2- Will Pressley, Paddy Ryan 2/6
S1 2- Simon Gillett/Richard Greenhous 8/18
S1 2- Hunter Trethaway/Andy Green 9/18
Senior 2 2x Mark Faure Walker, Denis Anscombe 6/12
S3 2x Neil Grennan-Heaven/Alex Brooks 3/35
Vet B 2- Eric Beinhocker/Cris Maby 3/6
S2 2- James Silk/Stephen Dooley 4/30
S2 2- Chris Swann/Tom Kier 19/30
Vet C/D 2- Chris George/N Keron 7/13
S3 2- Charles Kent/A Thomas 27/34
Women
Elite 2- Emma James/A Skailes (Globe) 2/3
S3 2x Lou Engel/Bumble 5/32
S3 2x Scottie/Sheena Cassidy 25/32
S3 2- Georgie Hollings/Iska Hain 4/10
Juniors
Junior 2x R Bradbury/A G Bradbury 7/14
if you have a race report, send it to the webmaster
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