Curlew is a rowing club in East London and is open to all ages and abilities. Although very successful, with crews at Henley for 10 of the last 11 years, we pride ourselves on our friendly and welcoming atmosphere.
Our brilliant double - Elizabeth and Emma - had been training tirelessly to compete in the Nat Champs, and were only mildly daunted by the thought of lining up against Debbie Flood and partner (amongst others) in the W2x on Saturday.
Come their big day, owing to a few last-minute withdrawals, the programme of racing had changed and there were now only going to be two heats, with the first two from each each heat going through to the final on Sunday afternoon and the next two from each heat having to duke it out in a repechage on Sunday morning. In the second heat on Saturday, Mortlake, Anglian and Alpha (Elizabeth and Emma’s nemesis from HWR) started at a blistering pace and won comfortably, with IC/UT second and Curlew just pipped by Henley into fourth. This wasn’t ideal, but our ladies had set themselves up with a shot at getting into the final via the repechage on Sunday morning.
As they paddled up to the start on Sunday morning, the starter lined them up, announced that the first three would go through to the final and called “Attention ... GO!”. Safe in the knowledge that a win wasn’t required, Elizabeth and Emma were only concerned with keeping one crew behind them and saving themselves for the afternoon’s final; with a lead of 8 seconds over Wallingford at 500m, this looked like a fait accompli. So our ladies weren’t disappointed to see Rob Roy head off to take the win, and although Curlew’s sprint cut Henley’s margin to 1.4s over them rather than taking them past Henley, they knew that by beating Wallingford they had done enough to qualify for the final that afternoon.
However their nervous anticipation soon turned to horror as they were informed that the starter had made a mistake and only the top two from the repechage would go through. Elizabeth and Emma could only look on as the final (robbed of Curlew’s presence) was a thrilling affair, Henley being overhauled in the final 500m by the eventual winners Leander (featuring the aforementioned Olympian). An enormous shame for the ladies, and not a fitting end to a cracking season. Full results are on the Nat Champs website - race 372 on Saturday and race 520 on Sunday.
As an idyllic day dawned on the market town of Sudbury (and I know it dawned - I had to leave really early to get there for my first race) Curlew girded its loins and prepared to race over a 650m course that looked easily wide enough to fit two crews racing side by side ... if they both drew in their blades on both sides.
We had arrived with some hope that a scratch coxed four might be able to use its early races to get in some practice so that it wouldn’t be entirely scratch by the time it came to the final, but hubris smacked us in the chops: an early exploration of the riparian wildlife was so thorough that David Bellamy would have approved; unfortunately it left our rudder fatally entangled with weed and the IM3.4+ was beaten “easily” by the host club.
An hour later at 10am the novice ladies stepped up to the plate and faced down their local(-ish) opponents the Lea. A snappy start gave our W.Nov.4+ the lead and they never relinquished it, crossing the line three-quarters of a length up and winning themselves a place in the final.
However in the meantime there was a mixed eight to be raced: after much discussion (but little thought, apparently) we decided to put the men in the stern and the ladies in the bow, and to adopt an innovative, free-moving footplate system for the men that allowed us to use our adequately-sized shoes from the IV at the expense of being able to fix them to the VIII. Ah well, we live and learn.
Our opponents, the OULRC and OUWLRC development squads rowing under the banner Nepthys/Tethys seemed to have engaged in some decidedly underhand behaviour and actually trained together as a mixed crew. Still this didn't put us off as we rowed up to the start. What actually put us off was the speedboat-esque appearance of the Ray Cassidy as our bows were easily clear of the water, but our stern was so far submerged that our cox was seriously evaluating how best to bail out if it should come to that.
After much time spent aligning the crews, the starter realised that there was no way that two VIIIs would ever fit down the course side by side so called “Attention ... GO!”. Fortunately our impeccable manners saved the situation and we let Nepthys/Tethys proceed down the course a little over a length ahead of us. They went on to win again until they met an impolite Broxbourne crew in the final who forgot to make way for the Oxford dev squads.
While the men were now able to sample the lunchtime hog roast and the local tipple, the ladies had more work to do. The showdown with Poplar in the final of the W.Nov.4+ saw two crews who were both expecting to lose their novice status - and with not a little local rivalry to boot. Still, our ladies’ excellent start was enough to keep them ahead of an ever-gaining Poplar crew ... or was it? After an agonising wait, the umpires saw sense and awarded our girls their hard-fought and well-deserved win (by a canvas - the closest margin of the day.)
Thanks to Sudbury for putting on a good regatta (although we’ve submitted our petition for the river to be widened for next year), to Lois and Stuart for very kindly hauling our trailer, and to the Curlews who made their way out to rural Essex - some to return with pots, others just with full bellies (and a very sharp haircut, Barney.) Some photos are now up on the photos page and the full results are up on the Sudbury website.
Crews:
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Venimus, vidimus, vicimus ... well, at least a bit.
The two-day festival of rowing at Oxford City dawned and it looked like the rowing gods were smiling on Curlew: we had packed all the right equipment into the trailer (nice one Sparra, Nick and Cornelia), we had a fit and healthy squad, the sun was shining and there was plenty of racing ahead of us - 7 different boat classes over 1100m on Saturday (plus a Quart Sprint Eights over 350m at lunchtime) and 6 classes over the 500m course on Sunday.
First up was the IM3.4+ which put a couple of lengths of clear water over Llandaff but were then beaten by Wolfson, the eventual winners. In the W.IM3.4+ the ladies fought hard all the way down the course but were pipped by half a length by Reading. The IM1.4- was ahead when it was judged to have driven its opponents into the bank, resulting in disqualification - a shame since it seemed to be the fastest IV around.
Meanwhile the all-star mixed quad (which, along with a mixed coxed four event and mixed eights on Sunday, was part of a Mixed Medley jamboree with the prize of four new blades to the overall winners) polished off Oxford City Juniors - “with several junior internationals in the crew” we were repeatedly informed - and a Kingston Composite as if they’d beeen practising for this all season.
At lunchtime, the men showed where their focus had lain throughout the summer, by vanquishing all comers in three thrilling Eli.8+ sprint races - earning them the biggest pots of the day. Unfortunately the sprint racing took its toll and they could only draw out a single victory over Reading in the IM3.8+ before succumbing to HSBC. The rest of the afternoon was similarly downbeat (you can’t win ’em all) with a couples’ mixed 4+ losing to those pesky Oxford City Juniors in the Mixed Medley and the women’s novice four being beaten by a decent-looking Oxford City crew in the W.Nov.4+.
The two-pint pots didn’t bode well for the evening, and the men could have been part of a poster-campaign for “Don’t drink and row” on the Sunday morning, losing to our nemesis HSBC in the opening round of the IM3.4+. Meanwhile the ladies drew out a tight win over Bristol City in the W.IM3.4+ before being pipped in the closest race of the day (verdict: a canvas) by Oxford Academicals in the semi-final.
The four events in the Sunday afternoon were mixed: the W.Nov.4+ never lost touch but were squeezed out by Oxford Academicals, while the men suffered a slight crew deficiency (Rikki was running around Oxford like a headless chicken searching for the boathouse) and the scratch crew couldn’t hold off Reading in the Nov.4+. Happily, the “loveboat” (Murat and Emma in the mixed double) was far enough ahead of Fuzzy Duck that they still won pots despite Emma’s crab at the finish line.
Meanwhile the Mixed Medley hung in the balance - whoever won the mixed eight would walk off with the new set of blades. So Curlew shook off their hangovers and sallied forth to slay the Mixed Medley dragon. First to enter the arena was Oxford Academicals: they fought hard but were sent on their way. Next up was HSBC: we were fast; they were furious. Only the Kingston Composite stood between Curlew and new blades, but the lethal combination of Murat’s dance routine and Curlew’s speed finished them off.
All in all a great way to finish the season - lots of wins over the weekend and a cracking prize in the Mixed Medley. Well done to everyone and thanks to: Oxford City for hosting a good regatta (full results), all of our supporters (your cheering was invaluable) and all of the steadfast Curlews who rowed, coxed and generally made the weekend go well. Bring on next season!
Crews:
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