Results
Nottingham City Regatta
On a windy saturday morning Burton Leander made the short journey over to the National Water Sports Centre to compete in the Nottingham City Regatta. First race of the day was for Jonah Jones in mens Novice singles and stamped out a strong performance in his heat, finishing with the fastest time of all heats putting him straight through to the final. Unfortunately due to illness his performance was affected in the final coming home sixth a little off the pace but still a good performance in his first singles competition held over 2000 metres. Next off were the mens lightweight fours final with the crew consisting of Andy Stonehouse (Stroke), James Walsh, Rob Jephcote and Matt Isard(bow) the crew had a poor start and were a clear length down on the rest of the field at the 250m mark but they soon dug in and by 1000m in were up to second position. Unfortunatly leaving themselves too much to do to get back on terms with Loughborough Students that beat them by 5 seconds.
Racing in the afternoon division were the mens senior 2 coxless 4's of Ben Collins (stroke), Gary Tulley, Gary Smith and Liam Rose(Bow) and also the lightweight 4 which raced earlier in the day. The conditions proved too much for the lightweight crew finishing 5th in their heat. The heavy weight crew had a good start and were in 2nd position at 500m hoping to hold their position to go through to the final. A poor 3rd 500 meant that they dropped to 4th and narrowly missed out on the final but still showed potential for the coming regatta season.
Leicester Regatta
Another successful day was had at Leicester Regatta with the first two wins of the regatta season. First win of the day coming from Jonah Jones and Alex Ganley following the previous days success at inter-regionals to win J16 double sculls in an all Burton final against fellow club mates Chris Duffill and Mitch Howard. The second win of the day coming from Ben Collins and Liam Rose in senior 3 double sculls bringing Ben his first sculling pot in his first sculling competition. Well done to all the juniors that competed at what was for many their first event and good luck to everyone for the rest of the regatta season.
Junior Inter-Regional Regatta
The Inter - regional rowing championships held at Nottingham's Holme Pierrepont saw two of the club's juniors bring home silver medals, after competing against high level competition, and in difficult weather conditions.
Conditions were deemed to be too bad for the competitors to race in single or double sculls, so representing the East Midlands region, Leander's Alex Ganley and Michael Jones were chosen to compete in the Junior 16 coxed quadruple sculls event, alongside two juniors from Newark Boat Club. Never having raced together prior to the event, the crew performed excellently and bought back with them silver medals - just rewards for their winter training, and a promising start to the new season.
South Yorkshire Head
Burton Leander made a successful start to the 2008 Head Race season, with three wins at the South Yorkshire Head on Saturday 16th February.
In chilly conditions, crews raced 3000 metres upstream on the River Don in Doncaster. The Stapenhill Road club’s Mens Senior 3 eight, comprising Rob Jephcote (stroke), Chris Matthews, Ben Collins, Liam Rose, Andy Stonehouse, James Walsh, Graham Wright and Matt Isard, coxed by Clare Jephcote, completed the course in the second fastest recorded time of the day. The only crew to complete the course faster was the elite quadruple scull from York City R.C.
Four of the eight rowers then doubled their tally for the day with victory in the Mens Senior 3 fours event. Stonehouse (stroke), Walsh, R Jephcote and Isard, coxed by C Jephcote, won their event in another impressive time.
C Jephcote completed her hat-trick of wins as cox as the club’s Womens Senior 4 four of Abigail Grief (stroke), Rachel Bradford, Hayley McAdam and Danni Smith won their event and, in the process, rounded off a most successful day at the club’s first Head Race of the year.
English Indoor Rowing Championships
Fiona Brown brought home the clubs first medal of 2008 racing in the 50-59 lwt event in Manchester. Fiona had a good race which resulted in her bringing home a silver medal.
The Burton Head
The inaugural Burton Head Race was held on Sunday 28th October, and saw 97 rowing crews from around the country compete on the River Trent in Burton.
Raced over 3500 metres downstream, and finishing at the Ferry Bridge, weather conditions were wet and windy for the morning division, but improved for the second batch of races in the afternoon. Competitors travelled to the event from towns and cities including Burton, Derby, Leicester, Stoke on Trent, Bewdley and Nottingham, and the overall standard of rowing was high. Boat categories varied from Senior eights to Veteran and Junior Under 15 single scullers. The two local clubs were both successful, with Leander winning five events, and Trent two.
The fastest category of the day saw crews from Bewdley and Burton Leander dead heat in a time of 11 minutes and 3 seconds, in the Mens Senior 2 coxless 4 event. Leander's crew comprised Andy Stonehouse, Ben Collins, Gary Tulley and club captain Rob Jephcote. Leander's Richard Clarke teamed up with his regular Hollingworth Lake rowing partner to win the Mens Senior 2 pairs event in a time of 12 minutes 47 seconds. The Veteran Single sculls event saw good competition between Leander's Graham Withers and Ken Moore, with Moore being awarded the medal via a handicapping system that takes into account the ages of the competitors. Leander's ladies also collected medals, with victory in both the Womens Novice eight, and Womens Senior 4 fours categories. Medal winners included Fiona Brown, Sophie Archer, Charlotte Anderson, Resi Harris, Daniella Smith, Ashley Maxwell, Amber Robertson, Laura Bradford, Rachel Bradford, Ella Willott, Hayley McAdam, Abigail Grief and Clare Jephcote.
Nottingham Autumn Head
Burton Leander Rowing Club made a successful start to the new season of Head races, with victory in two events at the Nottingham Autumn Head Race. The race, held over 3850 metres on the River Trent in Nottingham, saw entries from around the country compete in timed events. Leander's mens Senior 3 eight, of Rob Jephcote, Chris Thai, Ben Collins, Liam Rose, Andy Stonehouse, Ian Watkinson, Matt Isard and James Walsh, coxed by Amy Seaber, won their event in a time of 12 minutes 53 seconds, the third fastest time of the day and 19 seconds faster than their nearest rivals, Nottingham RC. Representing the clubs ladies, Abigail Grief, Rachel Bradford, Hayley McAdam and Danni Smith, coxed by Clare Jephcote, won the womens Senior 4 event in a time of 15 minutes 3 seconds, 20 seconds faster than the second placed Nottingham RC crew, and 5 seconds faster than a Nottingham - based women's Senior 4 eight. The club's Junior 16 men's crew of Alex Ganley, Michael Jones, Mitchell Howard and Chris Duffill raced well in the men's Novice quadruple sculls event, but came home second behind a St Peter's School crew.
The Boston Marathon
Bringing about the closure of the regatta season and start of winter training Burton Leander made a trip to Boston to compete in the 31 mile marathon. Three crews were entered into the event, Abi Grief and Hayley McAdam racing in Senior 3 womens doubles finishing second in their event in a time of 5 hours 14 minutes. Alex Ganely, 'Jonah' Jones, Chris Duffill and Mitch Howard in Junior 16 quadruple sculls finished in a time of 4 hours and last but one boat off for the day the mens senior 3 8 consisting of Rob Jephcote, Matt Isard, Ben Collins, Liam Rose, Andy Stonehouse, Bewdley Ben, Mikey Wilcox and James Walsh holding an average rate of 31 strokes a minute the crew finished in a time of 3 hours 40 after overtaking all but one of the other 8's by the time they got to the lock.
Bristol, Ross Bank Holiday Weekend
The August Bank Holiday weekend traditionally sees the slowing down of the regatta season for all rowing clubs, but with it brings good competition in the form of regattas at Gloucester, Bristol and Ross on Wye. Burton Leander rowers continued to add more wins to a season which has bought some excellent results, despite many events being cancelled through the poor weather.
Unable to compete at Gloucester due to an exceptionally high level of entries, the Stapenhill Road club took a number of crews to Bristol, to race over a 500 metre course on Sunday 26th August. Success came in both the Mens and Womens Senior 4 coxed fours events. The womens' crew of Abigail Grief, Hayley McAdam, Danni Smith and Rachel Bradford, coxed by Rosie Winter, defeated their opponents in their final by 3 lengths. Not wishing to be outdone, their male counterparts of Mike Wilcox, Ben Collins, Matt Field - Lucas and James Walsh, coxed by Rob Jephcote, also won their event, with a slightly narrower verdict of 1 length.
Monday's racing took place on the River Wye in Ross. Bradford and Smith doubled their trophy tally for the weekend with an 'easy' verdict in the final of the Womens Novice double scull event. Jephcote added to his coxing trophy from Bristol with a 1 1/2 length win alongside Jo Coldicott in the Open Mixed double sculls final. The final win of the day came in the Mens Senior 4 eights event, when Wilcox, Walsh, Collins and Field - Lucas joined forces with Liam Rose, Alex Ganley, Oliver Foulds and Dave Bartram, coxed by Winter, to bring home the silverware with a 1 1/2 length victory in their final.
Stourport RegattaBurton Leander Rowing Club collected seven more wins at the Stourport Sprint regatta on Sunday - adding to two from the previous day's events, and to an impressive tally for the season. The two day regatta, held on the River Severn at Stourport, is one of the last regattas of a season that has been hard hit by cancellations due to the bad weather. Competition is generally of a high standard, with racing over 1100 metres on Saturday, and 500 metres on Sunday.
Saturday's wins were provided by Michael Jones, who defeated his opposition from Llandaff in the final of the Junior 15 single sculls event, and to Abigail Grief and Jo Coldicott who won the Womens' Senior 4 double sculls final. Coldicott narrowly lost out in the final of the single sculls, defeating local rival Gemma Barker from Trent RC in the first round of the event.
Coldicott went one stage better on Sunday, with victory in the Womens' Novice single sculling competition, once again defeating Barker in the first round, before rowing over to collect the trophy when her final opposition failed to race. Pot number three for Coldicott came for coxing the Mens four of Ben Collins, James Walsh, Gary Tully and Gary Smith to victory in the Senior 4 event. Tully and Smith then went on to compete in the Mens Senior 2 fours event, alongside Simon Ludlow and Rob Jephcote, coxed by Alex Ganley. Having defeated host club Stourport BC in the first round of the event, they initially dead - heated with Hereford in the final, but won the re - row by one length to collect the silverware. Ganley then partnered Jones to comfortably win the Junior 15 double sculls event, defeating Reading and a Stourport / Bewdley composite crew in the process. In the Womens Junior 18 double sculls event, Grief joined forces with Rachel Bradford to claim victory for Leander. Liam Rose won the Junior sculling event - defeating Ross RC in a straight final, by a margin of 2 lengths. One of the day's highlights came in the Mens Senior 4 eights event as Leander's eight, of Mike Wilcox, Rose, Collins, Andy Stonehouse, Matt Field - Lucas, Dave Bartram, Oliver Foulds and Walsh, coxed by Clare Jephcote, defeated Worcester RC in the first round, before beating Pengwern by one length in the final to produce the final victory of the weekend. Losing finalists for Sunday included Jones, whose Llandaff rival from Saturday sought revenge with the narrowest margin of 2 feet in their repeat confrontation in the Junior 15 event; Graham Withers who lost in the final of the Veteran E single sculls event, having comfortably defeated his Quintin BC competition in the first round; and last, but not least Leander's Mens Novice 4 of Wilcox, Field - Lucas, Foulds and Bartram, coxed by Rosie Winter, who won their first round before losing a well fought final against local rivals Trent RC.
The national championships of Great Britain saw more success for Burton Leander this weekend with Ashleigh Prestidge winning bronze in mens open single sculls. Narrowly missing out on bronze by a canvas in open mens quadruple scull of Simon Ludlow, Andy Stonehouse, Richard Clarke and Rob Jephcote. Other notable performances came in the junior 15 coxed quad, who finished 9th in a time trial caused by the bad weather on Friday. The girls junior 18 quadruple scull missed out on the final and did not progress past the repechage.
Loughborough Regatta
A strong performance was shown by the mens sweep squad at the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham. The Novice mens 8 romped home 12 seconds ahead of second place Nottingham Trent a strong performance from a newly formed crew hoping for some more wins over the coming months. The second trophy of the day was won by the mens senior 3 crew at their second regatta. The crew hard a hard battle with Demontfort University all the way to the line and although in front all the way down the course won by 0.9 seconds.
Junior Inter Regional Regatta
The regatta season got off to a wonderful start for Burton Leander - with a medal in the Junior Inter-regional Regatta for the club's junior boys, and a tally of eight wins from Leicester Regatta. After the disappointing head race season, which saw almost all the longer distance races cancelled through bad weather conditions, the regatta season could not have started better for the Stapenhill Road based club. Saturday saw the annual Junior Inter Regional Regatta at the National Water Sports Centre, Holme Pierrepont, Notts. The Amateur Rowing Association's 12 regions compete in various junior events, and race over a distance of 1500 metres on the centre's 6 laned course. Leander's J15 boys coxed quadruple sculls crew, comprising Chris Duffill, Michael Jones, Mitchell Howard and Sam Padbury, coxed - loudly - by Simon Duffill, represented the East Midlands Region, and won their qualifying heat to go through to the final, in which they won the event's bronze medal, finishing closely behind the silver medal winning Eastern region. It was the first time the crew had raced together competitively, with Padbury sitting in for the crew's regular member, Alex Ganley - the result being therefore even more praiseworthy.
Gold, Silver & Bronze - National Championships 2006
The weekend of 15th - 17th July brought huge success for Burton Leander Rowing Club - who returned from the National Championships with gold, silver and bronze medals. Leander's gold came for Ashley Prestidge, who led throughout the race, and won the final of the Open Under 23 Sculls event by a comfortable margin - his closest opposition coming from Molesey BC, who came home over 6 seconds slower than Prestidge's time of 7 minutes 19 seconds. Silver came for Liam Rose, who - despite finishing just one second outside the previous course record for his event - lost to his Nottingham Schools Rowing Association rival, George Caines, by seven seconds. Rose and Caines - gold medal winning double scull partners a week ago in France - had remained in close proximity through much of early part of the race, but on this occasion the local sculler had to settle for silver. Ironically, if Rose had posted his finish time of 7 minutes 41 seconds in the final of the Under 18 single sculls event, rather than Under 16, his time would have given him the gold medal. The bronze medal was won for Leander by the Open Double Sculls crew of Simon Ludlow and Rob Jephcote. Racing shortly after having competed in the final of the Open Quad Sculls event, alongside Andy Stonehouse and Matt Isard, Ludlow and Jephcote raced to bronze behind Glasgow University BC and Liverpool Victoria RC. Although there were no medals for the quad, nor for the club's Junior 14 double sculling partnership of Alex Ganley and Chris Duffill, just to have reached the Championship was a huge acheivement. This acheivement, and the medals received, are just reward for the hard work put in by the scullers themselves, and their coaches - Ray Jones, Bob Laver and Terry Roe.
