An entertaining day’s racing for WBC at Evesham Head Race, both on and off the water…

Evesham Head took place at the end of November and saw a decent sized WBC entry of ten crews including three single scullers.

The event was split into morning and afternoon divisions with eight of the Warwick boats racing in the morning. There were mixed fortunes seeing Messers Le Tocq and Walmesley winning the Masters ‘G’ double sculls, pipping their ‘F’ competition from Evesham by 4 seconds. In the other close race of the division Andy Speechly (Masters ‘C’) came second to the Bridgnorth single sculler being beaten by just 6 seconds.

Other races saw Saul Wiggin and Olivia Carter have maiden single scull head race outings. Although beaten by Bangor and Evesham respectively the experience should set them up well for the rest of the Head season.

The coxed 4 categories were also hotly contested. The IM3 4+ of Watson, Hourigan, Hourigan and Wheeler (coxed by Sarah Heaven), although finishing slowest in the category, were only 14 seconds off of first place. Given a stroke seat malfunction, which saw them lose a substantial amount of time and momentum, they should be very much in contention for whatever event they enter next.

The Masters ‘D’ coxed 4 of Hodge, G Martin, Walsh, Murray coxed by Yana Vinagradova finished fifth of five however they were only 4 seconds off of the 3rd placed Evesham boat in a time of 18:40. The Masters ‘F’ crew (Rigby, Mordaunt, Holmes, Kennedy coxed by Alexx Parkin) finished between two Worcester crews in a time of 19:47, particularly impressive given that Mr. Rigby lost his top nut (not a euphemism) somewhere along the course!

Finishing off the morning’s racing, the Women’s IM3 4+ of Rachael Batho, Kate Evans, Jo Nurse and Lisa Brooks, coxed by Heather Yates, had to row a portion of the race in pairs given that Kate Evans sustained a broken wrist en-route. Who said non-contact sports weren’t dangerous? (Seems like an excessive way to get out of Head Season, but all wish Kate a speedy recovery!)

Unfortunately, the morning sun made way for a very windy and wet afternoon.

Not content with just a Mas ‘D’ 4+ trip in the morning, Ian Hodge and Andrew Walsh also competed in a mixed 4 in the afternoon alongside Mel Rose and Yana Vinogradova (coxed by Tanya Podinovskaia). After obviously having used the morning division as a warm up, the crew stormed to victory in 19:35 in a new course record, beating the Evesham crew by a minute and a half and setting out early intentions for this year’s Victor Ludorum.

The final race of the day was the Open IM2 4+ made up of two Bridgenorth crews, Bewdley and Warwick (Tonkin, Collett, Cheel, Bailey, coxed by Ali Tonkin). The Warwick crew had a good race, looking to build on 4’s Head / Vet 4’s Head run outs earlier in the month, but lost valuable seconds to a slow moving quad in the ‘no overtaking zone’. Overall the Warwick crew finished 7th quickest of the day (out of 68 boats) in a time of 16:43 however only placed 3rd in the category.

Despite some avant garde virtual boat loading after racing had finished, a good day was had by all.