Unofficially Thames Rowing Club

Head of the Charles 2009 (Kim Wells)

Whilst TRC men were racing to success on the Thames on the weekend of the 17/18^th October ’09 other members were competing over the pond at the Head of Charles regatta.  For one it was a return to a familiar stomping ground but for the juniors it was a grand first time adventure to the world’s largest head race.

Iain Pritchard had a busy trip, travelling primarily as a coach to a Westminster School 8+, but he also managed to notch up  4^th place in his own Grand Master singles event on the Saturday as well as spending Sunday rushing between launch sites to see Westminster and TRC/Putney High crews.  Iain had been coaching the PHS crews on the water over the past couple of months in the build up to this race.  Under their Thames affiliation the women’s youth double of Fiona Parker and Sadhbh O’Sullivan came 12^th of 30 and the coxed four of Lucy Edwards, Lily Beadle, Sally Hickey and Tara Wells with Sarah Illsley coxing came 14^th of 77.  See below for a report from Sally Hickey the PHS captain of rowing. There was also a gutsy scull by 15-year-old Cordelia Long (LYR/TRC/CRI) in the senior women’s lightweight singles event in the tough Sunday weather conditions.  A thank you too to Hannah for passing on some of her coxing knowledge for this tricky course.

Photos on http://www.row2k.com/hocr, http://www.sportgraphics and http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/intersport-images (Cordelia)

From Sally:

The Head of the Charles is the biggest race of the world; entered by the most experienced crews and steered by the most competent coxes, so it was understandable that Team Boston were a little nervous about race day considering the closest we had got to rowing internationally was Holme Pierrepont.

On the flight over some of us felt very lucky to be squeezed in between the Leander 1^st VIII, until the realisation that it wasn’t a good thing to be sitting next to 6ft 6+ men whose knees were brushing their ears and whose dietary requirements nearly reduced a hostess to tears (they ran out of food approximately two hours into a seven hour flight). However, nothing could have made this race more real, and after a further uncomfortable five hours we arrived at our hotel and settled down for a nap, dreaming about port, starboard and the weird way in which Americans pronounce ‘buoy’. Although our trip was quite short (Wednesday night to Sunday afternoon) we managed to cram a considerable amount of touristy trips into the weekend, comprising a tour of Harvard, tea at the Consulate and many, many shopping trips.

The conditions on Sunday were hardly perfect (driving rain, Arctic cold and even some snow), but we were spurred on with the knowledge that six and a half years of being hardened by the hideous conditions on the Tideway would give us a somewhat unfair advantage over our American counterparts (or put simply, we were used to rowing without feeling in our hands) and it did. Overall, the coxed IV of Lucy Edwards, Lily Beadle, Sally Hickey, Tara Wells and cox Sarah Illsley came 14^th out of 77 and the double of Fiona Parker and Sadhbh O’Sullivan came 12^th out of 30 (there was time for a chuckle when the announcer attempted to pronounce Sadhbh’s name, even though we wrote them a little p.s. describing that it rhymed with ‘live’). These results were an incredible way to start the year and would not have been possible without the time and patience of coaches Steve Baldwin and Thames’s own Iain Pritchard who put together an horribly intense, but obviously successful, training schedule.

Many thanks to Buckingham Browne and Nicholls for lending us one of their IVs, and to Weld boat house for lending us a brilliant double (squeaks of excitement were heard when the double saw the words ‘Fluid Design’ on their boat). We hope to repay the favour to BB&N by welcoming them to women’s  Henley next year.

This truly was an amazing trip enjoyed by all, and we will never forget the laughter, the tears, and Iain’s face during his race when he realised we had woken up at 6.30am to cheer him on.