A very close race race throughout most of the course.

London rowed hard on the Surrey station to negate the Thames advantage around the first bend to Barnes, a feat that Thames managed to equal around the outside of the long bend which was to London’s advantage.

By the end of Chiswick Eyot Thames had a slight lead.

From this point in the race, as in any Tideway fixture, the coxes had a huge role to play. As they fought for the best line there was some clashing and shouting between the crews, but if anything the events interrupted the rhythm of Thames I rather than offer any particular advantage.

From Harrods in the race was all but over earning Thames their first Boustead win in five years.

This weekend the first 8 took on two boat from Molesey which should make up their 2nd and 3rd boats at the the HORR. They race three 2000m fixed rate pieces at Dorney and came out with a clean sweep of wins.

Next?

Kingston Head.

 Thames Cup Eights

 The club’s top crew was racing in Senior Eights and after a slow start they rowed through to win their heat in the second fastest time of 5:50 giving then direct qualification for their final. Sadly they were not able to repeat this performance in the final but learnt some important lesson and gained qualification for HRR.

 The second eight raced in IM2 Eights and unfortunately did not progress past the heats. They will now be focussing on the Henley qualifiers this Friday evening.

 Britannia Coxed Fours

 The top 4+ impressed by rowing past London RC in the last 500m to win their heat and progress to the semi. They finished a close 4^th in their next race and missed a place in the final by 0.4 seconds. The crew were disappointed but seemed pretty happy the following morning when they learned they had pre-qualified for HRR. Congrats to Andy and Jonathan who are currently ‘Henley virgins’.

 Wyfold Coxless Four

 The top 4- raced in the Senior event and raced well in their heat finishing second, but with only one through to the final they headed to the rep where they qualified comfortably. They final produced some fast times and Thames fought on securing yet another crew’s place at HRR.

 Visitor’s Coxless Four

 Racing in a composite crew with the Army and London this crew has finalised its line up fairly late in the season. Their heat was their first race together and put them in the rep with the top two straight through to the final. The next race was fairly easy as only two crew turned up at the start with both getting a place in the final. The final proved to be their best effort of the day finishing 3^rd, turning over crews from Leander and CUBC along the way. By Sunday lunchtime the Steward’s had also decided to pre-qualify this crew for HRR.

The Junior Men’s squad was also represented with Harry racing hard in the single fighting through to his rep, and a composite quad with Westminster School qualifying for the final in a tough event

Mehdi sustains an injury to his right leg whilst holding massive cup

A promising weekend for the Men’s squad as the coaches continue to ‘test the water’ with different combinations.

Saturday started well with many crews winning their heats. The IM1 4- finished second in their final to Bedford’s Star Club, and the IM1 8+ finished 4th in tight finish with Upper Thames and Star & Arrow (aka Leander). The composite Thames/Army Elite 4- also finished 4th with a bit more work ahead of them.

Sunday proved to be more fruitful, and started again with plenty of heat wins. The IM2 8+ finished second in their final to Brookes, a different IM1 8+ finshed 4th again (ahead of Vesta’s top 8). The IM1 4+ produced what Chris George described as ‘an EPIC row’ to finish second in their final behind a tasty Reading Uni crew (ineligible for the Brit at HRR). The ‘ creme de la creme’ were Ben, Anthony, Mehdi and Fit Si (IM1 4-) who dominated their event to win the Old Goring Cup and a firm shake of the hand.

Who knows what the coaches next move will be? Watch this space….

For other results visit http://www.metregatta.org/

So to the race…

Storm Johanna abated briefly. Starting ahead of Reading University 1, a respectable (if weakened) World Class Start centre, we figured that holding them could put us in a top 25 finishing position. Plan A went well until about Harrods – where the deafening support from Thames women may well have frightened the Men into submission. The last 2km was not pretty, and Reading pushed on, almost overlapping by the Black Buoy.

All in all, a strong first two-thirds, with expensive lessons for the future to be learned from Hammersmith.

The 2^nd eight were quite disappointed with their row, and the 3^rd fought on bravely in difficult circumstances. Some commented that their result gave them a clear picture of where they stood, and hoped to be built upon during camp.

Special mention should be given to the novices, who managed to squeeze past the 3^rd eight.

1^st Eight
Cox A.Watson
Str – B. Hoffman D.Davies M.Patterson A.Bowling I. Barclay O. Gill S. Challen R. Burdett

2nd Eight
Cox Aiden
Str – P. Martin I. Pritchard P. Seddon D. Shaw A. Hall J. Mee J. Moore J. Christiansen

3rd Eight
Cox A. Christiansen
Str – C. Blacklock P. Golding J. Cowie P. Longstaff C. Martin P. Homsey S. Dawkins N. Mahon