The 2016/17 season kicked off on Sunday with the Pairs Head. The river was in a tricky mood for both competitors and marshals, with a strong flood tide running and a southerly breeze. Pete and Mirko in MSen.2- rowed the course from Harrods to Chiswick Marina in 15:36, which was the club's fastest time on the day. Brad and Les carved through the MMasE.2x field to take their pennant by just 0.4 seconds. The other Sons crews generally performed respectably as did the seven entries from City of Cambridge. The sun came out and the club was buzzing with home entries, visiting crews, dinghy sailorsand spectators.
Sons is looking for experienced female rowers who want to join the squad with the aim of racing at Henley Women’s Regatta 2017. This season the squad produced a crew that qualified for the Invesco Challenge Cup for Club Eights at HWR and progressed to the quarter finals.
Looking ahead to 2016/2017 season we are keen to build on this and get more boats competing. We are looking for strong motivated rowers who are willing to put in the work. The training program will be a mixture of on-the-water training, ergo and weights that can fit in with a busy work schedule.
Our coach is an ex-international rower with more than 30 years of experience. For those with less experience and maybe less time to train we also have an intermediate women’s squad. Our fleet includes brand new Hudson and Wintech boats. Interested? Come and say hello at the club house or contact us on enquiries@sonsrowing.com
Ed, Brad, Les and Bruce cruised serenely to the MasE.4x final at Henley Masters but were then well beaten by a Newark / Hollingworth Lake composite.
The veteran men (aka the breakfast club) have been working hard on their sculling technique this season with coaching from Katie & Kate in the winter and Sam in recent weeks. Our MasD and MasE crews have on occasion achieved a common and efficient style that makes them hard to beat. Unfortunately, the Henley final was a tense race in choppy water so that long ingrained faults and quirks of self-taught technique resurfaced. This was disappointing but the overall performance was a step up on previous years, thanks in no small measure to the efforts of the coaches.
Sons entered three events in the British Masters Rowing Championships at Holme Pierrepont. The weather gods had laid on heavy rain showers for the weekend, perhaps with the Queen's outdoor birthday party in mind. Conditions were nevertheless good for sculling and the regatta was as sociable as ever. Ed sculled 1000m in under 4 minutes but that was not good enough to qualify for the final in a strong M.D.1x field. Bruce, Les, Ed and Dave then came 4th in the M.E.4x final, a disappointment having beaten two of the medallists in the qualifying heat. Les and Andrew comfortably won the M.D.IM3.2x final. Among old friends, Rory narrowly missed bronze in an Agecroft M.D.4+ and Hugo took silver in M.F.4x for Star Club.
Sons entered 2 crews from their Mens squad at Barnes & Mortlake, a local regatta organised by their upriver neighbours at Mortlake Anglian & Alpha. This involved a particularly early start for the Hammersmith contingent (boating before 7am!) for Mat, Dave, Nic, and Greg and last-minute substitute cox Peter Horton (coming to the rescue of our crews once again!).
The IM3 4+ race involved some of this season's regulars from the men's squad but was a relatively scratch crew having never rowed in this configuration in a 4+. Although they showed that they could get off to a clean start and almost achieve clear water a third into the race, their Vesta rivals were determined not to give up and slowly ate it into that gap. As much as the old saying is to "get ahead from the start so you can see your competition", it's never enjoyable to see your rivals gradually come back at you and just inch past you on the line. (Nothing that a few more water sessions couldn't have helped for future races!) Verdict: A canvas for Vesta over Sons of the Thames
Greg raced in a straight final in IM3 1x and finally managed to get his second sculling point, almost exactly 7 years, to the day, after the first one.
After a strong start he almost had clear water but the experience and skill of his Quintin rival started to show through and with some serious cheering from squad members, he just about managed to hold on. All this despite some particularly dodgy steering towards the finish... Verdict: 1/4 length
Sons sent a strong entry to Twickenham on 28 May. Crews and spectators enjoyed fine weather, good racing conditions and club wins in four events. The M.IM1.4- raced above their status but nevertheless performed respectably. The scullers found steering difficult on a tricky course in a crosswind but coped well enough to bring home the pots for M.IM3.1x, M.MasD.4x and M.MasD.2x. The highlight for Sons was the commanding win for the W.IM3.8+ over East Anglia University in the last final of the day.
SONS OF THE THAMES IM3 CREW COME HOME WITH A COMMANDING LEAD OVER UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA
An unsatisfactory win for Ed in Vet D 1x, after a first round on very rough water on the flood tide. With a flooded footwell it was a relief to pass under Hammersmith Bridge and find slightly calmer waters. The final, in the afternoon involved 45 minutes of waiting in the boat, which apparently gave time for the organizers from Auriol and Kensington to go and look for the other competitor at Putney Town RC, the rules about late arrivals apparently having been waived. It was finally decided that Mr Journeaux definitely wasn't coming and the resulting row over past the club somehow lacked the excitement of side by side racing. The women's eight narrowly lost to St Paul's. Half a length up approaching the bridge, our women had the outside of the Hammersmith bend, and couldn't hold off St Pauls in really awful water, but were comfortably ahead of Putney Town.
You spend years waiting for a shiny new Hudson, and then four arrive at once. His and hers fours and pairs.
Originally intended to simply spur crews to do long distance winter training, the Eights Head of the River Race has become a highly prestigious race in its own right, attracting overseas competitors and elite crews. Held at around the same time as the University Boat Race, it gives club rowers a chance to compete over the course made famous by global TV coverage. When you're based at Hammersmith, that course is the back yard which always gives confidence in dealing with rough water. The Sons of the Thames crew had a long wait to start, but picked up over 100 places to finish in the top 200. In contrast to recent years, conditions were quite good. The race was won for the first time by Oxford Brookes University.
There were summery conditions yesterday for the Quintn Head - or the start of it anyway. Five Sons eights took part with a decent result for the best of our men's crews, which placed sixth out of 24 in the IM3 division.
