Photo credit: Jonathan Ogilvie Fotografie
The Early Rounds
The day started off with a time trial and in similar fashion to last year, Skoll finished over a second ahead of their predicted competition, Triton. The top four crews – Skoll, Triton, Laga and Nereus – then comfortably moved through the heats, establishing their place in the semifinals. It was here that the drama began; Nereus and Skoll, the local rivals, lined up for their semifinal. While Nereus were in a development year, bringing younger athletes into the top group, Skoll had stacked their boat with all their top rowers, including those who recently competed at Paris. However, even with this advantage, it seems they are making a pattern of going too hard and too early. At the finish line, Nereus led by a canvas and sent Skoll home early again for the second year in a row. Laga could not conquer Triton and would therefore take on Skoll in the B-final.
In the club racing, the crews went through three rounds of time trials with De Hoop even relaxing in their second round, finishing 27 seconds behind the front runner. Nevertheless, the semifinal saw De Hoop finish first, followed by Willem III, London and Spaarne.
The Finals
The student event saw Triton and Nereus come together for the final round of the 2024 Amstel Beker. With a slight headwind, Triton won by an eye-watering 0.3 seconds in a very close race down the course. This was surely a disappointing result for Nereus, the defending champions, but not for nothing as they still managed to finish the day with the fastest time of 1:56:0. In the club event, the final saw Henley rivals, De Hoop Vs London Rowing Club. Having ventured over from the UK, London were seeking a statement but fighting an uphill battle as De Hoop have a strong history on their home water. The summer had clearly been kinder to London though, who walked through De Hoop and won by 1.6 seconds.
The day ended in the most exciting manner, with London Rowing Club racing student winners from Triton. In fitting with the rules, London would receive a corrected time of 1.6 seconds. From the get-go, they stormed out the gates and beat Triton on raw time by 0.4 seconds.
As the curtain fell, so began the 2024/25 racing season. Crews will be more ready than ever now, working into the long winter to prepare themselves for better results in the summer.
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