Although we all race to win, most who took to the water at yesterday’s Pairs Head of the River were simply pleased to be there. After a flurry of early-season cancellations that bore the hallmarks of last year’s mishmash of a head racing calendar, you could be forgiven for thinking that there simply would be no opportunity to race before April. There was an obnoxious and relentless nature to the rain that fell in the last half of September, scuppering Wallingford Long Distance Sculls and Reading Small Boats Head amongst others.
The organising committee at Barnes Bridge Ladies were not to be foiled though. Over 300 boats took to a relatively placid Thames to give us one of our first indications of ranking order as we tear headlong into another long winter.
At the business end of proceedings, Greenbank Falmouth collected a historic headship as the fastest boat on the course, edging out City of Oxford by a mere 0.1 seconds. These two created a seven-second gap on third place, where Hereford Rowing Club took the open intermediate double title. Of particular satisfaction was that the top three crews on display were not from the traditional powerhouse programs and spread neatly across the western half of the UK.
The fastest junior combinations of the day for both open and women came from Leander Club and Wycliffe College Boat Club respectively, who are no strangers to competing at the top of those trees. The pink palace – who had an off season in 2024 relative to their exceptionally high standards – will have been delighted to place two boats inside the top three.
London Rowing Club had an excellent day out on home water, recording fourth, ninth, tenth and 15th-placed finishes, including collecting positions one and two in the open championship pair. Pleasingly for that program, their top two pairs were separated by less than a second.
Alex Partridge and James Cracknell – who has just taken on the reigns at Vesta Rowing Club, were 13th fastest overall, winning the Masters C pairs category whilst representing Upper Thames Rowing Club. St Paul’s picked up where they left off in the summer, collecting the open junior 18 pairs title with two Henley Royal Regatta winners on board. They also finished second, third and fifth in the category, sending out another ominous warning about their strength in depth. The Djekovic brothers, Lirion and Ledian (Mundener Ruderverein von 1912 e. V. Germany) raced at Henley Royal Regatta last summer as part of the German U23 squad and were 12th overall and 3rd in open championship pairs.
On the women’s side, Nottingham Rowing Club took the headship as the fastest female crew by nearly ten seconds. Upper Thames continued their good form by placing second in the women’s championship double, with Fiona Gammond again racing in their colours. London were third and fourth in the doubles and outright won the championship pair, which will give them a great nerve settler approaching the bigger winter races.
Wycliffe’s victory in the junior double was by a whopping 14 seconds over fierce rivals from Marlow Rowing Club. Both clubs have had significant attrition since their tussle on the Thames in early July, so it’s promising for both programs that they’re still competitive at the sharp end. Walton Rowing Club secured the win in the junior pairs category in a field that only contained six boats but included boats from Latymer and Lady Eleanor Holles.
Shout-outs also for Lea Rowing Club – whose open double finished fifth overall – Shandon Boat Club – who placed 16th in a mixed crew – and Cambridge University, whose Boat Race-winning combination were the second-fastest female pair on the day.
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