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Festival Of Rowing

On Tuesday 20 August, a team of five juniors from Henley Rowing Club, all
students from Wargrave Piggott school, competed in an event at the Festival
of Rowing at the National Water Sports Centre, Holmepierpoint, near
Nottingham, for clubs and schools involved in the Amateur Rowing
Association's flagship Project Oarsome scheme. The main photograph shows
(from left) the team of Jenny Arnold, Emily Derrig, Sarah Bennett, Peter
Wagner and Ellen Anthony. The event was a test of skills on the Concept II
Ergometer and on the water in boats. The objective was more to foster
teamwork and have a bit of fun than to compete on raw speed, but it is
always more fun if you win!

The Henley team started well with the fastest time in the Pit Stop Ergo
Labelling competition, in which the parts of the Ergometer are identified
with sticky labels. Unfortunately a 5 second penalty for a mis-labelled
part let two slower, but more accurate, teams sneak past them. The six
events which followed tested the skills (and luck) of the competitors well
as no team won more than one. Overall, Henley came fifth out of nine teams
in a closely fought competition. The high point of their day, however, was
in the last event, the Taxi Relay, on the water, where a Virus Boat (see
inset in photograph) was used by each team member in turn to ferry another
team member between two rafts.

The complex scheme of swaps required to get every team member to be
passenger and rower was carefully explained to the competitors by the
organisers but the time-keepers were left to work it out for themselves
which, together with the teams having been given identical T-shirts to
wear, could have led to some confusion. Luckily, this being the last event
of the day, we were beginning to recognise the other competitors! This
event was won by Henley with a time margin of 10 seconds. So, if any
readers are looking for a quick way to cross the river at next year's Royal
Regatta, the fastest Taxi Relay team in the country is right on your
doorstep, provided you don't mind getting a wet bottom!