Henley Rowing Club

Founded 1839

Home
Reports 00-01
GB Trilals
Henley Sculls
UTRCSBH
Wallingford Sculls
Reports 01-02

2001 National Championships of Great Britain

Henley Rowing Clubs girls junior squad competed at last weeks National Rowing Championships of Great Britain and returned with two Gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

The Championships where held on the 2000 metre six lane course at the National Water Sports Centre, Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham. Conditions over the three days of the Championships where warm though dull with a cross head wind which on Saturday was strong enough to make conditions difficult for the lighter and younger competitors.

Fridays eliminating rounds saw eleven of the thirteen Henley girls crews successfully through to finals.

Saturday saw the finals for the younger crews and in the J14 double sculls Henley had two crews. The “A” crew of Kaye Davies and Hannah Smith Willis and the “B” crew of Hannah Read and Lucy Lewington. The “A” crew got off to a fine start and at 500metres where in second place behind Hollingworth Lake with the “B” crew in fourth place. The “B” crew though set the better rhythm and pace in the strong wind and by the thousand metres had pulled through into third place with the “A” crew dropping back to fifth. The crews finished in these positions the “B” crew taking the Bronze medal behind Hollingworth Lake and St Neots.

Just under an hour later the girls where back on the water for the final of the under 14 coxed quads, with cox Nicola Johnson and Gemma Johnson taking the bow seat in place of Hanna Smith Willis. The quad had looked very strong in the eliminating heats winning through to the final easily. The tough doubles race though had took its toll and despite a determined fight in the early stages of the race the girls could not keep in contact with the leaders St Neots and Headington. The girls did though take bronze well clear of the other three finalists.

In the final of J16 quads the Henley girls of Rachael Dadds (bow steers), Bethan Thomas, Lucy Pratt and stroke Louisa Pickworth new that the real opposition came from the Northwich crew whom they had yet to beat this season. The girls got of to a very good start and by the 500 metres had nearly a length of clear water on Northwich who in turn where already three lengths clear of third placed Wycliffe. By 900 metres Henley had extended their lead to just over a length and looked as though they where going to continue pulling away from Northwich. A determined push by Northwich and a momentary lapse of concentration by the Henley crew saw Northwich close the gap and by 1100 metres had taken the lead which they maintained to the finish. Henley taking the silver medal some 20 seconds ahead of third placed Wycliffe.

Sunday saw the finals for the older girls the first of these for the Henley girls was the Junior quads with the “A” crew of Claire Ansley-Watson, Kirsty Holland, Lucy Mills and Juliet Hookey and the “B” crew being the previous days J16 crew. The “A” crew proved to be a standard above all the other crews in the event and by the 500metres had established a commanding lead over the “B” crew who in turn had clear water over third placed St Leonards. The two Henley crews continued to pull away from the rest of the field to take Gold and Silver with the “A” crew finishing nearly a minute ahead of the last placed crew.

Kirsty Holland and Lucy Mills later competed in Junior double sculls an event which they have dominated for the last three years. Again the rest of the field where unable to keep the pace set by these girls and having established an early lead they continued to build on this to take Gold medal in a time of 8:10 , 16 seconds ahead of Wycliffe. This time would have also won them Gold in the senior womens event but they where forced to withdraw from the event due to an injury to Kirsty Holland which prevented them competing in Saturdays heats.

Other crews to reach finals where the J15 double of Hannah Boyd and Melanie Gilson, the pair of Sarah Fellowes and Fran Compton the Womens Junior eight of Lizzie Mann, Rachael Dadds, Sarah Fellowes, Fran Compton, Carly Ralph, Lucy Pratt, Bethan Thomas, Louisa Pickworth with cox Carrina Parry and the coxless four of Katharine Boothroyd, Kirst Scott, Clare Ansley-Watson and Juliet Hookey.

The Junior coxless four whilst not winning a medal have some consolation in being the fastest English crew at the Championships and have therefore along with the quad and double been selected to represent England at the Home International Regatta this weekend.

The Championships was an excellent end to the girls season and to have reached eleven finals and returned with six medals shows the depth and quality of the Henley junior girls squad.

The boys had a mixed set of results, not quite coming up to expectations. The exception was Jonny Smith Willis racing in the GB Junior eight for the first time. Racing against top class men’s eights they excelled after only a week together to take fifth place in the final, a length behind Leander and beating Thames RC, the losing finalists in the Thames Cup at Henley Royal two weeks previously. They now have two further weeks training before leaving for Germany for the World Championships.

Two crews raced in the J16 double sculls event, Ryan Davies & David Read and Michael Bennett & Hugo Wiseaman. Davies and Read were National Schools Champions and expected to win, but although winning their heat and semi final they had to settle for the silver medal behind Marlow in the final. Bennett and Wiseman improved their performance since the National Schools and came through the heat and semi final to have a fine race in the final finishing fifth.

Rob Friend, missing the J16 cut off date by three weeks had to race against J18 opposition. In the Junior Singles he won his heat with a very controlled scull but on the Sunday morning there was a strong head wind for the semi final which made the conditions rough at the start. This was not to his liking and he found himself unable to cope effectively finishing 6^th.

To add to Rob’s disappointment his Junior Double, with partner David Read, missed out on directly qualifying for the semi-final by a margin of 3 feet and had to go through the repechage round to try again. Unfortunately they did the same again, missing out on the qualifying position by 3 feet.