THE start of the 2004 regatta season took place at Durham City.

By this time last season Hexham Rowing Club had well established men’s and ladies’ quads, fours and doubles with several months worth of collective training already under their belts.

By contrast this season has seen key injuries and some members unable to commit to regular sessions.

The result is that crew training has so far been sporadic at best. At least that’s the excuse.

So it was up to Hexham single scullers, a scratch veteran ladies’ novice quad and a men’s senior three double to carry the flag for Hexham.

First off for the club was an all Hexham affair. This was the eagerly awaited clash of club stalwarts, and past and present club captains, John Mullholland and George Doody in a semi-final of veteran men’s single sculls.

The marginally younger John gave away a three second advantage to George, but at the halfway stage had pulled into a lead of just about a length.

As the race progressed his greater experience won through and he emerged victorious, taking the race by a couple of lengths.

In the other semi-final relative club newcomer and birthday boy Maurice Searle took on the highly experienced Jaggard of Durham.

As the two men rowed past the Hexham supporters, they were able to savour the delights of an impromptu rendering of ‘Happy Birthday’ by the assembled sopranos, giving further encouragement, but no victory, to Maurice.

Hexham’s hopes now rested on John racing in the final but, with only about 300 of the 800-metre course to row, he was a length down.

However he always seems to have something in reserve and, with Jaggard tiring, he surged ahead winning by two lengths – a first trophy of the season for Hexham.

Another race to watch was that between Sam Doody from HRC and Chris Jacklin of Queen Elizabeth High School.

Sam put in a good performance and the race appeared to be a closely fought event by those watching from the bank. Sam lost by, in his words, ‘enough’.

The men’s senior doubles event featured David Brown and Mark Christer rowing against schoolboys, who, to quote David ‘blew us out of the water’.

The consolation for the two is that they have trained together three times this year, whether they needed to or not!

Junior Rosie Upstill-Goddard was asked at the last minute to cox the women’s veteran quad (Gillian Gilbert, Laura Read, Jasmine Black, Jane Upstill-Goddard).

This was her first experience of coxing in a competitive event and she steered a good course, constantly shouting encouragement to the crew.

They got a good start with a three second advantage but, with only two training sessions behind them and an injury requiring substitution, they were no match for their younger opponents.

Claire Le Tissier, the only junior wearing the HRC colours, was successful in her semi-final, but had to work harder against her rival from Chester-le-Street in the final.

As she put in an extra push her blade hit the marker buoy, dipping her into the river and effectively ending the race.

However, she was in good company. Following on in the next race were two QEHS scullers, Chris Jacklin competing against coach, Dave Higgins (rowing for Tyne), and whilst Claire was being rescued from the water, Dave too caught a buoy and found himself in the water (to the delight of the QEHS supporters).

Events continued into Sunday but it was only enthusiastic George who ventured south again in order to compete in novice singles.

Another trophy for the club proved elusive, but George can console himself in the knowledge that his opponent was only 18 and therefore had a few years advantage.

The following Saturday a smaller contingent headed for Newburn and the Tyne at Home Regatta.

With John this week rowing as part of the Tyne club, Hexham’s hopes for success rested on Claire Le Tissier, who had teamed up with her Chester-le-Street rival to row in a girls’ J14 doubles event.

The pair set a good pace, leading for much of the course, and giving Claire her first trophy.

Gillian Gilbert, rowed in both novice singles and veteran events but was unable to increase the wins for HRC.

Encouraged by his previous performance, Maurice Searle chose to row in a novice tracer boat event against youthful opponents from Tyne and Ponteland High School.

His battle for second place was a nail-biting affair, but close to the finish he momentarily stopped rowing, thereby losing the advantage.

George, having lost his singles events, joined up with Martin Le Tissier for a doubles race against an experienced Tyne boat and the less experienced Hexham double of Rob Upstill-Goddard and Geoff Wilkinson.

Neither Hexham crew expected to win, both hoping for second place.

George’s experience (and a little help from Martin) proved the deciding factor.

The four men then teamed up to row in a coxless quad against another Tyne crew.

They led comfortably for the entire course, giving them their first tankards of the season and good reason to celebrate in the bar.

The hope is that Hexham can now build on these successes in time for the Hexham Regatta on June 5.