Saturday 8th February was the third consecutive week that Hexham members loaded our trailer for a local competition. This time we were back to Newburn for Tyne Head, the conditions were remarkably better than two weeks ago, the waves and wind were absent, but the river was quite swirly in places which kept the rowers on their toes.
In division one we had seven Hexham crews and a composite quad with Durham ARC and Tyne RC. The crews had a refreshing hail shower whilst racing from Scotswood Bridge up to Newburn.
Well done to the Op J18 4x – who were the fastest boat of the division by over 20 seconds. The composite quad was 8th fastest boat and only 5 seconds behind the youthful leaders in the Op 4x category. Two masters ladies quads were out, the C quad winning by 4 seconds in the CD category and the E quad having a fantastic row in the EF category, reducing their time considerable from two weeks ago. Three girls doubles also competed, two WJ18 2x in band 1 and 2 coming 1st and 3rd respectively and the WJ16 2x came 3rd. We had two men’s masters doubles out in the BDGI category (the I handicap was over 3 mins!), well done to our D and G crews. Full results can be found here: Division one.
During the lunch break, the tide turned, so division two crews battled against the stream and outgoing tide. Seven must have been the magic number as it was seven crews again that represented Hexham in division two. Three boys doubles raced, a Op J18 2x (b1), Op J18 2x (b2) and Op J16 2x, well done to them all with the band 1 J182x coming first and the other two doubles getting valuable race experience. We had three girls quads, two WJ18 and one WJ16. One of the older quads did really well holding their own when other crews fancied the same racing line, the other two crews were able to come home in front of their opposition. There was one masters boat in the W MasBCF 2x category who managed to win their category whilst fueled on cake. Full results can be found here: Division two
Well done to absolutely everyone who raced, the conditions were cold and wet in the morning, which isn’t easy to stay motivated for the afternoon racing, but thank you for all the comradery and teamwork over the past three weeks. The trailer loading has become a work of art!
Thank you to Julia, our junior coach and our bankside supporters who come rain or shine, are cheering us on, taking videos, carrying blades and trying to stay warm! Thanks to the event organisers and to Michael and Sarah for towing the trailer to this event.
We are going to enjoy a break for a few weeks now (phew!), Derwentwater head will be the next stop for our Masters crews on Saturday 8th March and our Junior crews will be heading to Cambois for JIRR inter-regional trials on Saturday 15th March.
Photo credits: Stephen and Elizabeth. More photos from the day can be found on the Si Event Photography Website