IT WAS a busy weekend for Stratford Boat Club members who were in action at Henley-on-Thames and Nottingham.
Henley Sculls took place on Saturday and there were two divisions over a course of approximately 3,000m upstream from the bottom of Greenlands to the Royal Regatta finish.
There was a good turnout from Stratford crews, both masters and juniors, and the Stratford WJ14s performed well as Jess Wiesheu and Autumn Keil in their single sculls came first and fourth respectively in their categories.
The WJ14 4x+ of Katie Wellstead, Gracie Mitchell, Katie Phillips, Emily Browne and cox Mimi Hill finished first and Stratford’s WJ14 boys put up a great show in J14 1x races.
The next day, it was the turn of Stratford’s masters and some of the junior squad’s older members to travel to Nottingham Autumn Head, where Stratford fielded three crews against a high quality field.
The Masters D coxless four came second to Nottingham Rowing Club by 1.6 seconds.
Simon Beard, masters crew member, said: “Over a 14-minute row, this was a very close result against a strong crew on their own water. Stratford look forward to racing this crew again on neutral water in the near future.”
Stratford’s junior 16-year quadruple scullers also came second in their event to a very strong Warrington crew who outdistanced the field by more than 27 seconds – setting a strong challenge to go for over the winter.
Stratford’s J16 double scullers put in a creditable performance to come third in their event to Warrington and Yarm Schools, with Warrington again putting in a dominating performance to win.
Simon Beard: “It is still early in the winter season, but the benchmarks we need to aim for are clear and we’re looking forward to a great season.”
