STRATFORD-upon-Avon Boat Club’s masters and adaptive athletes impressed on the water at Burton, Henley and Llandaff.
Rebecca England and Thomas Doherty represented Stratford at the Burton Regatta.
Racing in the mixed masters D/E double sculls, they faced an older Loughborough crew who consequently had a head start.
The 1.1km course included several tricky bends but after a fast start and some hard steering around the first corner, the Stratford 2x caught and overtook their opponents.
Maintaining a good length through the straight and into the long final bend, England and Doherty extended their lead to take victory by five lengths.
Elsewhere, Stratford women’s masters joined forces with Bewdley Rowing Club to row as a composite eight at the prestigious Henley Masters Regatta.
A clear win by one and a quarter lengths over the 1km course against champions of the Thames Cambridge took the crew through to the semi-final.
Despite the rising temperatures, the crews were well matched for the first half of the race before the Wallingford composite pulled away to win by one and three quarter lengths and went on to win the whole event in the Masters F category.
The Stratford crew comprised Jane Cryer, Abby Symonds, Caroline Collins and Gina Fusco (Bow).
Cryer said: “It was such a privilege and joy to row on the Henley Royal Regatta course and under such beautiful conditions.
“We gave two very gutsy rows and are really pleased with our results and especially how collaborative the sport of rowing is when two clubs come together to race.”
The club’s adaptive squad also took to the water at Llandaff with a good row from Gillian Middleton despite the wind.
Stratford’s Jake Blatcher won the men’s 1x category while Paola and Ian Ward raced against Josh and Ethan in an all-Stratford epic.
The Stratford mother and son combo of Paola and Ian Ward won by half a length.
Competing in his first mainstream J14 event, Edward Owen-Smith missed a stroke near the finish and his opponent took advantage to win by a few feet even though the Stratford sculler led the race 20m from the finish.
Stratford’s head adaptive coach, Mark Dewdney said: “The athlete who beat Edward won his later final easily.
“He is winning regularly so Edward is still very competitive in the mainstream able bodied category.”
Parent, Chris Owen-Smith said, “Thank you Mark for all the coaching, driving, organising, rigging, de-rigging and everything else you do for us.
“The chairman of Llandaff Rowing Club approached Edward at the end of the regatta and awarded him a medal for his effort after hearing about it being his first J14 mainstream event and coming so close to winning it.”
