STRATFORD Boat Club’s Masters crews impressed when they competed in the long distance Worcester Spring Head on Saturday.
The event, which is raced over one of the longest provincial courses in the country at 6km, was held in overcast but otherwise good rowing conditions.
The competition, which is restricted to fours and eights, attracted a high quality field in all disciplines from across the Midlands and the South West.
Raced over two divisions, the morning division saw crews from Stratford’s sister club King Edward VI School race in the Men’s J18 coxed four and Women’s IM3 coxed four events, with the men recording a very good event win in a time of 22 minutes, 31 seconds.
Stratford Masters then followed, rowing in a combined crew with Bridgnorth Rowing Club in the hotly-contested Masters C/D age category event against seven entries from across the region.
They recorded a nail-biting win over much-fancied Monmouth by a mere two seconds in a time of 19 minutes, 48 seconds.
In the afternoon, Stratford’s Masters again took to the water as two crews battled it out in Masters C/D and E/F age category events in coxed fours.
The Stratford Masters C/D crew, straight from racing in the successful winning eight in the morning division, kept up the winning streak with a comprehensive win over Bridgnorth Rowing club in a time of 21 minutes, 33 seconds.
Despite a polished performance, the Stratford Masters E/F crew were denied a chance of making it a clean sweep of event wins by a high quality Monmouth crew, with Stratford ultimately finishing third in a time of 23 minutes, 29 seconds.
Tom Doherty, Stratford’s Masters vice-captain, said: “It was great to see two Masters fours in highly competitive racing, allied to a very positive result with our friends from Bridgnorth as we continue training for the national eights competition in London in March.”
