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GREENBANK FALMOUTH AMATEUR ROWING CLUB Est 1949 News Archives
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November 2008:
October 2008:
Totnes Regatta Report 28th June 2008 With the conclusion of successful campaigns for the veteran men who came home with a gold in the coxless 4 at the Nat Vets in Nottingham, and the senior ladies who battled their way to the last 16 of Henley Women's Regatta, Greenbank finally made its presence felt on the WEARA season as it descended in full force upon Totnes regatta last weekend. The trailer left Stithians on Friday evening fully laden with boats leaving a somewhat empty boat house, thankfully the journey up was a smooth and incident free affair. On arrival the trailer was unhitched in a prime location for unloading the next morning and driver and Captain bedded down in the Greenbank mobile for the night. First event of the day for Greenbank was men's Snr C single. Taking the helm was Brian, who after a complete disaster off the start at Marlow last weekend was feeling the nerves a wee bit. In a calm and collective manner he took to the water, closely followed by the opposition sculler from Cardiff. With a fairly brisk head wind the lighter Cardiff sculler shot off the start like a rocket, with flashbacks of Marlow Brian decided just to get away from the start safely and like a steam engine build up momentum, a fairly risky strategy given the short course. With a good 2-3 length deficit to make up within the first 10 strokes the going was tough, but power and resilience shone through in the end and with burning lungs Brian crossed the line a foot ahead of Cardiff. Second event of the day for Greenbank 30 minutes after the first was the men's Vet B coxed 4. Racing Dartmouth also at Vet B and Bideford who they would be giving away a huge time penalty of 6 seconds the ask was rather large as not only was there a time penalty to overcome but the massive physcological deficit of having to chase another crew. Needless to say the big guns where wheeled out in the shape of James, Arch, Brian and Justin from Exeter. Probably the least said about the start the better (for details see Arch), needless to say however, once the flame was ignited and the rocket launched the release of power was incredible. Pretty soon the Dartmouth crew faded into a blur, but yet the Bideford crew ahead seemed to be holding on. With an unremitting release of power and superb stroking it was only a matter of time and by the start of the quay Greenbank already had the overlap, with a final call for home from Justin, James cranked up the rate and with it came yet another surge of power to take Greenbank over the line 2-3 lengths ahead of Bideford and a significant margin ahead of Dartmouth. Without a shadow of doubt the time posted by the Vet 4 was the quickest time of any 4 all day. Next up to the stage was the Snr ladies in their first round heat against Paignton, a fairly comfortable row saw the girls cross the line easily ahead of the Paignton girls. With less than an hour to the final against the winners of the second heat, Exeter, and fastest looser, Bideford, the girls headed for shore to re-fuel. After a brief pit stop it was time for hands on again. Silently and without fuss the girls boated and made their way to the start. with the previous week of focus on the start and transition to full stride the girls took the lead almost immediately out of the blocks, building up their momentum they increased their lead by the half way point to nearly 2 lengths over second placed Exeter who had by no means given up on snatching victory. By the start of the quay and with 2 lengths of clear water it was evident that the girls had relaxed and where just sitting on the Exeter crew. But yet the Exeter girls continued to fight back upping their rate, but it was to no avail as our girls coasted across the line with clear water and with air left in the lungs. The mixed Snr 4 of James, Arch, Kate and Sarah cruised to victory in their straight final showing the spectators on the bank how 4 rowers rowing as one will win a race every time. All credit to Chris in his first ever regatta racing at novice, although coming home some way down the technique was clean and sharp and unlike most of us in our first races Chris steered a perfect course, right up until the last 30 metres when he nearly rowed into a moored yacht that is! Well spotted though Chris and good effort. Brian's semi final in Snr C single pretty much followed the same pattern as the first heat, unfortunately after a couple of lung busting races to the line already, the course was not quite long enough and the Totnes sculler crossed the line no more than 6 inches ahead, 30 metres more on the course and it would have been a different story. But i can say that! Thanks to Andy for stepping up to the plate and taking Brian's place in the Pair with rowing returnee Robin! Considering it was Andy's first time steering a pair in a race the boys did remarkably well, not well enough to beat the Dartmouth boys but well enough to cross the line with smiles having had a pretty good row. Race of the day has to go to Kate, who in her first regatta in the single pulled of an incredible row to push Lucinda from Exeter all the way to the line, eventually loosing only by a canvas. A shining example of how guts, determination and above all else in a single, confidence can make a world of difference. Chris and Andy proved home third in their doubles race, only a few lengths down on the vastly more experienced crew from Castledore, proving that a little more time together could easily have them wining novice races together. The two final races of the day for Greenbank where the open ladies and men's eight's. With the usual scenario of Greenbank rowers on the water in a hundred races it was a last minute rush to get the ladies crew all in the boat and set up before heading to the start for the first of the eights. With the Snr girls 4 sitting in the middle of the boat, Sarah stroking, Donna at 7, Helen in 2 and a borrowed Exeter rower in the bow, it was a strong crew, but by no means was victory a sure thing. Obviously this was an underestimation as the girls came home easily ahead of the Dart Totnes crew, taking the victory with style. Last race of the day was Snr men's 8's with Greenbank, Totnes and Dartmouth in the line up. Sitting in the boat was the Vet B crew of earlier, Robin, Eddy, who has just joined us from Southampton Uni, and super stroke Colin. With a hesitant start from Greenbank it was the young Totnes crew that blasted off the start to take the early lead with Dartmouth taking second place. After regaining some composure Greenbank soon pushed through Dartmouth, and started to pull back the yards on Totnes. By the quay it was probably level pegging but a push from Greenbank and some very neat rowing pushed them through to take victory fairly comfortably from Totnes with plenty of clear water. Great day. Well done everybody!!
Women's Henley 21st 22nd June 2008 After a tough draw at Reading last weekend, which saw the girls eliminated in the first round against a strong Bristol City crew, the girls bounced back with a focused and determined week of training, and fresh hopes for success in the Henley qualifying race on the Friday. After a 4 hour journey up to Henley on the Thursday evening the boat was rigged and prepared for an early morning row. With the significance of the event finally a reality as the boat was tied down for the evening amongst a sea of literally hundreds of 4's 8's pairs and singles the girls headed back to their accommodation to grab what little sleep they could on the eve of probably the biggest event in a female club rowers calendar Under the dawn of a clear sky and only a slight breeze the girls boated for a quick row of the course to get Helen fully acquainted with all the landmarks and the point at which she would call for the final push for home. At 8 am on the dot Helen Steered the boat back alongside the launching pontoons, into the able hands of Matt Pinsent. After 2 hours and a number of visits to the WC the time had arrived to boat for the qualifiers. With 60 crews from around the country and indeed the world only 32 would row the 1500 metres fast enough to earn the right to row in the first round of Henley women's regatta that evening. They did it!! It was a truly spirited and gutsy row which saw the girls beat many strong university and school crews for their place in the Lester Cup, pulling of the best row together as a crew in the last 4 months of training. So, the first round saw them pitted against Imperial College, after a slight show of concern on hearing the draw thoughts of the competition where eliminated from the minds and all the focus was channelled into their own boat, apparently it worked as not only did the girls pull off yet another great row, they beat Imperial College by 4 lengths. Down to the final 16 and another day of competition, needless to say a fairly early night was had and with a 3:30 pm race a fairly late and relaxed morning was also the order of the day. Bedford High School had pulled of the fastest first round time of all the crews the previous day and where now drawn to meet the girls. After a strong start form the girls it was the exceptionally well drilled Bedford crew who managed to etch out a narrow lead coming of Temple Island, this was enough to give them the physiological advantage which they maintained throughout, even after a courageous fight back from the girls who pushed Bedford all the way not allowing them a second to ease their own rate or pressure. |
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National Veteran Championships 14th June 2008 Gold for Greenbank!! Congratulations to Ronnie, Colin, James and Arch for winning gold at the National Veteran Championships. Pictures to follow
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