Bewdley Regatta 2011

It’s been a while since I’ve been in a boat let alone rowed in competition. Bewdley however was easier to contemplate as rowing plus a weekend away with friends and the club. However it wasn’t long before the competitive spirit came back.

The format for weekend regattas is simple – serious and long sprints Saturday, followed by drink and camping then short and hungover sprints on the Sunday. On the Saturday I crewed in a 4 with Steve, Sandy and Martin and and 8 with a mix of juniors and seniors.

Considering the crews were scratch and I was out of practice I was worried that I’d let the guys down and we’d be knocked out early. Thankfully though once we got off the start line we had enough power, helped by 6’6 Martin, to win us the race.

As the Saturday progressed each race felt better, although keeping up with the juniors rating 47 off the start in the 8 was near impossible. In the end our 4 won IM3 and the 8 won IM3 too.

After some celebrations, drinks by the river and campsite chatter Sunday morning greeted us with the boil in the bag tent feeling. Dehydrated – yes, ready to race -no. Still Sunday followed the pattern of Saturday, in the four, and we kept winning all the way through to the end of the day to win the IM2.

We had to work for the posts on both days, with some close racing and qualifiers so I feel like we deserved the pots. It’s alsop especially satisfying to beat crews who think they’ve got it in the bag.

It wasn’t just us that did well. In fact the seniors from the club won every race they entered. This rounded off a thoroughly enjoyable weekend.