By Aaron Sims
On an exceptionally cold and wet 5th February, John O’Gaunt journeyed to Warrington RC to race in the ‘Head of the Mersey’. The club entered six crews over 5 events in the race, consisting of two legs of 1.8km.
The first crew to race was the Lancaster Schools Rowing Association W.Nov.4x+ crew of Hannah, Ellie, Shona, Chloe and cox Jess who with very limited time together as a crew placed a respectable 3rd of 4 crews, coming only 32 seconds behind the winning home Warrington crew. The next crew to race, also a novice coxed quad was the LRSA/JOG composite crew of Andy, Tom, Ben and Kieran with cox Shona came 2nd in their category, once again behind a Warrington crew.
The fourth division saw the IM2 4x- of Matt, Aaron, Steve and Kieran race. After getting to the start first and supposedly meant to be the first crew to start the division, some severely flawed start marshalling meant the crew was the last start, chasing down the women’s junior doubles that had already started, causing steering issues in an already challenging course. After further steering issues on the return journey, the quad crossed the finish line soaked, knackered and frustrated. Despite all this and having no opposition in their category, the quad placed 6th of every crew racing that day.
Sunlight was fading and the rain remained relentless as the final three crews took to the water. The W.IM3 4x- of Laura, Chloe, Ellie and May felt they had a great row and gave a performance they were proud of. Once again, however, the club fell behind in the times behind two crews from Warrington who had sent out senior crews, the girls were happy as being juniors; they were able to hold their own to deliver a close result.
Matt and Aaron took on not only took on Andy and Tom for the title of fastest Nov 2x but also a crew from Mersey RC. Both JOG doubles raced well and posted some good times but there could only be one winner. Matt and Aaron clinched the title and the club’s only win for the day by finishing almost a minute faster than Mersey with Andy and Tom finishing narrowly behind, despite being faster on the second leg.
As soon as the doubles made it off the water, everyone worked hard to get the trailer loaded as quickly as possible and flee the scene to get back in the dry. With everyone pleased with their performances, the club can be satisfied with the results as the final races of head season rapidly approach.
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