A great weekend for Peterborough scullers
It was a great weekend for Peterborough Scullers at the Women’s Henley Regatta, where four determined crews competed at the prestigious 3 day event that is held over the iconic 1.5 kilometre stretch of the River Thames.
Alice Mason reached the final of the Para rowing single sculls event, and was just half a canvas from winning the Grosvenor Cup, with Marlow Rowing club just pushing ahead in a nail-biting finish. Despite crashing into the bank, she had a swift recovery, winning her semi-final easily against an Australian sculler from Balmain rowing club.
Anna Rowbotham also had a close race in her heat, where she overtook an imperial college sculler in the last few strokes of the race. This carried her through to the quarter final where she unfortunately lost out to Surrey University. Overall she did fantastic in category placing 8th out of 27 crews in the Aspirational lightweight singles time trial.
In the competitive Championship Lightweight Single Sculls category, Camilla Plumb did extremely well to place 5th in the time trials, but just missed out by 1/4 length in her heat against an Oxford University sculler.
Peterborough also entered a quad this year that competed in the aspirational coxless fours category. Sarah Watson, Ilektra Apostolidou, Hayley Shipton and Gemma Singleton faced tough competition in their time trial and in the end they were within 10 seconds of qualifying.
Also at the weekend was St Ives regatta, where Peterborough crew members gained 11 wins and 7 second places over the 550 metre course on the River Ouse.
It was pot galore yet again for the J14 girls Grace Niklasson and Lydia Hilton, as they left with a pot in each hand after winning their double by 3 lengths against Huntingdon Boat club. Niklasson gained her second pot in her J14 single, where she won easily against Stowe Sculling Club.
Hilton joined forces with Nell Papworth, Lucy Ralphs, Freya Woodall and cox Emma Calver to row up a year in the women’s J15 quad, where they beat Isle of Ely by 3/4 length. Papworth also gained a second win in her J15 single, finishing a length ahead of Lea Rowing club.
J14 juniors that also achieved a double win was Daniel Armstrong and Tom Calver in their double, where they won by 3 lengths ahead of Huntingdon. They then joined forces with Lucas Niklasson, Bert Papworth and cox Sophie Bicknell to win the Open J14 quad by 4 lengths. Niklasson also gained a second pot in his J14 single, where he beat Stowe Sculling lengths ahead.
Another single success was George Woodall in the J16 singles, where he won by just a boat canvas in a nail-biting final.
The last win from the juniors was from Henry Barnett and Alex Leverage who raced up in their Open pair. They won by 2 1/2 lengths against Sudbury Rowing Club.
For the senior competitors, the wins came from Joan Heath and Anita Carter who won by a boat canvas; and Hayley Marsters and Jo Canton raced in a masters composite mixed quad with James Ingram Sockell and Bruce Margetts (Lincoln) where they cruised past West Norfolk Rowing Club.
Second places came from Connor Ribbons (J17 single); George Woodall and Finlay Ribbons (J16 double); Chloe Reed (Women’s J16 single); Bert Papworth (J13 single); Nia Griffiths (Women’s J17 single); Becks Konijenberg, Emma Richardson, Kate Read and Helen Griffiths (Women’s Band 1 coxless quads; Damen Sanderson (RAF) and Connor Mumford (Band 1 doubles).