Peterborough City rowers win three at Head of the Trent 2025
Peterborough City Rowing Club’s winter training paid dividends as crews across all age groups tackled their first long-distance time-trial race of 2025, the Head of the Trent on Saturday 22 February.
After being starved of racing opportunities due to river conditions cancelling many events since Autumn 2024, rowers from around the country were keen to assess their progress over the winter on Nottingham’s 5600m downstream course through the city.
Junior crews lead the way
Racing in tailwind conditions and leading the way for Peterborough in the first division was the girls under 18 quad scull, who won their seven-crew event, beating their nearest opposition, Royal Chester, by 44 seconds.
Peterborough City’s Trent Head winning under 18 girl’s quad. From left: Olivia Agyapong, Emma Calver, Jasmin Chesher, Emma Dennis.
The crew of Jasmin Chesher, Emma Calver, Emma Dennis and Olivia Agyapong, coached by Robert Dennis, is now targeting Kingston Head in March, where they will be looking to benchmark their development against a strong field of London and Southeast crews.
Peterborough’s second girls under 18 quad placed fifth and enjoyed the thrill of catching and overtaking another club in the Head race format in which crews start at 15-second intervals. The crew was Evelina Xanthopoulou, Florence Lilywhite, Charlotte Revell and Kaia Campo also coached by Robert Dennis. Both Peterborough girls’ crews’ range in age from 16 to 18.
Peterborough’s under 18 boys racing in the Open Development eights class were second of five in their category to a Cambridge college crew. Three returning athletes from last year’s crew feature in the lineup, which includes some members new to sweep oar rowing this year. The crew is still in its selection phase and expected to come on for its experience in Nottingham, having lacked a long competitive race this season. Their next target is the Head of the River Race, which will be held over 6800m in London in March.
The crew was Oliver Barber, Harry Evison-Williams, Sergio Read Moreira Lima, Tom Revell, James Goodchild, Matthew Baker, Ewan Stanley, Roland Christopher, James Barber (cox), and is coached by Al Ryder.
In the second division, raced over the shorter course of 3700m, Peterborough’s boys under 15 quad sculls won their event and finished second overall. The boy’s quad scull was the youngest Peterborough crew of the day, featuring three rowers in their second year of competitive rowing. In just his first season and at his first head race, newcomer Adam Waller scored an impressive first win of his rowing career.
The crew was Matas Lebed, George Dennis, Adam Waller and Charlie Whitty, and is coached by Kev Benton and Tim Jeffries-Harris. The crew now heads towards the Junior Inter-Regional Regatta Trials on 16 March, where they aim to be selected to represent the Eastern Region at the Nationals in April.
Peterborough’s junior rowing coordinator, Caroline Calver, said she was pleased that the junior crews could return to racing after a range of events had been cancelled this winter.
“For the girls, it was great to finally get back in action and get some racing under their belts,” said Caroline.
“Both girls crews had good races and are pleased with their results. It was a bonus for both to catch the crews set off before them. Overtaking when you are racing gives you such a buzz!”
“The boys eight have a lot more to come, and we couldn’t have asked for more from the winning under 15 quad. I hope all of Peterborough’s junior athletes can begin to recognise the payback from training hard so far this winter.”
Peterborough’s fastest boat of the day
Racing in the final division over 5600m, the club’s fastest boat of the day was an Open Championship quad scull, a composite of rowers from clubs across East Anglia, East Midlands and the Northwest.
Peterborough was represented by Ian Palmer, who stroked the quad, which is Masters eligible but was seeking tougher competition in the Open category. They placed second overall against the younger crews and would have beaten all other Masters by over 40 seconds. The crew line up was Chris Callow (Star Club of Bedford), Alex Barnett (Hollingworth Lake in Greater Manchester), Dave Smith (Nottingham) and Ian Palmer (Peterborough).
Masters win secures family ‘Trent treble’
Also racing in the third division, the club’s Masters E eight (average age 55-59 years old) won their category, beating all other categories of Masters eights in the race on time and placing third of eleven crews on the handicap system.
Peterborough City Rowing Club’s treble-winning family from the Head of the Trent 2025. From left: Robert Dennis, Emma Dennis, George Dennis.
Five-man of the eight, Robert Dennis had the added pressure of securing the last leg of a family ‘Trent treble’, which he did with the win in the Masters eight, adding to wins for Emma in the J18 quad and George in the J15 quad earlier.
Robert, an NHS consultant surgeon at Peterborough City Hospital, said:
“It was great to be back out racing after a tricky winter with flooded rivers and a number of cancelled events. It was encouraging for all the crews to see the hard work over the winter months showing promising signs for our spring and summer racing. I’m really looking forward to building momentum for the big national events in the coming weeks.”
The Masters eight comprised Keith Blackman, Jack Ward, Jonathan Ibbott, Steve Tuck, Rob Dennis, Al Ryder, Karl Stapleton, Tom Miller and Ericha Knowles-Pardoe (cox). Their next race will be at the Vesta International Masters Head of the River Race on the Tideway in London in March.
New Club Chair hails early season successes
New Chair of Peterborough City Rowing Club, Tracey Rushton-Thorpe, said she was impressed by the Club’s first competitive performances in 2025 across all age groups.
“It has been a very difficult time over the last few months with many races cancelled due to difficult weather conditions. It’s great therefore to see such impressive results from all of the Peterborough crews showing that their commitment to training throughout the winter months is starting to yield results,” said Tracey.
“These results are also testament to the commitment shown by all of our coaches who volunteer huge amounts of their time to make every one of our athletes competitive on race day.”
Peterborough’s Senior Men’s eight, coxed by Tracey, have already opened their account for the season at Quintin Head on the Tideway in London, placing second in their category and 57th overall of the competing 300 crews. Their next races will be Kingston Head of the River on 15 March followed by the Head of the River Race on 22 March.
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Peterborough City Rowing Club Press Release 2025-1 | For Immediate Use | 25 February 2025