Peterborough Head of the Nene

By Sarah Watson

Peterborough City Head of the Nene was on Saturday where over 40 crews travelled from as far as Manchester to compete over the short course of 2.6 kilometres and the longer course of 5 kilometres in the afternoon. The club did exceptionally well taking home 13 wins and 9 second places.

Chris Elder and Joshua Seagrave both took home 2 pots from the event, after winning their Open pair by 11 seconds ahead of Son of the Thames, and later joined Dean Gosling, Ro Knighton and cox Natasha Cutmore to win the Open coxed fours event by 50 seconds ahead of Oundle School.

Devonne Piccaver and Alice Dovey also went home with 2 pots each after winning their Womens J18 double by over 2 minutes ahead of their opposition, and they later joined Ella Darrington and Esme Gilbert to win the Women’s J18 coxless quad by over a minute.

Another oarsome foursome was Suzi Warwick, Bianca Manganiello, Sarah Watson and Keely Watson in the Women’s coxless quad. Over the longer course of 5000 metres they placed 1st with a time of 20:45, which was 15 seconds faster than Loughborough Students in second place.

Ian Palmer and Dave Smith from Leicester rowing club did well in the Open doubles as they were first out of 6 crews, achieving an impressive time of 10:58 over the 2.6 kilometre course which was 1 minute 28 seconds faster than Leicester rowing club in second place. Their time placed them 1st in their Division overall in which there were over 80 crews altogether.

Kate Read and Linda Dennis won the Women’s Masters C doubles by over 2 minutes ahead of West Norfolk Rowing club in second.

The junior crews also did exceptionally well in their races, with the Women’s J16 double of Anouk Bosma and Evelina Xanthropolus finishing 2 mins 26 ahead of Kings School Ely in second place.

The Open J16 double of James Goodchild and Harry Evison-Williams won their event finishing 20 seconds ahead of Loughborough Boat club

There were also some wins in the single sculls, with Will Tee winning the Open J15 single, Ella Darrington in the Women’s J18 single, Emma Dennis in the Women’s J15 single, and Emma Calver in the Women’s J16 single.

Second places came from Claire Widdowson, Sarah Watson, Gina Gould and Suzi Warwick (Short course Women’s coxless quad); Al Ryder (Masters D single); Oliver Barber (Open J16 single); Bianca Manganiello and Claire Widdowson (Women’s Band 2 doubles); Kaia Campo, Emilia Bramwell, Neve Davies and Emily Fitzjohn (Women’s J16 coxless quad); Keith Blackman, Jack Ward, Jaish Mahan, Steve Tuck, Ian Palmer, Rob Dennis, Al Ryder, Jim Bichard and cox Ericha Knowles Pardoe (Open Masters E eight); Lottie Tasker, Sophie Bicknell, Wiktoria Szubzda and Erin Ansell-Crook (Women’s J18 coxless quad); Helen Mosley, Debbie Downes, Julie Evison-Williams, Alex Paul, Andy Merchant, Ann Casey, Mandy Walters, Chrissie Muir and cox Tim Jeffries-Harries (Women’s Masters D eight and Rob Dennis (Open Masters C single).