An invitation by Eastern Rowing Club for a fun day of race practice last Sunday at Portobello. Clubs attending alongside us were Eskmuthe, Row Porty, Alnmouth and of course Eastern. A welcome opportunity to get on the water for some much needed race training after the abysmal, stormy winter! A chance to see our fellow rowers too, lots of catching up and cake.
The weather played ball and whilst the sun took a while to appear the wind didn’t pick up enough to cause any real problems. Getting the boats in and out was a bit of a challenge in the waves, some folk got a bit of a drenching and the poor boat was sloshing some water about by the end. Once out past the breaking waves though the water was nice and the 2km triangular course was enough of a challenge for all.
A big shout out to the 7 juniors who did really well under Claire Simpsons coxing on a 1.2km course, for some of them it was their first taste of ‘racing’ conditions.
Another first was for Jackie Suprenant, first time in a boat! Talk about in at the deep end! Well done Jackie.
Although it wasn’t about the ‘racing’ everyone was keen to get home first.
Our results:
U50 Women 5th (Novice women’s crew)
U50’s Men 3rd
050 Men 2nd to Eastern
Women 50+ 1st
50 + Mixed 3rd
U50 Men 2nd Eastern 1st
Let’s hope we can get on the water regularly now!!
Next Regatta is Eskmuthe on the 5th May.
Lynn Hanley