Saturday 11th March saw two Chesterton crews taking to the Tideway for the 6.8 km of WEHoRR. Taking two women’s crews was a first for Chesterton and was the focus of our Winter Training. Another first was finding night coxes for the two crews so both crews had been able to increase their training with a mid-week night outing throughout the winter. The winter weather had been kind with no cancelled outings so both crews (IM3 and Novice) were keen to make a good showing.

However, this event wouldn’t be complete without a last minute panic, and this time it was the IM3 crew searching around for a last minute sub. Still we had one outing in the new lineup, what could possibly go wrong. We all arrived at the beautiful Furnivall gardens at the side of the iconic Hammersmith Bridge and excitedly took to the water. I can only speak for the IM3 crew, we hit a solid rhythm straight off the start and could really feel the stream especially at the beginning of the race. We held on to the rhythm for the whole 22 minutes trying to keep it tidy and efficient pushing through a gritty overtake on the line. So it was back to Furnivall, de-rigging and the wait for the results. These came through quickly even before the Novice crew were off the water. They’d pipped us by 2 tenths of a second over the 22 minute course! It was a fantastic result for the Novice crew, for all of whom it was their first experience of the Tideway, a result to be proud of. Looking strong for Bumps!

Then it was back to Cambridge for more racing on Sunday, the third and final leg of the Winter League. The Novice crew again had a good row, winning pots in their Novice category by a fair margin and the IM3 crew back to full strength with a couple of pairs of fresh legs restored their pride with a time of 11.24.4 (a new club record).

Another notable result from the WEHoRR saw Chesterton alumna (Bailee Stratton) win the provincial pennant with Cantabrigian RC, finishing 14th out of 300 crews.

Pix by Al Craigie.