After a bit of a frozen start to 2010 with the Tyne being frozen and events such as York Small Boats Head unfortunately being cancelled again due to flooding, Tyne United finally got a chance to take to the water and do some racing!
Durham University BC had kindly offered us entry into their inaugural Winter Challenge Cup event – a 2.5k head race on the Saturday and 1k regatta racing on the Sunday. This was the perfect opportunity for some of the squads to get back into some competitive racing and see what they can do against a bit of local opposition.
There’s also a report in the Northern Echo 
Saturday
The Men’s squad had been kept in suspense as to who would be racing in what fours – Hazel deciding that it was best they didn’t know to the day to keep them fired up (and also just to ensure they all turned up!). With a pre-race outing planned for the two fours, there was some last minute drama when one member didn’t show up (Jonny Graham was heard muttering “His excuse better be that he’s dead, if not, he will be). So while the four stroked by Wes Maccabe (“I’m not hungover, I stopped drinking at 11pm last night!”) went and started their pre-race outing, Hazel was forced to jump into the bows of the second coxed four for the pre-race outing, hoping that someone would come and be a sub in her hour of need so she didn’t have to do the race itself. Upon both crews returning, Hazel’s four found a suitable replacement in Joe Leiserach (Gav was seen to be muttering, “Yep he’ll do as a sub”) who happily decided to join in the fun.
On the Women’s front, Gav had loaned DUBC three of his junior girls to jump into a Women’s Beginner 8. One of the deciding factors for Molly in joining this composite crew was “I like their purple blades…”
Boating was a surprisingly calm affair, with DUBC running the event, many of the Tyne United stalwarts found themselves without much to do. Chris had been banned from doing anything by Barbara, but found himself going to the aid of Edinburgh University BC’s trailer driver when he firstly turned up at the wrong club and then had some more dramas involving his trailer and a parked up transit.
The Saturday morning racing went well for Tyne United with the two Intermediate Men’s Coxed fours coming first and fourth. A rather wet Sean Khan could be seen afterwards demanding a towel due to “excessive backsplash from up the boat.”
The DUBC/TURC composite Women’s Beginner Eight did well in coming in second to Edinburgh University. When asking the girls how the race went, the response from Sarah was “It was ok”. Gav tried to elicit some more technical response but none was forthcoming…
During the break between races, the Tyne United athletes attempted to outwit their opponents by surrounding the heater in the shed, keeping themselves warm but freezing anyone else in sight.
With the Men’s squad due to race in the Intermediate Eights event in the second division, the hunt was on yet again for another sub. One of the newer members of the club – having literally joined the club that day – agreed to jump in for the race. For the Junior Girls, this was a chance to see what they could do against some University opposition in the Women’s Beginner Coxed Fours. Gav decided that to keep the crew on their toes, he would change their seating arrangements for the event with Catherine (usually in the bow of their coxless four) now in the stroke seat and Sarah moving from stroke to bow. The boat had been bow-rigged which led to mass confusion as to where people would sit and on what side…
The Men’s Intermediate 8 had a technical mishap with their cox-box not working after a couple of minutes into the race. But despite this, the crew had a surprisingly good row for a scratch crew coming in third behind Edinburgh University and St Aidans College Boat Club. Work to be done yet, but a good foundation for the coming months.
The Women’s Beginner Coxed Four event proved to be the highlight of the afternoon for the club, with the junior girls coming only 1.1 seconds behind Edinburgh University – had it not been for a bit of a wobbly moment under Newburn Bridge near the finish then the result could have been even closer. A good row from the girls and a promising start for them for the rest of the head season.
So onto the next day of racing…
Sunday
After the excellent start to the weekend of the racing, hopes were high for what Tyne United could do on the Sunday regattas.
The results from Saturday had seeded the crews into their racing lanes. With a couple of crews re-jigged from the Saturday due to absences and crew rotations this would be a chance for some of the less experienced members of the Men’s squad to do some racing. The racing was especially close at times with one of the fours coming in third behind some very tidy Collingwood College and St Mary’s College crews (having recognised the two strokemen of the first and second place crews from when they were J14’s in Bradford, Gav could be seen wandering off into the distance muttering about how he was getting old). Once again, for two completely scratch crews, a good start to the newly established Men’s Squad at the club.
Unfortunately for the Tyne United athletes, the Durham Colleges had wised up to the benefits of surrounding the heater so they were left to find a table elsewhere and discuss tactics for the upcoming Intermediate Eights Regatta and eat lots of pasta…
The junior girls meanwhile were raring to race. Hannah had decided that the crew should win and from that moment, wiping out the opposition was their plan. Upon briefing Caitlin about the start of the race and making sure that she should only drop her hand if ready to race, Molly finally realised that it was done as a signal of being ready to race – not in case you happen to be lost…
After what seemed an eternity the girls’ race finally happened. Those on the bank and the bridge could hear the DUBC commentary that Tyne United were in the lead off the start and were a length and a half ahead. Sadly Edinburgh University decided that halfway was their point to push through and the girls had to settle for second in the end – a fantastic result for a young lightweight crew against older competitors. Upon briefing at the end, having decided that more time was to be spent on working on balance, Gav asked for any final comments. “I don’t like that boat”. One day Tyne United will finally find a boat that Molly does like (and it will probably be pink).
Back to the Men’s racing. Shortly after the girls had finished racing, there was some seriously impressive racing coming from the Men’s Intermediate Eights. With Luke Dixon in the stroke seat and Wes Maccabe in the seven seat the lightweights set about stroking the boat at a storming rate. Luke managed to have an out of body experience some at some point down the Newburn straight (Hazel found out afterwards that this may have been the effect of being injured in a hockey match the day before…) and Craig in the three seat had never known what a rate above 24 was until that afternoon – now he knew and for someone in their first ever weekend of racing did exceptionally well. The crew came in third, just under a length behind an experienced St Aidan’s College crew and two lengths behind Cuths. Hazel, sitting in the cox’s seat was impressed with the racing, with many of the crew realising that while work needed to be done to improve, this was a good start for 2010 for the Men’s squad.
Final word for the weekend though has to go to those behind the scenes. With many of the Tyne United members helping out on the steps, in the launches and in the kitchen keeping the masses boated, marshalled, fixed and most importantly fed. While this was DUBC’s event and full credit has to go to them for running a great event, thanks as ever has to go to the club volunteers for their support to the crews doing the racing.
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