Scotland. Think of it and you think of: Tartan. That film with Mel Gibson doing a naff attempt at a Scottish accent. Sean Connery (making up for Mel Gibson’s naff attempt at a Scottish accent). Rab C Nesbitt. Taggart. Supergran. Take the High Road. Hamish Macbeth. Jim Pitt drinking tea [Supergran being the important one for me - cue the juniors going "Who's Supergran...?" The fools, absolute fools...]
For the brave folk at Tyne United HQ it meant one thing: two days of Strathclyde Park Regatta. Now a firm favourite on our racing calendar, many members of the club headed north in what was for some their first ever taste of regatta racing [oh and this was meant to be my 'holiday']. So cue expedition planning to Strathclyde Country Park.
At this point it has to be made clear that there was the official planning by coaches and committee members, and some less than official planning by members of the junior squad [Hannah/Catherine...]. Needless to say, the unofficial plans did not meet with the agreement of the official planning group and got well and truly stuffed. Nice try Herriot/Pringle – better luck next time…
Anyway, cars were packed, tents were stowed and the masses descended on Motherwell in a slightly nervous way when seeing the funfair by the regatta lake in full swing (or should that be drunken stagger) with the hordes that were the local population [it made the Bigg Market look like a Women's Institute tea party!].
Three base camps were set up: Base Camp Wiggins (the basic three-man tent roughing it), Base Camp Scherczer (the aluminium, high-tech, practically Apple branded iCaravan) and then Base Camp Armstrong (also otherwise known as the Hilton Hotel…)
Needless to say the occupants of Base Camp Wiggins saw the light and made a bolt for Base Camp Scherczer (where they had luxuries such as gas and a kettle) and basked in the relative comfort.
Brian and Julie ensured that male/female segregation of juniors [for whose protection this was we're not willing to comment on] was strictly enforced and that Base Camp Scherczer was for boys and Base Camp Wiggins was for girls (this would soon change with the arrival of Liam and a tent that was almost the size of one of the boatsheds!) and soon everyone settled down to a decent nights pre-racing rest (except for the occupants of Base Camp Scherczer who were harassed by two young females needing their phone charged late at night – Sam, Finn and John remained in their tents in fear for their lives…)
So come Saturday, and everyone made their way to the regatta lake for day one of racing. For the juniors, all of the crews were new combinations, so the trial runs of racing crews would certainly be interesting to watch!
First to race was the boys’ J18 coxless quad of Sam Pearson, John Robson, Josh Pringle and Luke Dixon. Leaving Lancaster RGS well behind in the distance, this was a two-horse race between the J16/J17 crew and the crew from Clydesdale ARC. The experience of the Clydesdale crew won out over the Tyne United boys, but both crews had a storming race with the Clydesdale quad winning in a time of 6.47.75 and the Tyne United quad coming second in 6.54.93
Welcome to the funboat Sam, John, Josh and Luke: OJ18 4x-
Next up were three Tyne United scullers in the WJ16 2x event. Lizzie Verrill and Joy Rylatt teamed up in one double while Hannah Herriot [fresh we believe from her success in an Aberdeen coxless quad???] did a composite with Nicole McEwen from Nithsdale.
Joy & Lizzie: WJ16 2x Strathclyde Park Regatta 2011
Given this was Joy and Lizzie’s first bash in a double scull on a multi-lane course, they sure as hell weren’t going to let that stop them! While first place was going to go to Glasgow Schools, there was an almighty scrap going on from the 1000m mark to see whether it would be our girls or another Nithsdale crew that would take second.
In the end, the Nithsdale crews’ slightly better steering got them the silver spot and Joy and Lizzie claimed the bronze by less than a tenth of a second! Joy was soon to be found proclaiming that she had “found out how to use her legs!” Well done Joy! No excuses on the ergos now…!!!
For Hannah and Nicole it would be a slightly disappointing fifth place, despite a good first 1000m, but Hannah and the Nithsdale girls had a lot more action to come over the weekend.
Despite the fact that this was meant to be the race reporter’s holiday, the multi-lane weather gods decided that good weather at Nottingham was way too much of a reward for Gav, so instead they treated everyone to some lovely rain and drizzle. Thankfully the racing conditions weren’t horrendous so racing wasn’t disrupted too much.
So while the brave expeditionary force of Tyne United regrouped and rallied inside the cafe at the watersports centre, Sam and Finn braved the Scottish weather (as well as the squadrons of mozzies and midges!) and got their singles ready for the J16 1x event.
First up was Sam. Up against two Clydesdale scullers and a Castle Semple sculler, Sam sculled a solid and tactically excellent race. Realising that first place was too hard to fight for, he kept his cool and maintained a long stroke and firm pressure to remain in second and use the second 1000m to push away from the third place Clydesdale sculler. An excellent performance and a good time of 8.19.15
For Finn, he was alas to find out the hard way how on occasions multi-lane racing can be a blessing and a curse. Fresh from a training camp in Milan with Durham School, he was keen to go out there and show the rowing world that he was a lean(er) and mean(er) single sculler than last regatta season. Unfortunately for Finn, his heat was stacked with the event’s top scullers… Despite there being a two second difference between first and third place all the way down the course with Finn constantly battling for the first place position, he was edged into third place with an eye-watering finishing time of 8.04.3. Unfortunately only first and second went through – disappointment, but at the same time a lot of positives, an aggressive and combative race, thrilling from start to finish. Full credit for hanging in there.
Finn: OJ16 1x Strathclyde Park Regatta 2011
Unfortunately disaster was to strike after the race – due to a timing balls up of EPIC proportions, Sam didn’t make it to the final. No-one to blame, but an unfortunate lesson learned.
For both Sam and Finn, the message from Gav was clear: today is done, focus on the double tomorrow and go out and smash it.
And so, the first day was done. Lessons learned, some stunning racing done, and finally the weather gods took sympathy and the sun shone. After a meeting of the adults, it was decided to set forth to Base Camp Wiggins for BBQ (via Asda and Tesco). So while Hannah and Julie headed off to forage for food; the rest made their way back to the campsite.
While Brian transported juniors back in his faithful Land Rover, your humble race reporter decided to see what Paul Armstrong’s new vehicular acquisition was like. I have to say that Paul’s new 4×4 [the same one that is the preferred choice of international terrorists, global revolutionaries and sub-Saharan jihadists I may add] was a pleasant drive [all that was missing was the machine gun on the back and a dozen militiamen hanging off the boot] and I have to say that when I grow up I would possibly like one of these too…
So as we watched with amusement at Liam assembling what could only be described as a tent big enough to park Paul Armstrong’s pickup inside it, the BBQ sizzled, and everyone enjoyed a thoroughly pleasant evening in the sun. The juniors had a good time, not overstepping the mark due to the hawk-like presence of Coach Angela (mess with her at your peril) and we were even entertained by the surreal sight of first Hannah H and then Finn in a rabbit outfit [I did check my cup of tea at this point for hallucinogens...]
The assembled massemade their way back to their accommodation (amid comments from Angela of “boys your tent is THAT way, not towards the girls…” and “girls where do you think YOU’RE going?”) and camped down for what was to be a blooming freezing cold night [Armstrong however it is said was apparently getting his feet massaged and sipping cognac in his penthouse suite at the Hilton while waiting for his butler to run his bath - being junior co-ordinator is tiring business don't you know!]
On the Sunday, the occupants of the various base camps arose from their tents and caravans to brace the chilly Scottish morning and pack up their tents ready for the final days racing. After feeding what seemed like half the junior squad, Base Camp Wiggins was packed up and Hannah W (aka Mrs Gav) began psyching herself up for her race [Mrs Gav: "I need a wee, I'm off to the loo", Gav: "Your race isn't for four hours", Mrs Gav: "That's NOT the point!"]
So while Mrs Gav was having her race induced Tena Lady moment; the rest of the Tyne United masses racing that day made their way to Strathclyde Park. By the time the campsite contingent arrived; Kev Corker, Les Maccabe, Martin and Helen High, Chris Smith and Barbara Millns (and Ben Dawkins – the dog) had arrived and were busy preparing boats for the day’s racing.
Les, Kevin, Paul & Martin: Masters 4x- Gold at last
First up to race were the Masters Coxless Quad of High, Armstrong, Corker and Maccabe. This would be their third assault on the Masters Coxless Quad event and each year they got closer to that elusive gold medal, but would the addition of Paul Armstrong and a winter season’s worth of nagging from Barbara on the ergos and Angela making Kev realise that a six-pack was something on your body not from the local off-license actually pay off…?
Perhaps it was the Chicken Curry induced failure to smash Hexham up at Chester-le-Street, or Paul having a good night’s sleep thanks to his 5 star hotel team; but the crew were in confident form and determined to avenge their last defeat. From start to finish [so much so that apparently Martin High didn't even need to use both blades off the start and only had a grip on one...] the Masters Quad dropped the hammer and didn’t even bother looking back, this race was theirs simple as that. Gold was claimed and Tyne United had its first medals of the weekend!
But before the grin had worn of Les’ face, more action was happening on the water. This time it was the turn of the Masters Women (yes people you heard that correct Masters Women) to make their debut appearance for the club. Over the past couple of months Coach Gav had sacrificed his Sunday’s off to try and mould a disparate rabble of over 27′s [see how I haven't used your real ages there ladies!!!] into a single crack unit that would tear the ladies’ Masters rowing scene in the North apart [well I can hope!]
Julie, Barbara, Hannah W, Helen & Gav (cox): and only Gav was shouting at this point
After a long and torturous process of seeing whether sweep or sculling worked as a four and who would be best in the stroke seat (Hannah W? No – too many domestics, Barbara? No – too much nagging, Julie? No – too much talking), Coach Gav decided upon Helen High in the stroke seat, Hannah W at three, Barbara at two and Julie in the bow. Now who to cox? Unfortunately everyone under 80kg was unavailable to cox, so yet again Gav answered the call (and cursed that last pudding) and got back in the coxes seat [cue moment of hilarity at the weigh in when Gav was informed by a blazered up umpire that he definitely didn't need weighing in... Bastard]
The entire of Scottish Rowing, having heard a rumour that Tyne United were about to deploy their latest weapon of mass destruction [or should that be in our case boat of mass confusion...] upon the Scottish rowing scene, decided to scrap events for Masters Novice Coxed Quads and placed us in against those young guns in the Novice Coxed Quads category (wimps!). This however wouldn’t stop our valiant new quad from racing, so focused were the crew that even Julie managed to stay quiet for (most of) the paddle up to the start.
Having done some starts, bursts, more starts, more bursts, drills, soothing talk, barking of angry orders; Gav managed to get the crew attached onto the stakeboat in a remarkably fast time [
I could have had a bloody cuppa by the time we were ready to start!] Nerves were put to the side and everyone got ready to focus on the first few strokes, and soon enough the crew were away. To say it was their first race as a crew, it was a very solid and aggressive row, Helen High set an excellent rate with some very powerful rowing (and grunting in the last 250m) from Hannah W and Barbara. For the whole 1000m race, Gav never once saw the cap of Julie looking anywhere out of the boat… And so, we came 5th, not last but 5th – a good result for a first race, Gav was somewhat [and still is] rueful that perhaps a cox that was 30kg lighter may have had some impact upon the finishing place, but still everyone enjoyed the row and for half the crew, their first taste of regatta racing
At this point I’d like to request a speaker system for the quad please? While I enjoy shouting, bellowing for an entire outing and then race leaves me a bit squeaky at the end!
But we’re not yet done with the Women’s Novice Coxed quad race just yet. In the lane next to us were some young ladies from Nithsdale – and Hannah Herriot… While her slightly more ‘mature‘ colleagues were slogging it out, the Nithsdale/Tyne United coxed quad were fighting it out for first place, unfortunately they had to settle for silver, but still it was our second medal of the day! Well done to Hannah H and the Nithsdale girls! An excellent result!!
So the “old ones” in the club were done [Catherine Pringle to Hannah W: "Did they have dry shampoo when you were young?"] it was time for a spot of lunch and shopping while the geriatric lot sat down to watch the young ones take over for the afternoon racing.
First up in the afternoon was the J18 coxed four of Josh, Luke, John and Liam with Hannah H coxing. Despite the firepower in the boat, this would always be a hard race with George Watsons, Clydesdale and Aberdeen Schools competing. Needless to say the boys did their usual and gave it their all – the last 250m was the most spectacular with the four ramping the stroke rate up phenomenally to ensure they secured fourth. Very impressive indeed and a crew with potential for the future…
Last crew of the day were Sam and Finn racing in their J16 2x. Time to avenge not making the final. Their instructions were simple: go out fast, keep in the pack, when ready at 750m to go drop the hammer and at the last 250m smash it! Pre-race chat with Gav over, the boys went out to do the business.
The Tyne United peloton was in full force for the juniors’ racing, with Mark Pearson, Paul Armstrong (with rate watch for added cool-ness), and Feargus all watching the crews. Needless to say little Fearg was the fastest…
Talk about saving some of the best till last! As per the trend of races over the weekend, it was to be an absolute stormer! Second off the start and 0.7 seconds behind at the 1000m mark, Sam and Finn were blow for blow from 1000m to the last 250m with the Loch Lomond/Strathclyde crew – absolutely nothing in it, then at the last 250m the Scottish composite made a push – Sam and Finn couldn’t respond, and victory was snatched from them by less than two seconds. While settling for silver, the boys were satisfied with avenging yesterday’s racing and the prospects of a new double emerging on the rowing scene were born.
Gav, Finn, Sam & Angela (not sure who's more pleased)
So overall, some fantastic racing, brilliant atmosphere, excellent club spirit with everyone getting stuck in and cheering each other, and some hilarious moments to boot. For the club, a decent foray into the Scottish rowing circuit and some good friendships formed. A fantastic regatta and the club is looking forward to Strathclyde Park Regatta 2012!
The occupants of Base Camp Wiggins signing off…
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