Tideway Scullers School

Having recently being identified as one of the country's 'hotbeds of senior activity on the water' (© Rowing and Regatta magazine), TSS lived up to its reputation with a successful day out at Henley Veteran Regatta, which is raced over 1k of the boomed course.

The veteran men entered nine boats and came away with medals in the Vet D 4x and Vet G 2-, both of which were comfortable wins. The standard was very high, with many entries composites from more than one club, and others coming from overseas, so this was a very satisfactory result as our entries were all from the regular group of veterans.  There were some close races, with the Vet E 8+ losing to the eventual winners, Marin/Kent Mitchell (a US composite) by three-quarters of a length and the Vet E 4- losing to Wallingford composite by one length. DC

The winning crews were:

Vet D 4x: Mark Alloway, Roger Swift, Chris Williams, Mike Peregrine
Vet G 2-: Mike Knowles, Dave Hudson

Mark Alloway also won Vet E 2x, racing as Potomac.

The veteran women were also out in force, and returned an impressive number of medals.

Jo Al-Janabi and Gilly Williams started things off with a win in WVet E 2x over Durham. The final for WVet D 2x was a three-quarters TSS affair, with Rosemary Thom and Heather Farmbrough lining up against Pauline Bird in a TSS/MAA boat, with the medal going to the composite.

The WVet C 4- (Helen Mangan (London), Kate Grose, Claire McIntosh, Rebecca Caroe (Rob Roy)) got off to a clean start after their coached (thanks, Grant!) outing on Thursday morning. The crew were level for the first hundred metres, at which point Eton Excelsior were warned for their steering and the composite put in a push to break clear. They then built on their push and went on to win by four lengths.

Kate and Pauline then won WVet D 4x in a TSS/Upper Thames/London composite, before racing WVet C 8+. The eight (Helen Mangan (London), Miriam Batten (Henley), Claire McIntosh, Kate Grose, Louise Wymer (UTRC), Jo Wilby (UTRC), Pauline Bird, Jenny Page (UTRC), coxed by Des) had a few changes from the crew that raced at Nat Vets, and a few changes to seating order after the practice outing on Thursday evening. As we always knew, the UK Gold crew (billed as an Agecroft composite) would be putting ud under pressure, which they did immediately, taking a quarter-length lead off the start. As the crew settled into its rhythm UK Gold didn't move away and, as Des called for a push, the TSS composite started to reel them in. The final result was a win by three-quarters of a length, and a very satisfied crew as the kitchen sink had not been thrown in. CM

The GB crew for the non-Olympic World Championships taking place in Linz next week (22-27 July) has been announced.

Alasdair Leighton-Crawford will be racing in the lightweight quad.

The intermediate group's J15 coxed quad won by a canvas on Sunday. The quad, half of whom are still J14s, saw off Guildford in their heat, then beat home team Kingston by a canvas in the final.

The crew - Sebastian, Matthew, Peter and Robert, coxed by Ginnie - were pulled together late in the season when another group member, Ethan, went out for the summer on injury time. When coach Stevo had to up his training for Henley, Kaarin stepped in and set an intensive training regime through the last few weeks, with early morning and midweek sessions that clearly paid off.

Nick S, another member of the intermediate group, won his heat of Junior singles, then came second in the three-boat final.

There was also success for the junior girls: Rachel won WJ14 singles, with Eleanor also reaching the final.

The J16 quad of James, Jonathan, Luke and Aaron contested the GB-France trials at Nottingham on 9th July.

All are J15s except Jonathan, but we thought it worth a try. The trial was a one-off race over 1500m between the five best quads over this summer, and was a really close race. TSS led off the start with York (Nat Schools winners) challenging and briefly taking the lead. TSS pushed away from the 500 to the 1000, where they led by about quarter of a length. Over the next 250 TSS and Peterborough traded pushes, and drew away from the other crews, only for Peterborough to pull away over the last 250 to win by half a length. TSS were second, York third, Tiffin (National Junior Sculling Head winners) fourth and King's Ely fifth. Some five seconds separated the crews. The Peterborough crew had four J15s so performed really well to win, but the TSS crew raced really well to beat the other three crews, who were all J16s.

Club blazers and women's bolero jackets are available for £150 if ordered through the club.

They are made by A. E. Clothier of Cambridge, and the company will arrange for a representative to come to the club by appointment on the first Thursday of each month to take measurements.

Please contact Carl Brighty - kit@tidewayscullers.com - if interested.

Please note that the price is £150, not £125 as previously advertised.

Congratulations to Rachel Knaster, who has been named as a member of the US junior women's quad.

Rachel, who rows for both TSS and the American School in London, will race at the World Rowing Senior and Junior Championships in Linz, from 22nd to 27th July.