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. Club members John Garrat, Clive Roberts and John Beattie won Vet B 8+ in a crew billed as a Molesey composite, that featured Steve Redgrave in the six seat.

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