Tideway Scullers School

The finals weekend at Shunyi brought mixed fortunes for the TSS athletes involved, but congratulations must go to Mahe for his bronze medal in the men's single sculls.

Alan led the men's singles after the first 500, and was in the silver medal position at halfway, with Mahe back in fourth. Mahe then sculled through the field, holding the lead until the last couple of hundred metres when he was rowed down by Tufte of Norway and Synek of the Czech Republic. Alan finished a very creditable fifth, ahead of Karonen of Sweden. There was drama after the race as Mahe, who had been suffering from a stomach bug and, as he later put it, 'just rowed myself to stupidity', had to be rescued by the safety boat and was stretchered off the pontoon, but he made it to the podium to receive his medal.

Tash was also affected by illness, and her Olympic campaign in the women's eight ended in disappointment as she and crewmate Alison Knowles were deemed unfit to race the final. The British boat, with two subs on board, finished fifth in a race dominated by the United States.

The GB lightweight four, stroked by James Clarke, also finished fifth.

A quote from Alan: 'I was fifth best today, but getting in the final was a triumph. I feel empty now,  but I can hold my head up high as I know I did my best. I was really proud to get through the semi final, and with 750 metres to go today, I just couldn't step up but I gave everything I had. I missed five weeks training in the build-up to this which wasn't ideal, but I know I can, and I will train harder. I worked hard this year but I have time on my side and this won't be the last you see of me ... That was an epic race to be in.'

From Mahe: 'I just rowed myself to stupidity, it was hard but you have got to be the best you can be ... It was working with me until 250 to go and the fuel tanks were empty ... If I put everything into the race and come out with something that is not gold, then there is nothing more I could have done. I have never been in such a shape after a race. It is a consolation to be on the podium. That is sport, anything can happen. It didn't quite come off.'

Friday 15th August

Rodrigo raced in the E final of the men's singles, finishing fourth and so twenty-eighth overall.

In the lightweight fours, Rod's Australian crew finished fourth, and so does not progress to the A final, but the Great Britain four, stroked by James Clarke, came third in their semi-final and claimed a spot in the Sunday's final.

Thursday 14th August

Racing was postponed due to an electrical storm and was rescheduled for Friday.

In other news, the New Zealand Herald has a brief interview with Mahe.

And a great quote from Alan on Row2k:

'I've been stepping up each race, and I've stepped it up again today. No messing around. The Greek guy just kept coming and coming. I had to sprint like an electric eel and shoot like a bolt, passing world champion in the angle. I'm feeling 110%, I'm buzzing. I'm going to go home to eat and sleep well tonight, and I'll be back ready for the final. I'm ecstatic - over the moon - to be in the final ... I came here with the intention of producing an Olympic performance. We've all got a chance in this final - I think I've got an underdog's chance. That's a good place to be.'

Wednesday 13th August

Alan, Tash and Mahe are all through to the finals!

Alan and Mahe were drawn in the same semi-final and both progress to Saturday's A final. Alan led the field in the first 500, but was in third place with 1500 metres gone, trailing Ondrej Synek and Mahe by some five seconds. An excellent last five hundred, undersplitting Synek by three seconds and Mahe by six, saw Alan overhaul Mahe to finish second behind Synek. Mahe cruised over the line, 0.33 seconds behind Alan, to take the third qualification spot.

Despite a shaky start in which they were last at the 500-metre mark, the women's eight (featuring Tash) rowed down Germany and Australia to take the third of the four places for Sunday's final, and finished just 1.6 seconds adrift of Canada, who won the repechage over the Netherlands.

A quote from Alan (from the Guardian): 'That is a great one. It is the Olympic final, the first one for me. What can I say? I am ecstatic.'

Monday 11th August

Tash Howard was in the four seat of the Great Britain women's eight that finished second behind the United States in their heat, which was rescheduled after Sunday's weather interruption. The crew finished comfortably ahead of Canada, and go through to Wednesday's repechage.

In the quarter-finals of the men's singles, Mahe just pipped Sweden's Lassi Karonen to win by 0.22 seconds, while Alan finished second behind Marcel Hacker of Germany in his race. Rodrigo came second behind the Iranian sculler in the E/F semi-final, securing his place in the E final.

Sunday 10th August

Former club captain Rod Chisholm was in action, racing in the bow seat of the Australian lightweight coxless four that claimed third place in the heat, which was won by China. The Great Britain four, stroked by Dickie Clarke's son James, was second.

Tash Howard was on the race card, but the heats of the women's eights were postponed due to thunderstorms.

A quote from Rod on rowing for Australia after being born in Britain: 'It's pretty enjoyable, they are a good, fun team. I know the Aussie way now - start like a scalded kangaroo.' (Thanks, again, to Row2k)

Saturday 9th August

The Olympic rowing regatta opened at the Shunyi Olympic Rowing-Canoeing Park in Beijing with strong performances from the trio of TSS scullers in action.

Despite having attended the previous night's opening ceremony as the flag-bearer for New Zealand, Mahe Drysdale won his heat in commanding fashion. Alan Campbell also booked his place in the quarter finals by winning his heat. Rodrigo Ideus Forero led his heat, including the Olaf Tufte, the reigning Olympic champion, off the start but sadly couldn't hold on and finished fifth.

A quote from Alan, courtesy of Row2k.com's excellent Olympics coverage:

'This is my first race since Lucerne, and I raced quite conservatively for me because I normally blast off the start. I was well prepared and had a surge of pace in the last 200m which felt good. I have no injury problems apart from the usual leg pains, etc. My priority is to recover and get ready for the quarter-final. I'm going to take each day as it comes, like stepping stones, and plan to put in more and more along the way and get faster and faster. Hopefully there'll be no hiccups - fingers crossed, legs crossed, toes crossed, everything crossed.'

Five members of TSS raced at the Home International Regatta, held this year on the 1500 metre course at Cardiff Bay.

Katy Smith and Rachael Davies represented Wales in the women's lightweight doubles. They were very pleased with their race, and built on their performance at  Nat Champs. Despite being a length down with 250m to go, a big push and a 'Tom Gale' sprint finish meant that they took third place, just ahead of the Scottish double who had won the bronze medal at Nat Champs.

Will Suthers and Richard Twyman, representing England, finished third in the men's doubles, but were again pleased by their performance. Will and Richard, along with Graham Benton, also raced in the men's quads, finishing fourth.

The club rounded off the main racing season with six medals at Nat Champs, three of which were gold and all in sculling events.

Elaine Johnstone dominated the women's lightweight single sculls from the start, capitalising on strong performances in her heat and semi-final to finish twenty seconds clear of the silver medallist in the final.

The men's lightweight quad of Jamie Halliday, Jamie Pine, Stan Livy and Simon Suthers had a straight final on the Sunday and came home comfortably composed in a tight race for the gold medal. In the women's lightweight quad, Elaine Johnstone and Lizzie Stutters raced in a TSS/Vesta/London composite that pipped a Scottish composite for silver by just 0.7 seconds.

Further success in senior quads came from the men's heavyweight crew of Richard Twyman, Andy Young, Toby Marshall and Toby Arbeid who won bronze.

The third gold medal  came courtesy of the junior men, who won J15 coxed quads as a TSS/Dulwich College composite (James was officially rowing for his school).  Despite being last after 250 metres, the crew of James, Thomas, Luke and Aaron, coxed by Ross (borrowed from Maidstone Invicta) sculled through the field to win by a third of a length. 

A couple of hours before this, Aaron had raced in the J15 singles final. Mr Chung of Peterborough, a real class act, sculled away from everyone but Aaron hung on in the following pack for a richly deserved bronze medal after a very good scull.

Katy Smith will be representing Wales at the Home International Regatta in Cardiff, with her lightweight doubles partner, Rachael Davies of TSS and IC. They will be joined by Richard Twyman, Will Suthers and Graham Benton, representing England.

TSS members were invited to take part in a veteran quads race held alongside the Lords v Commons Parliamentary Boat Race, as Anthony Jones reports:

The TSS quad (Anthony Yates, Francis Pinkerton, Anthony Jones and Peter Watts), in a borrowed London boat, paddled down to Westminster from Putney on appalling water at the top of the tide. We then raced a Vesta 4x only a couple of years older and beat them, still in very rough conditions, by three-quarters of a length. We then retired to the House of Lords terrace for a glass of bubbly and a bun, and were given a medal each. Finally we paddled back to Putney on water now glassy smooth, thank goodness - it's quite long way.

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