Head of the Soar Results

A strong field of entrants competed for honours at Loughborough Boat Club’s “Soar Head” rowing competition last Sunday, including 17 crews from the home club.

Teams travelled to Loughborough from clubs in Leicester, Nottingham and Burton on Trent and a very strong contingent of regulars came down from Doncaster .

Conditions for the event were as tough as many crews could handle. So it was all credit to the competitors for putting in such good times.

The best time of the day of 12 minutes 35 seconds was recorded by rowers from Leicester Rowing Club in the Senior Coxed Four. The Leicester A crew were just ahead of Leicester B, with the Loughborough senior four coming in third.

Loughborough rowers took the honours in several classes of the day, including the Veteran’s Coxed Four, the Junior 18 Quad, the Novice Coxed Quad, Womens’ Novice Double Sculls, and the Senior Single Sculls.

Loughborough captain Keith Hudson singled out several of the junior crews, which had achieved excellent times in spite of the harsh conditions.

“Our Junior 18 Quad win was terrific, particularly if you consider that the average age of the crew was 15. These boys really were punching above their weight. Brothers Matt and Jonny Day, Sam Morris and Ed Fisher have great potential and I can see them performing well next season. Ed Fisher only took up rowing this time last year as a 13 year old. He won earlier this year at York in Junior Double Sculls with Jonny Day, and this victory in the Quad marks him out as a young athlete with a great future”.

“We entered novice crews in several categories with great success. We had rowers from many of the local schools and it was great to see them working together as crews. Two teams of Welbeck College rowers took honours for Loughborough. Burghley College and De Lisle were represented for the boys and another crew of girls from Loughborough High School and Our Lady’s Convent put in a very respectable time in the Womens’ Novice Coxed Quad.”

“The whole junior squad has developed very quickly and it is all credit to their commitment to improving their technique and stamina. We had a situation on Sunday where 16 year old Rachel Thorpe, who only started rowing a few months ago, together with Tom Lange, put in the 19^th fastest time of the whole event racing in the Senior Mixed Double Sculls. They should be really delighted”.