Loughborough Boat Club
Months of hard work and commitment paid off for four members of Loughborough Boat Club when they took a bronze medal at the National Championships at Nottingham's Holme Pierrepont.
The Women's Quadruple Scull of Sarah Mee, Rachel Scott, Emily Clarke and Tess Gaunt put in a solid performance during the Saturday heats when they took second place in their heat, giving them a place in the final without the need for a further race in the repechage.
Sunday saw calm sunny conditions for the final. 500m into the 2000m course Molesey had taken an early lead with a two second advantage over the second placed Hereford/Maidenhead composite; the Loughborough crew were just a second behind and nearly two seconds ahead of Thames/Upper Thames. The crews then battled it out over the rest of the course with none of them willing to give way and everyone pushing hard. As they came into the last 250m the order had not shifted and the gaps between crews almost the same. The Thames/Upper Thames crew tried for a last minute push but only managed to pull back half a second on the Loughborough crew. As they came over the line Molesey took the gold with a 3½ second lead over Hereford/Maidenhead who took the silver with Loughborough taking the bronze just over a second later in a time of 7mins 12 secs.
Crew coach George Jones said 'The crew have put a terrific amount of work into this with a demanding training schedule but it has really paid off. It is a significant achievement for a small club such as Loughborough to achieve a national medal in such a competitive event as the Women's Quad.'