Loughborough Boat Club
Loughborough Boat Club have put in an excellent performance at this year’s Women's Eights Head of the River Race. The crew managed an impressive second place amongst club crews in the Senior 3 category coming in 45th place overall out of the 270 entries in this highlight of the annual rowing calendar. The race is run over the same course as the Oxford v. Cambridge Boat Race but in reverse - a gruelling 4¼ miles from Mortlake to Putney.
In the crew were stroke Sarah Mee, Katey Williams, Emily Clarke, Fiona Richmond, Nat Miles, Elaine Johnstone, Katja Lange and Heather Heylings, with cox Carly Bilsborough. The Loughborough crew completed the course in 22 mins 12 secs in conditions on the Thames which were quite windy with very little stream leading to slow times overall. This was the first time that three of the crew - Miles, Johnstone and Lange – had rowed in the Eights Head, and was the first rowing, rather than sculling, race for Johnstone. It was also the first Eights Head for cox Carly Bilsborough who steered skilfully on a difficult stretch of river.
Coach, George Jones said ‘I’m really pleased with the crew’s result, this is the first race for them as a crew and the mix of very experienced rowers with those newer to the sport seems to have worked well’.
One of the most experienced members of the crew, Sarah Mee, has just heard that her consistently good performance in the open trials means that she has been invited to the final trials for the Great Britain squad. Mee will battle it out with four others over the international course at Hazewinkel in Belgium in the middle of April.