Loughborough Boat Club
This has been a year of cancelled races in the rowing calendar due to flooded rivers. Loughborough Boat Club women’s squad is currently in training for the Women’s Eights Head on the Thames in March and getting some racing in was crucial, so they headed east to Boston in Lincolnshire where the water conditions have been more predictable – and returned with a win.
The Senior 2 Eight braved the freezing conditions to beat their nearest rivals Norwich by 7 seconds over the 3000m course. Emily Clarke, in her first race in the eight’s stroke seat, set up an excellent rhythm for Fiona Richmond, Caroline Lomax, Pauline Barrett, Jo Coulson, Isabel Kingston, Ruth Amos and Mary Carswell. Cox Amanda Hibell took advantage of the stream and made the most of opportunities to pull past other crews.
Both Pauline Barrett and Ruth Amos narrowly missed out on other wins, each by just a few seconds. Barrett came second in the Women’s Novice Single Sculls and Amos partnered with Clare Wilson to come second in the Women’s Senior 2 Double Sculls.
Emily Clarke and Fiona Richmond will be making the trip back to Boston this weekend when they compete in the Great Britain trials. They will be racing against other GB hopefuls as well as members of the successful 2000 Olympics squad.
The next outing for the club in the lead-up to the Thames race will be the Trent Head in Nottingham on 18th February when several hundred boats will compete over a four mile course.