Loughborough Boat Club
Sun, snow, wind, rain, sleet and hail! Loughborough Boat Club rowers and scullers had to contend with all the vagaries of the British weather during their trip to Doncaster last Sunday but managed to come away with some creditable performances and two wins.
The 3 mile South Yorkshire Head of the River was an important part of the training schedule for the Club's women's squad in preparation for the Women's Eights Head of the River on the Thames in March, when the Club will be entering two eights. The Club's Senior 2 eight, racing together for the first time, just missed out on winning their event by the smallest of margins to a strong Nottingham University crew - just 0.8 of a second separated the two crews over the 13 1/2 minute race. The eight, stroked by Tess Gaunt, included Kerstine Herbert, Rachel Scott, Anna Henderson, Andrea Cole, Emily Clarke, Caroline Lomax and Sarah Mee, and was coxed by Charlie Horner.
Two of the crew did come away with medals later in the day in single sculls events. Sarah Mee steered a good course on a winding stretch of river to come away with a win in the Senior 3 race and Anna Henderson put in some powerful sculling to win the Senior 2 event.
Another member of the crew achieved her first sculling win two weeks earlier at Stourport Head. On a fast moving River Severn with a strong tailwind, Emily Clarke won the novice single sculls by a margin of more than 10 seconds over her nearest rival in her first ever sculling race - a performance which shows a very promising future.