J15s Medal at Bradford Regatta in "Tim Lucas"

The omens were good. The trailer right indicator light worked for the first time on hooking up to the hire van at 07:15 at the Army Camp. We then set off to Bradford Regatta with the J15 squad plus new boats. Down the motorway and across the hills, past Burnley and Colne to North Yorkshire. It had been a while since the Club has entered this small regatta run by Bradford Amateur Rowing Club in Shipley near Saltaire. This term, we have targeted two small local regattas to find suitable competition for our juniors.

The competition was a 'knockout' side-by-side sprint race over 600m downstream on the river Aire. Competitors have to align themselves at the start underneath a rope across the river and the cox has to hold a rope and toggle dangling down from this. The course is narrow and winds through woods before opening out towards the finish at the Club house. Crews then have to hold their boats up to prevent them drifting across a weir a short distance beyond the finish line. An interesting proposition for both coxed and coxless boats.

LRGSBC entered J15s in single, double and coxed quad events. Oliver Tidswell got the furthest in J15A single sculls, progressing through three rounds to lose the final by 1 foot to a York City sculler. Adam Fyfe took on a Leeds RC sculler in the final of J15B 1x. Adam was starting to power his way through before he encountered a tree on the bank side and capsized. Credit to Adam to get his scull to the side, get back in and finish the race. Shame the umpires did not warn him about his impending collision with an obstacle.

J15 2x prepares to race

LRGSBC were represented in both the A and B J15 double scull competitions.Oliver Tidswell and Adam Fyfe lost to the eventual winners, York City RC in the quarter-finals of J15A 2x. The two LRGSBC B crew entrants, Decland Hammond & Joe Unwin and Josh Mapp & Daniel Kingcox lost the semi-finals and then finals to Bradford ARC.



The new 2x "Scott & Mason Durant" sees action.

 It was all starting to build to one of the last races of the day. The J15 4x+ final between LRGSBC and Bradford Grammar School. The new boat ("Tim Lucas") was rigged and checked and the crew experienced the regatta nerves that go with this type of competition whilst they waited to be called over the PA system. Then it was time for a final briefing from DY.

Rig the boat



Crew brief



Time to go

The crew were called to the marshalling area for boat checks by the officials. We all gathered in front of the Bradford Grammar School boat house and tried to work out who the opposition was. Safety in numbers. There were two Bradford crews. The A crew were to tackle York City in the A final. We were to take on the B crew in the B final. The new boat shone in the sun. The boat is named "Tim Lucas" after the previous Master i/c Rowing. Tim was also Master i/c Rowing at Bradford Grammar School before moving to LRGS. A fitting place for the boat's first race. Time to get afloat. The omens were good. The Bradford GS cox fell in on the landing stage. DY positioned himself at the mid race point and JPJ in the finishing area ready to give encouragement. The race was off and LRGSBC had a tentative start against their opposition who were on home water. Jacob Watts coxed a good race and took control. The crew started to pull through. The boys then experienced that nervous race feeling of what it is like to be in the lead, keeping focused and not wanting to make any mistakes which would result in losing the race. A case of 'Keep Calm and Carry on'. LRGSBC then started to open up a length's lead and could relax, finding good race rhythm in the final 200m. The verdict was a win for LRGSBC by 2 lengths.

J154x+ cruise through the regatta enclosure









J15s win

Landing Stages

The medal ceremony

Tasting victory

J154x+ s win in "Tim Lucas"

Congratulations go to the J15s and to their coach, David Yates. The culmination of a year's hard work by all. The whole J15 squad performed well and we were unlucky not to come away with more than one regatta win in doubles and single sculls competitions. The new boats were just what was needed and their arrival was very timely. The boys and coaches are very grateful to 'The Friends of LRGS' for providing the funds for the new 2x, and to the generosity of an Old Lancastrian who donated funds which, together with remaining funds in the 'ROCAP' (Rowing Parents Committee) account, allowed us to purchase the 4x+. The regatta was run very well by BARC and provided excellent race experience to this young developing squad. Plans are already being made for which races this squad is aiming to enter next term. They can't wait!



A Silver Medal for Scott at Dorney

Scott and Mason Durant represented GB at the Rowing World Cup at Dorney,Eton. Scott rowed in the Men's Four, winning a silver medal (pictured third from the left on the back row in the photo below) behind the Australians, and Mason rowed the GB 2nd 8+ which came fourth.

The following report is taken from the GB Squad website (race report):

This year 's GB men’s four has a completely new line-up of Alan Sinclair, Nathaniel Reilly-O'Donnell, Scott Durant and Matthew Tarrant, who settled early on into third position in their final behind Australia and Romania, giving themselves work to do in the second half of the race.

Refusing to panic, however, the British settled into a nice rhythm in the second 1000m, rowing through the Romanians into second position and gaining fast on the Australian four. They ran out of racing distance to overhaul the Australians, however, and had to settle for silver – a fine return for the relatively new crew, as Tarrant pointed out. “It’s really great; we have obviously had a crew change,” he said. “We’ve really made some good progress in the past couple of weeks. Really encouraging training at Caversham but Friday was our first day to see if everyone else has stepped on as well.”

Commenting on the tricky racing conditions, Scott Durant added: “It’s pretty tough out there. When you are coming in on a crew like Australia like we were there, you really put yourself in a lot of pain and only feel it when you cross the line. It’s pretty agonising but it’s good to come away with something after a couple of weeks of preparation.”

Men’s Four Results

1. Australia 5:56:40

2. Alan Sinclair/Nathan Reilly-O'Donnell/Scott Durant/Matthew Tarrant (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:57:74

3. Romania 5:59:88

4. New Zealand 6:02:67

5. Norway 1 6;07:68

6. China 6:12:35

Men’s Eight Results

1. Oliver Cook/Daniel Ritchie/Tom Ransley/James Foad/Mohamed Sbihi/William Satch/Pete Reed/Andrew Triggs Hodge/Phelan Hill (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 5:25:93

2. Poland 5:26:36

3. France 5:29:54

4 Matthew Gotrel/James Edwards/Nicholas Middleton/Philip Congdon/Colin Williamson/John Collins/Mason Durant/Lance Tredell/Hnery Fieldman (cox) (GREAT BRITAIN) 2 5:29:76

5. Czech Republic 5:31:64

more photos of the event at the World Cup Rowing website.

The New Boats Arrive.

The new boats were delivered on Saturday at the end of the Half Term break. It took the Wednesday Games afternoons to get the riggers coloured coded as we have new riggers for a 4x+, a 2x and a 8x+ to sort out. That's 14 pairs of sculling riggers (28 riggers) and sweep oar riggers for the four and pair (6). A lot of riggers to work out which boat they belong to.

Thursday Games afternoon was a busy one. JPJ and DY arrived early at lunch time to start the rigging of the boats. Thirty four boys still needed to go rowing as well. It was a boiling hot afternoon and all boys enjoyed perfect rowing weather on the river with DY and RGT. While the boys were on the water JPJ rigged the boats with the help of a Sixth Form and checked all the measurements. By the end of the Thursday Games Session, the coxed four and double scull were rigged and ready to go.

The coxed quad / four is named after the previous rowing Master, Tim Lucas. Tim had a huge effect on developing the Club and was responsible for many regional and national successes over a sustained period of time, as well as building up the pool of boats which many boys have learnt to row in. In fact, part of the money for the coxed quad was raised by ROCAP, the parents committee that he set up and worked with for buying new rowing equipment. This was the last of the ROCAP funds that we needed to spend up. Tim was responsible for encouraging many boys to start rowing and who are now OLs. The purchase of this boat was mainly funded by a generous donation from an OL.

The double scull /pair is named 'Scott & Mason Durant' after our most successful rowers of recent times (current GB oarsmen). The boat was bought with generous funds donated by The Friends of LRGS.

By the end of the session, the current J15s were able to launch 'Tim Lucas' and try it out. The boys were amazed at how smooth and quiet the slides were and were very impressed by the quality of the boat. It is definately a winner!



The new sculling riggers to turn the eight into an octuple have also arrived from ES Rowing and have been fitted. This has been a huge success and the octuple has been racing up and down the river with boys who are learning how to scull. It will be reported on separetly, when I can catch up with them!

We are now working hard and trying to seek funds for some new sculling blades for these new boats and the octuple in time for the Founder's Day weekend and the official launching of the new boats.