Quintin Second in World Masters Men's Team Table

Club Sculls Photos

It was a pleasant, sunny morning for this year's club sculling championship and sculling handicap race, which got underway soon after the scheduled start time of 10:15 am. Alex Miller led off the procession and increased his advantage to win the overall title of club sculling champion, in a time of 18 min. 3 sec. Ken Almand returned to form, coming second and beating Mark O'Brien into third place, reversing last year's result and also earning him a bottle of wine for the fastest Masters B-E sculler. Tom Bishop, finishing fourth, was the fastest of the older Masters and also received a bottle of wine. Beks Edgar was seventh overall and won the sealed handicap race for the Finlayson Cup.

The full results of the race may be found at ../sculling/results.php?ref=2017.

The club's Annual General Meeting took place at midday. Full minutes will be published in due course. The new committee for 2017-18 is as follows:

• Captain: Mark Chatwin
• Vice-captain: Jason Bowyer
• Vice-captain: Kierhan Brown
• Secretary: Malcolm Cook
• Treasurer: Bill Burbage
• Committee Members:
  • Duncan Hughes
  • Dave King
  • Graham Lloyd
  • Geoff Peel

Photographs of the event may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=2657.

Bled Photos

"The best rowing course in the world" - well at least one of the prettiest. Our fifteen intrepid masters set off for Lake Bled with high hopes for the thirty races for which we had entered, but first places were somewhat elusive. Tom Bishop took his usual, large haul - ten medals, while the rest of the squad added another one. That said, there were eight second places and several thirds and fourths and we discovered at the end of the regatta that all single-club entries counted towards the newly-instigated men's victor ludorum trophy. As a result the club finished SECOND IN THE WORLD, beaten only by the ridiculously successful Moscow Dynamo. Initially Occoquan International (ostensibly from the USA but with members from all over) were placed second, but later removed, presumably with the recognition that their crews were international composites.

There are many stories to be told about the races, most of which will have to be related at the Quintin bar, but a couple are worth a mention regarding the G eights and the E eights. First, our G eights heat: there was a conflict of interests here as Tom Bishop was racing in a Quintin / Dart Totnes / Wallingford / Upper Thames / Ardingly composite against the all Quintin crew. To our dismay we discovered just before the race that the speaker wires in the Quintin boat had parted company with the cox box plug and we were going to have to race without a sound system. The race itself was very tight, with only 0.34 of a second separating the crews at halfway. In the closing stages Quintin were closing the gap with every stroke but the composite put in a final push to win by 0.48 sec. The general feeling after the race was that, had Hilary had the use of the speaker system we might just have won.

But we did win the E eights! The irony of this is that we only entered this event after deciding that racing three coxed fours all in the same (coxed fours) event would not be practicable. Such is the way the cookie crumbles!

To this win may be added Tom's in G single sculls and H single sculls, and, in composite crews, G double sculls, G coxless fours, H coxless fours, H quad sculls, G eights, H eights (also with Graham Bagnall), mixed F double sculls and mixed F quad sculls, his best haul ever, we believe.

The wins are all recorded on our Regatta Wins page...

.. and these wins must surely close this year's Potwinners Chart with Tom Bishop out in front.

Summary of our Races and Team Points

The race numbers are hyperlinks to the full results for that heat (pdf format), including names of all crew members. The full results may be downloaded from http://www.worldrowing.com/events/2017-world-rowing-masters-regatta/event-information.

Notes

In race 1115 G4-, QBC (Meaney) were hit at halfway by the neighbouring Netherlands/GB composite crossing into their lane, but still finished second.
In race 2141 F4-, QBC (Hyslop) were totally underboated in a borrowed boat in rough conditions.
In race 4016 G4+, QBC (Meaney) had a negative fade on the second 500m, which was the fastest second 500m of all the G4+ heats. Shame about the first 500!

Here is an image of the top part of the men's team trophy table:

Our Team

Oarsmen: Steve Aquilina, Graham Bagnall, Tom Bishop, Andrew Bramah, John Ferrario, Jonathan Ferris, Roger Hine, Ian Hyslop, Fred Jefferies, Huw Jones, Bruce Lamka, Richard Lonergan, Pete Meaney, Geoff Peel and Andy Tompkins.
Coxswains: Hilary Cook, Lawrence Edwards, Laura Grennan-Heaven, Fergus Robertson and Helena Smalman Smith. Thanks to Hilary and Geoff for organising the coxing.

The team would also like to congratulate the women of Upper Thames Rowing Club, who won the women's team trophy. Both the men's and the women's team trophy tables may be accessed in full here.

Photographs of the event may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=2617.

Our masters will be heading off to Slovenia in a couple of weeks time for the World Rowing Masters Regatta in Bled. A squad of fifteen will be flying the Quintin colours. Apart, obviously, from his single sculls, Tom Bishop will be competing in composite crews with Wallingford and other rowing clubs, but the remainder of our entries consist of all-Quintin masters. Willy Almand and Dick Findlay will also be competing, but in Upper Thames and Occoquan colours respectively. The entries with a Quintin interest are as follows, with Tom's composite entries marked with an asterisk:

Wednesday, 6th September

• 12:06 E4+ Huw Jones, Steve Aquilina, Fred Jefferies, Richard Lonergan
• 12:09 E4+ John Ferrario, Bruce Lamka, Andy Tompkins, Pete Meaney
• 12:24 H2x Tom Bishop*
• 17:56 G4- Geoff Peel, Graham Bagnall, Pete Meaney, Jonathen Ferris
• 17:59 G4- Andrew Bramah, Roger Hine, Andy Tompkins, ian Hyslop
• 17:59 G4- Tom Bishop*

Thursday, 7th September

• 08:03 F2x Steve Aquilina, Ian Hyslop
• 11:06 G8+ Graham Bagnall, Roger Hine, Andrew Bramah, Bruce Lamka, Jonathan Ferris, Ian Hyslop, Geoff Peel, Richard Lonergan
• 11:06 G8+ Tom Bishop*
• 13:20 H1x Tom Bishop
• 14:22 F4- Huw Jones, Roger Hine, Fred Jefferies, Richard Lonergan
• 14:25 F4- John Ferrario, Jonathan Ferris, Andrew Bramah, Ian Hyslop
• 14:28 F4- Geoff Peel, Pete Meaney, Andy Tompkins, Steve Aquilina
• 16:49 G4x Geoff Peel, Graham Bagnall, Andy Tompkins, Pete Meaney
• 16:55 G4x Tom Bishop*

Friday, 8th September

• 08:49 G2- Andrew Bramah, Roger Hine
• 10:50 H4- Tom Bishop*
• 11:55 F4x Steve Aquilina, Andy Tompkins, Pete Meaney, Ian Hyslop
• 16:11 E4- Huw Jones, Steve Aquilina, Fred Jefferies, Richard Lonergan
• 17:16 H4+ Tom Bishop*
• 18:38 F8+ Huw Jones, Graham Bagnall, John Ferrario, Ian Hyslop, Geoff Peel, Steve Aquilina, Fred Jefferies, Richard Lonergan

Saturday, 9th Spetember

• 07:45 G4+ Graham Bagnall, Roger Hine, Jonathan Ferris, Pete Meaney
• 07:48 G4+ Andrew Bramah, Bruce Lamka, Geoff Peel, Ian Hyslop
• 09:33 E8+ Huw Jones, Andy Tompkins, John Ferrario, Ian Hyslop, Pete Meaney, Steve Aqulina, Fred Jefferies, Richard Lonergan
• 09:57 H4x Tom Bishop*
• 11:20 F4+ Huw Jones, Ian Hyslop, Steve Aquilina, Richar dLonergan
• 11:32 F4+ Andrew Bramah, Roger Hine, Geoff Peel, Jonathan Ferris
• 14:27 G1x Tom Bishop
• 17;18 H8+ Tom Bishop*
• 18:09 F2- Bruce Lamka, Steve Aquilina

Sunday, 10th September

Mixed races - entries close on Friday, 8th September. Tom is already entered for Mixed F 2x and Mixed F 4x.

Full details are available from the regatta website at http://www.wrmr2017.com/.

Some of our Stourport Winners

Quintin enjoyed a very successful weekend at Stourport Regatta, with every QBC competitor winning at least one event. As usual there was some very close racing, a bit of aggressive steering (but just one disqualification this year), sore heads on Sunday morning and decent weather for camping! A first for us however, was some kit controversy with a threat of disqualification for the MxIM2 2x (entered as QBC/QBC but branded as QBC/TSS). Luckily it was just a warning and the win was allowed to stand.

Details of our Saturday wins and the personnel involved may be found here...

... and details for Sunday may be found here.

The Potwinners Chart also takes on a new look.

Photographs of the event may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=2613.

The club has nine entries for Stourport Regatta on Saturday and thirteen for Stourport Sprint on Sunday:

Saturday

• 9:40 - IM3 1x semi-final - Alex Burton vs. Darling (Army RC)
• 9:43 - IM3 1x semi-final - Kierhan Brown vs. Unwin (Worcester RC)
• 9:47 - IM3 4+ semi-final - vs. Leicester RC
• 11:25 Sen 4x- semi-final - vs. Burton Leander
• 11:49 WMasB 1x final - Beks Edgar vs. Staite (Evesham)
• 12:53 IM2 2x final - vs. Bewdley
• 13:04 IM3 2x final - vs. Warwick BC
• 14:15 Mx Mas A/B 2x final - vs. Warwick BC
• 15:07 Mx IM2 2x final - vs. Evesham

Sunday

• 08:25 IM3 1x heat - Kierhan Brown vs. Norton (Upton)
• 08:30 IM3 1x heat - Alex Burton vs. Oliver (Upton)
• 08:50 Nov 1x heat - Graham Davies vs. Cook (Leicester)
• 10:17 IM3 4+ semi-final - vs. Bewdley/Navy
• 11:00 Mx Mas B/C 2x final -vs. Bradford-on-Avon
• 11:10 Mas A 1x semi-final - Alex Miller vs. Lucey (Warwick BC)
• 11:32 IM3 2x semi-final - vs. Burton Leander
• 12:45 Sen 4x- final - vs. Burton Leander
• 12:52 WMas B/C 1x semi-final - Beks Edgar vs. Staite (Evesham) - again!
• 13:45 IM1 2x final - vs. Bewdley or winner Saturday
• 14:10 Mx IM2 8+ final - vs. Bewdley
• 15:10 Mx IM2 2x final - vs. Evesham
• 16:25 WMas A 1x final - Beks Edgar vs. Staniforth (Ironbridge)

The full draw for both days may be found at https://stourportbc.co.uk/stourport-regatta-2017/. Have fun, everyone!

And those readers using a wide screen may have noticed we have a new background to our website. We also have a new home page. Take a look and feedback any comments to web@quintinboatclub.org.

Courtesy of Sakti Narayan, we have three more videos of our winning eights at Henley Masters.

First, the F eights final against Durham. There is a video of the F eights final against Durham on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0plQm3M8bE

Second, the G eights semi-final against Durham / Upper Thames. There is a video of the G eights semi-final against Durham / Upper Thames on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mklWT-D9bWs

Finally, the G eights final against Upper Thames. There is a video of the G eights final against Upper Thames on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0DAd_l9xAuE

For the race report see our article Five Wins at Henley Masters Regatta.

In the end, only our IM3 coxed four raced on Saturday, the IM3 eight and the mixed senior double scull having withdrawn. In their semi final the four beat an RAF crew by 1¼ lengths with Twickenham a further 2 lengths behind. In the final they came second to Henley RC by 2½ lengths with another RAF crew 2¼ lengths behind. Crews will, no doubt, now be in training for the Stourport extravaganza in two weeks' time.

The club has three entries for Henley Town and Visitors' Regatta this coming Saturday: an IM3 eight, an IM3 coxed four and, in a composite with Green Templeton BC, Oxford, a mixed Senior double scull, the latter comprising Jon Brown and his sister, Jess.

The provisional programme has our four racing first in Race 45 at 11:34, on the centre station against RAF RC on Bucks and Twickenham RC on Berks. The mixed double is in race 131 at 15:49 on the Bucks station against Stratford-upon-Avon BC. The eight races in race 147 at 16:57 on the Bucks station against Oxford Academicals RC. These are all semi-finals. Good luck everyone!

Beks Edgar was representing Wales at the Home International over the weekend. She was competing in women's lightweight double sculls and in women's coxless fours. Both events were quite a challenge as the crews had not rowed together before and all were doubling or trebling up in events. The four did not even get a chance to practise and was outpaced by regular club crews from the other home countries, with England taking first place. In the sculls Beks and her partner, Lucy Iball of Grosevnor RC, fared considerably better and were unlucky not to win. Here is Beks' own story:

"At HIR today in Scotland, we had a very narrow defeat in the lightweight womens double. It was an eventful race in incredibly challenging and blustery conditions with a straight cross wind across the course in Strathclyde. I was racing with Lucy Iball of Grosevnor; we only met on Friday the day before the regatta when equally challenging conditions limited our practice to a 4km lap of the course. So we went into the race not sure what to expect.

"Lucy caught her blade about ten strokes off the start but we recovered quickly and stayed composed and had rowed into the lead by the first marker. We continued to lead the majority of the race but as the course opened up in the middle of the lake and conditions worsened we struggled at times with steering and Lucy caught her blade once again. On these occasions the lead we had pulled out on the Scots reduced a bit. Coming into the last few hundred metres we were leading and continued to lead but as a scratch crew in the surge for the line we just lacked the boat speed of some of the more eatbalished combinations and were overtaken by Scotland for the win in the final stages. We were gutted not to have held on but proud to have come so close."

We mentioned in our report on Henley Masters Regatta that Beks Edgar had been selected for the Welsh rowing team at the home international at Strathclyde Park this weekend. We can now reveal that Beks will be in the lightweight women's double scull with Lucy Iball of Grosvenor RC and bow steers in the women's coxless four with Bethan Walters (Agecroft), Kate Silverthorne (Agecroft) and Steph Clutterbuck (Bath Uni). Good luck Beks!

And a footnote to our Henley Masters report - videos of the Masters F eights final against Durham and the G eights semi-final against Durham / Upper Thames are available on YouTube - see the foot of the original article below.

Quintin had two entries for the 150th anniversary Molesey Amateur Regatta on July 15th. Our IM3 coxed four had a tough semi-final draw against a young crew from Molesey and after being called back for a re-start after some aggresive steering from Quintin off the first start the crew went on to loose narrowly by ½ length. Molesey went on to beat Eton Excelsior by 1½ lengths in the final.

Beks Edgar raced shortly after the four in the women's Masters A-B single sculls. In the first race she dispatched A. Pesola from Furnivall by 4 lengths and then went on to beat A. Gray from Guildford by 4½ lengths in the final. As it was the regatta's 150th anniversary competitors got commemorative medals to mark the occasion.

Beks is now on a par with Tom Bishop at the top of the Potwinners Chart.

Henley Masters Photos

All our competitors came away with one or two medals at Henley Masters Regatta at the weekend. With several heats to get through, racing started for us on Friday morning when Beks Edgar raced in the QBC/MAABC composite women's Masters B double scull against North Staffs RC, winning by 3½ lengths in a time of 4 min. 23 sec. The double then raced again in the afternoon, unfortunately losing to Strathclyde Park by 1¾ lengths in a much faster winning time of 4 min. 4 sec. In between these heats our Masters F eight raced Marlow RC, winning by 1½ lengths in 3 min. 24 sec. Tom Bishop had two races on Friday, beating Dart Totnes easily with Charles Parry of Wallingford in a time of 3 min. 58 sec. in Masters H double sculls and then in a QBC/Wallingford RC/Durham ARC composite beating the international composite from Christiania Rokclub (Norway) and Cambridge BC (USA) in Masters H quad sculls by 1¼ lengths in 3 min. 42 sec.

On Saturday, Beks was due to race in the composite MAA/QBC/TSS women's Masters B eight, but when they came to assemble their boat they found they had brought the wrong set of riggers with them. Fortunately via a contact made by Tom Bishop, Wallingford kindly leant them a boat, for which the crew are very grateful, and they went on to dispatch Cambridge 99 RC by 1¼ lengths in 3 min. 30sec. to earn a place in the final. Our Masters F eight's semi-final was just before this race when they had a comfortable win of 2½ lengths over Walbrook RC in the same time as their previous heat - 3 min. 24.sec. The surprise (at least to some) in this event was in the other semi-final, where Durham ARC beat Crabtree by a canvas in 3 min. 18 sec.

Next on for Quintin was our Masters G eight, racing Durham ARC / Upper Thames RC to win the opportunity to race a full Upper Thames crew in the final. In a closely fought race the Durham composite took an early lead but then Quintin settled into a steady rhythm, rating 34-35 and underrating the opposition and inched into a small but impenetrable lead. The final verdict was ½ length to Quintin in a time of 3 min. 23 sec.

Two races later was Tom and Charles' final in Masters H double sculls against a Guildford / Southsea RC composite which they won by 3½ lengths in a time of 3 min. 46 sec, chalking up the first of our five wins. Just over an hour later they chalked up our second win, beating Upper Thames RC easily in the Masters H quad sculls in a time of 3 min. 46 sec. This was closely followed by the final of women's Masters B eights, where Beks' composite crew beat Thames RC by 4½ lengths in 3 min. 29 sec, chalking up our third win. Beks has now been selected to represent Wales for the Home International Regatta on 22nd July (see http://www.welshrowing.com/archive.php?news_id=285).

This just left our two men's eights to race - first the final of Masters F against Durham. Here the Quintin crew was surprised to establish an early lead in a closely fought contest, crossing the line 1/3 length ahead of Durham in a time of 3 min. 22 sec. Then, an hour and a half later, in the last race of the day, our Masters G eight took on the might of Upper Thames, who had a number of ex-internationals on board, including our own Willy Almand. Setting off rating in the 40s and maintaining 37 strokes a minute through into the second minute of the race our crew established a cruising speed fractionally faster than the opposition and drew away to win by 2/3 of a length in a time of 3 min. 24 sec, thus completing our five wins.

Commiserations to Geoff Peel who sustained a back injury and was unable to compete after the first round of the F eights. He was replaced in the F eight by Andrew Bramah and in the G eight by Andy Tompkins. And so Andrew Bramah joined Roger Hine, Ian Hyslop and Jane Adams in their double victories in both F and G eights. Fred Jefferies also sustained an injury during the first heat of F eights and was replaced by Charles Harrison.

Details of the winning personnel may be found on our Regatta Wins page.

Here is a video of the F eights final against Durham. There is a video of the F eights final against Durham on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESI7tyuuW38

Here is a video of the G eights semi-final against Durham / UTRC, mostly featuring the Durham crew. There is a video of the G eights semi-final against Durham / UTRC, mostly featuring the Durham crew, on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2Z2U6_rt8c

Also see our article More Videos from Henley Masters.

Photographs of the event may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=2605.

For those of you who would like a bit of background to the coach of our first squad there is an online article in the Henley Standard, giving a potted history of Fred's illustrious career in our sport. This includes a mention of his participation in the Quintin eight that won the National Championship eights in 1973.

Henley Photos

On Wednesday our Wyfold four raced the selected London Rowing Club crew, who proved too strong for them, the final distance being 2¼ lengths. London progressed to the quarter finals where they lost to U.T.S. Haberfield, Australia.

Here is the video of our Wyfold Cup race: ... the video of the Wyfold Cup race may be viewed on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/v/9Qys8bgYuGE

Details of our Wyfolds crew and the race times may be found in our Henley Records.

On Thursday our Britannia four raced a crew from the same Australian club, losing by 1½ lengths. The U.T.S. Haberfield coxed four went on to contest the semi-final, where they lost to St. Andrew B.C.

Here is the video of our Britannia Cup race: ... the video of the BritanniaCup race may be viewed on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/v/3MiEQLqKvU4

Details of our Britannia Cup crew and the race times may be found in our Henley Records.

Photographs of the event may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=2599.

The draw for Henley Royal Regatta was made yesterday afternoon. Our Wyfold Four has drawn the selected London RC crew, while our Britannia Four has drawn U.T.S. Haberfield RC from Australia. Our Thames Cup eight failed to qualify in the time trial on Friday, completing the course in a time of 7 min. 3.1 sec.

Details of the Thames Cup crew may be found in our Henley Records.

The full draw for the regatta may be downloaded from https://www.hrr.co.uk/sites/henleyregatta/files/Henley%20Royal%20Regatta%20Draw%202017.pdf.

Footnote: Monday 26 June

The Wyfold four's race on Wednesday is at 2:15 pm. The Britannia four's first round heat is on Thursday.

The club has an interest in six events at Henley Masters Regatta, with two all-Quintin crews and four composites. Racing takes place over Friday and Saturday.

Friday

• Race 17 @ 10:04 - WMas B 2x - QBC/MAABC vs. North Staffs RC.
• Race 54 @ 12:32 - Mas F 8+ - QBC vs. Marlow RC
• Race 85 @14:40 - Mas H 2x - QBC/Wallingford RC vs. Dart Totnes ARC
• Race 105 @ 16:00 - WMas B 2x - winner race 17 vs. Strathclyde Park or Guildford RC
• Race 115 @ 16:44 - Mas H 4X - Durham ARC / QBC / Wallingford RC vs.Christiania Roklub (Norway) / Cambridge BC (USA)
• Race 121 @ 17:08 - WMas B 8+ - MAABC / QBC / TSS vs. Cambridge 99 RC

Saturday

• Race 230 @ 9:56 - Mas F 8+ -winner race 54 vs. Walbrook RC
• Race 272 @12:48 - Mas G 8+ - QBC vs. Durham ARC / Upper Thames RC
• Race 274 @ 13:04 - Mas H 2x - FINAL
• Race 287 @ 13:56 - WMas B 2x - FINAL
• Race 294 @14:24 - Mas H 4x - FINAL
• Race 298 @ 14:40 - WMas B 8+ - FINAL
• Race 323 @ 16:20 - Mas F 8+ - FINAL
• Race 346 @17:52 - Mas G 8+ - FINAL

This year we have three entries at Henley. Our Wyfold four and Britannia four have been put straight through to the Wednesday of the regatta. Our Thames Cup eight will be in the qualifying races this Friday afternoon. It is one of 27 crews racing for 9 places. They race at 2:45pm. All support on the bank would be much appreciated. Jon Brown originally entered the Diamond Sculls but has since withdrawn.

The club had two entries at Marlow Regatta on Saturday, a coxed four and an eight. The coxed four was entered (erroneosuly) in Championship Fours and the eight was in Club Eights. The four were outclassed, finished 12th of 12 in the time trial and sixth in the B final. The eight just failed to qualify for the A final, finishing 7th in the time trial, but won the B final comfortably, over six seconds ahead of their closest rivals.

The full results from the regatta may be downloaded from http://www.themarlowregatta.com/fs/downloads/2017_regatta/Marlow2017Results.pdf.

Beks Edgar and her partner L Cardwell from MAABC were competing in Elite lightweight coxless pairs at Henley Women's Regatta on Friday. They lost to the eventual losing finjalists, the University of London, by four lengths. Full results for the event may be found at http://hwr.org.uk/results-archice/.

Dennis as oarsman

Dennis as coach

We have recently learned that former Quintin member Dennis Body died on Monday, 5th June. Dennis represented the club at Henley Royal Regatta in the Thames Cup in 1949, 1950, 1952 and 1953 and in the Wyfold Cup in 1952 and 1953. He was captain of the club in 1960, by which time he was coaching the club's junior oarsmen (in the old, non-age-related sense). His daughter, Gillian, said that although he had deteriorated physically his mind remained sharp right to the end.

A photograph of Dennis rowing in France may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=85.

A photograph of Dennis as coach may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=116.

Beks Edgar will be representing the club at Henley Women's Regatta over the weekend. She is competing in Elite lightweignt coxless pairs in a composite with Mortlake Anglian and Alpha BC. Their first heat is on Friday at 13:24 when they meet a pair from the University of London. If they win they go through to a quarter-final where they will meet Glasgow University.

The club has two entries for Marlow Regatta on Saturday: a coxed four has been placed in Championship Coxed Fours and an eight will compete in Club Eights. Both crews will row in time trials to determine their next race. The time trial for the four is at 10:25 am and that for the eight is at 12:25 pm. All support at Dorney would be welcome.

Another multi-lane regatta was curtailed due to the weather this weekend when racing was abandoned on the second afternoon of the two-day British Rowing Masters Championships at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham. Throughout the weekend the SW wind was blowing strongly up and slightly across the course, giving the lower numbered lanes the slight advantage of some shelter, but conditions were difficult for all and ultimately proved impossible. That said, there was some good racing to be had and Quintin came away with a share in three gold and two silver medals over the two days. In the championship events, racing was split between sculling on Saturday and sweep oar on Sunday. The club's resutls were as follows:

Saturday

First to race were Steve Aquilina and Ian Hyslop in a four-boat heat of Masters F double sculls, where they just managed to qualify for the final in third place:

In the final they were just squeezed out of the medals in lane 6:

As the day wore on the wind speed picked up and the waves increased in size. First to race for us in the afternoon was our Masters F quadruple scull of Geoff Peel, Tom Bishop, Steve Aquilina and Ian Hyslop. In a straight final of four crews our old rivals Ardlingly proved the faster in lane 2 but Quintin took silver in lane 5:

Quintin were up against Ardnigly yet again in a heat of Masters G double sculls, with Geoff Peel and Graham Bagnall sculling for Quintin. In this heat Durham took first place, followed by Ardingly, but Quintin, although a little off the pace in lane 5, qualified for the final well ahead of the rest of the field.

In the final, in the ever worsening conditions, our double were completely out of the race in lane 6 in sixth position.

In between Geoff and Graham's two races was the final of Masters H double sculls, with Tom Bishop representing the club and Charles Parry representing Wallingford in a three-boat final. Tom and Charles, again in an unfavoured lane (lane 5) won comfortably, rating 29 over the whole course.

Sunday

The weather forecast for Sunday was not good, with even stronger winds expected, and this proved to be the case. First to race for Quintin was our Masters G coxed four of Graham Bagnall, Bruce Lamka, Andrew Bramah and Jonathan Ferris, with Hilary Cook steering. In a closely fought contest they held off Bedford RC to take the gold medals in a five-boat race:

An hour later it was the turn of our two evenly matched Masters F coxless fours to race each other and the rest of the six-boat field. John Ferrario, Tom Bishop, Charles Parry (Wallingford RC) and Steve Aquilina were in lane 1 and Huw Jones, Roger Hine, Pete Meaney and Richard Lonergan were in lane 6, so it was interesting to see who might come out on top. In the end, the hardest part was for the officials to get the race away. Two races before us was the final of women's Masters F eights and Marlow had such difficulty trying to attach to the pontoon that a free start was ordered (this became the norm for the rest of the programme). Finally they got away, followed by the final of women's E/F coxless pairs. Then it was our turn. By this time the regatta was about twenty minutes behind schedule and there was a flotilla of boats above the start waiting for their races. So, no roll call and a free start - all quickly away and then, 15 strokes into the race, the red flag and ringing bell. Apparently in his eagerness to get our race away the umpire had not allowed a sufficient gap after the previous start and our race was in danger of overtaking the women's pairs. No need to back it down, the wind just blew us back towards the pontoons. Then off from a free start for the second time. With our 'A' crew having a very bumpy ride in lane 6, our 'B' crew finished five seconds ahead of them, but they just squeezed out Weybrdige in lane 2 into the bronze medal position. Satisfyingly, Ardingly were fourth, giving us some consolation for the defeat in the quad sculls to them the previous day.

Sadly, this was to be our last race of the regatta. By one o'clock waves were breaking into boats above the start and racing was suspended. At two o'clock the decision was taken to abandon the regatta, so we didn't get to race in our main events, the Masters F and Masters G eights. Under the circumstances three golds and two silvers was a good haul from our squad of fourteen men. Commiserations must go to Jane Adams, however, who drove all the way to Nottingham on Sunday morning to cox our eights and didn't get a single race.

So three gold medals to add to our Regatta Wins (unfortunately silvers don't count).

The bare results from Barnes and Mortlake on Saturday:

In IM3 single sculls Mark O'Brien lost to Mummery of Team Keane, who beat Winchester of King's College School by 3 lengths, with Mark a further 5 lengths behind. In the same event William Medlicott lost to French of Cygnet by 1½ lengths. Mummery was the eventual winner, with French second in the three-boat final.

M2 eights was won by King's College School, who beat a KCS / KCS alumni composite by ¾ length with Quintin a further canvas down. Sounds like a very exciting race!

The club has had three entries accepted for Barnes and Mortlake regatta on Saturday. Mark O'Brien and William Medlicott are both racing inIM3 single sculls (William entered Masters E but there was no event for him). Mark races Mummery from Team Keane and Winchester of King's College School in Race 68 at 14:14 and William meets French of Cygnet in Race 69a at 14:20. The final of this event is soon afterwards at 15:08. Fresh from their success in IM3 eights at Twickenham, our development eight are in IM2 eights at this regatta. This event has a straight final at 15:03, when the crew meets King's College School and a KCS / KCS old boys composite. Malcolm Cook's entry for Masters G single sculls was not accepted, presumably due to a lack of opposition.

The club's masters, together with Charles Parry from Wallingford RC, have entered a number of events at the British Rowing Masters Championships next weekend:

Saturday, 10th June

• Race 105 @ 9:16 Open Masters F 2x Heat 2: Cambois / Tyne United (lane2), Quintin (3), Ardingly (4), Norwich (5); 3 to final Race 129 @ 10:52
• Race 158 @ 13:04 Open Masters F 4x Final: Ardingly (2), Glouicester (3), Maidstone Invicta (4), Quintin (5)
• Race 197 @ 16:00 Open Masters G 2x Heat 2: Durham ARC 'A' (1), Ardingly 'B' (2), Norwich (3), Pengwern (4), Quintin (5); 3 to final Race 223@17:44
• Race 208 @ 16:44 Open Masters H 2x Final: Runcorn (3), Guildford / Southsea(4),Quintin / Wallingford (5)

Sunday, 11th June

• Race 319 @ 10:12 Open Masters G 4+ Final: Quintin (1), Putney Town (2), Derby (3), Bedford(4), Nottingham (5)
• Race 332 @ 11:04 Open Masters F 4- Final: Quintin / Wallingford (1), Weybridge (2), Stourport(3), Ardingly (4), Broxbournw (5), Quintin (6)
• Race 368 @13:56 Open Masters G 8+ Final: Quintin / Wallingford (2), Dart Totnes / Gloucester / Quintin (3), Monmouth (4), Durham / Upper Thames (5)
• Race 378 @ 15:00 Open Masters F 8+ Heat 2: Royal Chester (1), Quintin (2), Weybridge (3), Durham (4), Belfast (5); 3 to final Race 403 @ 16:40

The times of some of our races have changed since first publication and are now as shown above.

Report by Rob Williams

The Met was run under the new British Rowing tier system, controversial for many, with some surprising crew placings in the tiered events, but ultimately did lead to some very close racing for QBC which is a key aim of the new system.

The senior coxless four competed in the tier 1 Championship category across the weekend (which effectively combined the top senior and elite crews). Generally they were a couple of seconds off the pace of the fastest Wyfold eligible boats over the 2km, with work to do on maintaining pace through the 3rd 500m. The times issued for the Saturday heat are not accurate, with QBC and Lea having been given the time of City of Oxford who finished last (in reality our crew finished just over a length behind winners London). Importantly, the crew qualified fairly comfortably for the final on Sunday but were drawn the least favourable lane which impacted them particularly in the latter stages of the race. Confidence is taken from the fact that peak speed puts them up with the favourites, so the focus leading up to Henley will be on pace consistency.

Our coxed four go into a training camp having stepped on from their first race together at Nottingham City and showing their competitiveness in a stronger field. On Saturday they finished 4th in tier 3, missing their final by one second. On Sunday in a tier 2 field, they finished fifth in a straight final, with one club (Thames) and three university crews ahead of them. They are confident more boat time will quickly improve them further.

Beks Edgar raced a QBC / Tideway Scullers composite coxless in the Women’s tier 2 event on Saturday, finishing 3rd behind Newcastle University and Worcester. On Sunday the four became an eight and in some exciting racing, finished 17th in a time trial, then won their C/D semi-final and then came second in the C final, behind Agecroft. Beks goes on to Women’s Henley to compete in the lightweight coxless pairs event in a composite with Mortlake.

Jon Brown competed for QBC in single sculls, notoriously tough as athletes battle for points and places in the Diamonds, with a fourthth place in a Championship heat on Saturday and sixth place in a tier 2 heat on Sunday.

The summary of our results at Dorney:

Saturday

Tier 3 Coxed Fours Heat 2 - Quintin finished fourth behind Durham University, Cork BC and NUI Galway BC. See page 8 in the Saturday results.
Championship Coxless Fours Heat 1 - Quintin finished sixth. See page 11 in the Saturday results.
Women's Tier 2 Coxless Fours Final - QBC / TSS composite finished third. See page 102 in the Saturday results.
Championship Single Sculls Heat 2 - Jpn Brown finished fourth. See page 120 in the Saturday results.

The Saturday results may be downloaded at http://metregatta.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/MET-2017-Saturday-Results.pdf.

Sunday

Tier 1 Coxless Fours Heat 1 - Quintin finished third, qualifying them for the final (see page 28 in the Sunday results), and in the final finished 6th (see page 86 in the Sunday results.
Tier 2 Coxed Fours Final - Quintin finished fifth. See page 78 in the Sunday results.
Tier 1 Single Sculls Heat 2 - Jon Brown came sixth. See page 89 in the Sunday results.
Tier 1 Women's Eights C/D Semi final - KRC / Lea / QBC / TSS / UL composite came first (see page 48 in the Sunday results) then in the C Final finished second, placing them sixteenth overall (they had been seventeenth in the time trial to determine the draw for the semi-finals). See page 55 in the Sunday results.

The Sunday results may be downloaded at http://metregatta.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/MET-2017-Sunday-Results.pdf.

The club has an interest in four events at the Metropolitan Regatta on Saturday and a further four on Sunday:

Saturday

• Race 8 @ 9:35 - Heat 2 of Tier 3 Coxed Fours - (1) Durham University BC A, (2) Cork BC, (3) Putney Town RC B, (4) Quintin BC, (5) Vesta RC A, (6) Kingston RC. (7) NUI Galway BC, IRE A. First 3 to Final, Race 36 @ 12:00
• Race 11 @ 9:50 - Heat 1 of Championship Coxless Fours for the Thames Cup - (1) NUI Galway BC, IRE B, (2) City of Oxford RC B, (3) Lea RC B, (4) Tideway Scullers School A, (5) Quintin BC , (6) Molesey BC, (7) London RC. First 3 to Final, Race 41 @12:25
• Race 79B @ 15:52 - Heat 2 of Championship Single Sculls - (2) Quintin BC (J Brown), (3) Queens University Belfast BC (S McKeown), (4) Castleconnell BC (F Crowley), (5) Army RC (S Cox). 3 to final, Race 101 @ 17:40
• Race 108 @ 18:20 - Final of Women's Tier 2 Coxless Fours - (1) Molesey BC, (2) Worcester RC, (3) Exeter University BC, (4) Newcastle University BC, (5) Quintin BC/Tideway Scullers Sch, (6) Cardiff University BC , (7) Curlew RC

Sunday

• Race 7 @ 9:15 -Women's Challenge VIIIs for Clubs - Time Trial - Tideway Scullers School, Agecroft RC, Fulham Reach RC, Auriol Kensington RC, Molesey BC, Commercial RC, IRE , Thames RC A, Quintin BC / Tideway Scullers Sch / Lea RC / Kingston RC, Vesta RC, Staines BC
• Race 40 @ 12:40 -Final of Championship Coxless Fours - (1) Lea RC A, (2) Molesey BC A, (3) Thames RC, (4) London RC A, (5) Tideway Scullers School A, (6) Quintin BC, (7) Edinburgh University BC
• Race 61A @ 14:30 - Heat 2 of Championship Single Sculls for the London Cup - (2) Leander Club (J Kirkwood), (3) Shandon BC, IRE (D Begley),(4) Quintin BC (J Brown), (5) Tideway Scullers School (J Dunley), (6) Nottingham RC (J Stimpson). 2 to Final, Race 91 @ 17:05
• Race 96 @ 17:35 - Final of Tier 2 Coxed Fours - (1) Glasgow University BC, (2) University College Cork RC, IRE, (3) Thames RC B, (4) Wallingford RC, (5) Cantabrigian RC A, (6) Quintin BC, (7) University of London BC

The various categories are based on the new ranking system being introduced by British Rowing. It is unclear as yet whether this will give better racing than the old points system.

The full timetable and draw may be found at http://metregatta.org/uncategorized/the-draw-2017/. Note that the above race details are taken from the revised draw published on Wednesday, 31st May..

Photos from Portugal

Adrian Ballardie reports:

The Quintin BarFlies overseas excursion this year was to Portugal, where they raced on the Douro in the 37th Gondomar International regatta, organised by their hosts, Club Navale Infante D’ Henrique, the top Portuguese club in Porto.

We enjoyed superb hospitality from our hosts, who as organisers of the regatta were able to supply a very good Empacher eight for our use. Club Navale had been loaned a boat by Quintin Boat Club for the Head of the River which was unfortunately cancelled in March. The course was 2,000m on a section of the Douro about 40km inland which is dammed and so there is negligible stream, and the conditions were similar to rowing on a lake.

Quintin were drawn into a straight final of four Veteran eights, on the eight lane course. The start was from pontoons. There were two Vet E crews, Quintin and VR Lima, One Vet B, Cerveria and one Vet D crew, Vilacondense. Quintin managed a relatively slippy start, rating 42, and settled to 33 strokes but were quickly passed by the other E crew who went on to win. We were passed by the Vet B crew at about half way, but held off the Vet D crew to finish 3rd in a time of 7m 39.49s behind the winners who recorded a time of 6m 50.7s.

We were grateful to have the assistance of João Meneses, a local replacement for our missing 6 man. The crew lineup was Lucy Wood (cox) Aubrey Capel (str) Nick Gittins, João Meneses, Andrew Bramah, Simon Wood, Adrian Ballardie, Roger Griffiths and Mike Harris.

The usual cultural activities on a BarFlies tour were experienced after the race, including the Port houses of Porto and of course quite a few local bars and restaurants.

Photographs of the event may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=2569.

Photos from Twickenham

The club had a mixed day at Twickenham Regatta on Saturday. Six entries produced three wins and three who lost in their first race. Two of the first round losers were knocked out before 9am: Mark O’Brien losing by three lengths to Lee of Thames in IM3 sculls and our IM3 coxed four by just a third of a length to Eton Excelsior. Next to race was Malcolm Cook in Masters G/H sculls, where he met Cowell of Putney Town for the second time in Masters G/H handicap single sculls, having raced and beaten him a couple of weeks ago at Putney Town Regatta. He had to give his opponent a 13 second start but he won comfortably. In the final, against Parker of Molesey, Malcolm was leading going past Glover’s Island but Parker was beginning to come back. Parker then fell in, leaving a grateful Malcolm a relaxed paddle over the remainder of the course.

Our IM2 coxless four had a straight final against Auriol Kensington, in which some interesting steering from both crews kept the umpire busy all the way down the course. After a close tussle and a clash, Quintin eventually crossed the finish line about half a length down, by which stage the two fours had swapped stations.

Jon Brown had entered senior sculls but had been moved up to elite because of a lack of opposition. His opponent in a straight final was Kolimechkov of Twickenham, who is reputedly a former Bulgarian international. Jon had a good start, established a lead and won by 2½ lengths.

Last, but not least, our IM3 eight scored a win, beating Lee RC by 3½ lengths in their heat and Auriol Kensington by ⅓ length in the final, holding their opponents off round the outside of the big bend in the last race of the day.

The names of all our winners are recorded on the Regatta Wins page...

... and the Potwinners Chart is growing.

Photographs of the event may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=2549.

There will be a thanksgiving service for Sandy at St Peters Church, Shirwell, north of Barnstable on the A39 at 2.30 pm Wednesday 24th May.

Our Winning Senior Coxed Four

Following the abandonment of side-by-side racing in favour of time trials at Wallingford a couple of weeks ago, the senior squad took the opportunity to head to Nottingham City Regatta, to get some racing under their belts. There were five events with QBC entries. In their heat, our IM2 eight battled to maintain their position in the pack during the second 1000m, but an unfortunate crab with around 350m to go meant they finished last. We also raced two scratch coxed fours in Intermedaite events. The IM1 boat moved through the pack throughout the race, but a lack of boat time showed in the last 750m as they eventually finished 4th. The IM2 crew, the warm-up being their first outing together, fared slightly better, coming third in their final. Both boats will benefit from more water time in the coming weeks.

Finally, the senior four raced both coxed and coxless. In the coxless they were narrowly beaten in what became a two-boat race with Royal Shrewsbury School by just 0.2 seconds, but overhauling the rest of the field by around 10 seconds. In the coxed event, the crew led for the majority of the race, extending this to win with a clear lead over second-placed Goldie of around 10 seconds. Our four now head to Hazelwinkel for a training camp ahead of expected entries in Metropolitan and Marlow regattas.

Senior Coxless Fours Final

Senior Coxed Fours Final

Congratulations to Mark Chatwin, Rob Williams, Alex Miller, Max Murdock and cox Beks Edgar. Mark, Rob, Alex and Max join Beks in this year's Potwinners Chart but Beks rises to the top with two wins.

Full results from Nottingham City may be downloaded from the regatta website. Note that there is an error in the finishing order for Senior Coxed Fours.

Meanwhile Malcolm Cook was performing in Masters F/G/H handicap sculls at Putney Town Regatta. In his heat Malcolm had to give Cowell of Putney Town a 12 second start but overhauled him without too much difficulty and won comfortably. The final was against Mew of Vesta off a level start. In Malcolm's own words, "I took him off the start but I wasn't fit enough to maintain it and he beat me by a few feet."

The full results for Putney Town may be downloaded at http://www.putneytownregatta.org.uk/sites/default/files/PTR 2017 RESULTS FINAL.xls.

A post-race photograph of the crew may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=2546.

John's QBC Leaving Do

We have just learned that John "Sandy" Saunders died on Thursday after suffering a stroke. John started rowing with our then next door neighbours, Ibis, in 1949 and joined Quintin when Ibis closed down in 1992. After 64 years on the Tideway, in 2013 he and his wife moved to Devon to be close to their daughter.

We shall publish details of his funeral when they become available.

Photographs of John's leaving party at QBC may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=1654.

The club has five crews entered for Nottingham City Regatta tomorrow, to be held on the six-lane course at Holme Pierrepont. Our entries are as follows:

• Race 17 @ 9:00 - IM2 8+ Heat 3: Lane 5 against (1) Royal Shrewsbury School, (2) Exeter RC, (3) City of Cambridge, (4) Norwich RC, (6) Nottingham & Union RC. Two to final (Race 57 @ 13:10)
• Race 31 @ 11:00 - Sen 4- FINAL: Lane 5 against (1) Cambois, (2) York City, (3) Worcester RC, (4) Royal Shrewsbury School, (6) Royal Chester.
• Race 33 @ 11:10 - IM1 4+ FINAL: Lane 3 against (1) City of Oxford, (2) Royal Shrewsbury School, (4) Warwick RC, (5) Stratford-upon-Avon, (6) Royal Chester.
• Race 93 @ 16:10 - IM2 4+ FINAL: Lane 3 against (1) Royal Chester, (2) Cambridge 99, (4) St. George's College, (5) City of Oxford, (6) City of Cambridge.
• Race 94 @ 16:15 - Sen 4+ FINAL: Lane 1 against (2) Worcester, (3) Goldie, (4) Nottingham Trent University, (5) Twickenham

The full draw may be found at this location.

Three of the club's masters were competing at Borne Regatta on Saturday, a regatta held on our home reach with the course running from the University of London boathouse to MAABC or vice versa, depending on the tide. William Medlicott had entered the Masters E single sculls event, but as there was no other entry he elected to race in the IM3 category. He drew Wiggins of Team Keane in the semi-final and appeared to be holding his own after a cautious start, but Wiggins pulled away to win by 2¾ lengths. Wiggins then lost to Mummery of Team Keane in the final. In his heat Mummery had beaten Alex Burton of University of Westminster (ex-QBC).

Photos from Borne

Malcolm Cook fared better. His straight final was due to be a three-boat handicap with two Masters G scullers and a Masters F, but the Masters F sculler scratched, leaving Malcolm with a race from a level start against Swift of Tideway Scullers. After a tight battle in the early part of the course, Malcolm drew away to win by 2½ lengths in rather bumpy water.

Beks Edgar also won, in women's Masters B sculls, beating Futernick of Putney Town easily in a straight final.

Malcolm and Beks join William in the Potwinners Chart for 2017.

A photograph of Malcolm in action may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=2542.

In rough and gusty conditions, both of the QBC races at Wallingford were replaced with time-trials over 1500m. Our Intermediate eight struggled in borderline unrowable water and were never in contention. The senior four raced in the Championship coxless event and finished fifth out of 24 crews, behind Thames RC A/B, Tideway Scullers School and London RC. The top six crews would have qualified for the A-final had it been run.

Our local regatta completed successfully on Saturday and we would like to thank the race committee, the officials and all those club members who volunteered to help for another successful event. The weather was very kind to us and racing conditions were good for most of the day. The club achieved 100% success in the shape of William Medlicott winning Masters E single sculls - our only entry. William beat Bates of Bentham by three lengths in a straight final.

William has the privilege of kicking off this year's Potwinners Chart.

After the disappointment of the cancellation of yesterday's Head of the River Race it was satifying to see the masters event take place today. Although the wind was still very strong the race was due to take place on the flood, which meant the wind was blowing in the same direction as the tide for most of the course, rather than against it as was the case for yesterday's event on the ebb tide. Conditions were pretty benign for the time of the year and the sun was shining throughout the race.

In our initial report, based on the "live" provisional results, we were surprised to see Milton Keynes RC Masters B at the head of the river, and it turns out there were a number of errors and omissions (which is only to be expected). The final results show Thames RC Masters A at the head, in a time of 13 min. 28.33 sec. and the aforementioned MK were 145th! The fastest women were indeed Agecroft RC Masters A in a time adjusted by 1/100th second to 14 min 23.00 sec. Quintin had a direct interest in five crews. Our captain, Mark Chatwin was rowing in a composite London / Quintin Masters 'B' eight which finished fifth overall in a time of 13 min. 48.79 sec, winning the Masters B pennant - well done, Mark!. Beks Edgar was racing in a composite Tideway Scullers / Molesey / Quintin women's Masters B eight which won their pennant in a time of 14 min. 28.32 sec. - well done Beks! Four of our "supervets" teamed up with Tyrian to form a Masters 'E' composite which finished tenth overall in 13 min. 56.84 sec, third in category, 8.42 seconds behind London RC and 1.54 seconds behind the Irish Old Collegians Boat Club. The remaining "supervets" made up an elderly Masters 'F' eight which just failed to beat Crabtree to the pennant by 0.47 seconds in a time of 14 min. 31.03 sec. (41st overall). Bringing up the rear for Quintin were the "Barflies", also in the Masters 'F' category, finishing in a time of 16 min. 1.51 sec, ahead of fellow Masters 'F' crews Maidstone Invicta (4.89 seconds) and Auriol Kensington (8.08 seconds) and 175th overall.

Other Quintin members were competing in other clubs' colours - Tom Bishop in a winning Wallingford Masters H crew and Willy Almand in an Upper Thames crew.

All in all a relatively successful but slightly disappointing day with two first places, a second and a third. Final results may be found at http://9f0db76548b7fa184c81cf2d-evm7yyswhu5jxti0l0q.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/Vets-Head-2017-Results.pdf.

In all probability these last two wins close off this year's Pennant Winners Chart with Beks Edgar top on six wins.

The decision has been taken to cancel tomorrow's Head of the River race due to the strength and prevailing direction of the wind as forecast.

The club has two eights in the Head of the River Race on Saturday. The first eight (Senior category) starts at number 24 and the second eight (Intermediate 2) starts at 189. All support along the course would be gratefully received. Quintin is one of only a handful of clubs to have competed in every official Head of the River Race since its inception in 1926 - quite a record! The race starts at 14:15 GMT and is over the traditional championship course from Mortlake to Putney.

The next day sees the masters take to the water. Quintin has an interest in four crews in this race: our captain is competing in a composite London / Quintin eight, starting 15th and one of 14 Masters B crews; the Masters E composite with Tyrian starts at number 102 in a field of 39 while the "Barflies" are in the men's Masters F category, starting at number 111, followed closely by the "supervets" Masters F crew at number 115, with 19 Masters F crews overall.

The full starting order may be found at http://9f0db76548b7fa184c81cf2d-evm7yyswhu5jxti0l0q.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/Vets-Head-2017-Draw-1.pdf.

The club had an interest in three crews at the Kingston Head on Saturday: Our senior squad entered a crew in the Senior category and another in Intermediate 2, while our masters teamed up with Tyrian to form a Masters E composite. Our masters F crew unfortunately had to scratch as they were unable to obtain the services ofa coxswain, their regular cox being unavailable. There were two divisions, one rowed at 11:00am and the other at 2:00pm - all our crews wee in division 2. Our Senior crew completed the course in 15 min. 58.9 sec, placing them seventh in division 2 and tenth overall, while the IM2s clocked 16 min. 54.9 sec, 23rd in division 2 and 41st overall. The masters pipped the second eight by 4½ seconds, finishing 21st in division 2 and 39th overall in a time of 16 min. 50.4 sec, which was good enough to win them the Masters E eights pennant with 21 seconds to spare over next fastest Walton.

For details of the pennant-winning crew see the Regatta Wins page.

Crew Photo

There was Quintin interest in one crew at Women's Eights Head of the River this weekend. Beks Edgar raced in crew number 63, a Quintin/TSS/Kingston/ULBC Masters B composite. The crew finished 28th (out of 295 finishers), completing the course in a raw time of 19:47.3, nearly a minute clear of the nearest Masters B opposition, making them the fastest Masters B crew but just 3rd in the handicapped masters race (across all masters categories A-G).

The crew were very pleased to have placed so highly in making the top 30 crews on raw time, and with a handicapped time that would have put them closer to the top 20. They were however disappointed not to have placed higher in the handicap event for the pennant, finding themselves just the wrong side of an age category.

They are now targeting Veterans Head in two weeks time, where 75% of the crew will race again, aiming to be the fastest women's crew overall.

Full results are at https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B2440gUcKeNTVTBwRnRNTnlkd0k/view.

A post-race photograph of the crew may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=2540.

the club's masters had two crews rowing in the Hammersmith Head on Sunday, and also an interest in a composite Tideway Scullers / Quintin / Kingston crew. The "supervets" put out a Masters F eight (average age 60-64), as did the "Barflies", and Beks Edgar was competing in a women's Masters B eight. The day started wet with strong winds from the south-east creating near-sinking conditions on our home reach in the early morning, as our "supervets" discovered when they went out for a practice at 8:00 am. However by the time the race started the rain had stopped and the wind had veered to the south and west, giving predominantly tail-wind conditions over the course, with the occasional burst of sunshine in between the rain-heavy clouds. The race started shortly after 9:30 am, but our veterans, starting at numbers 237, 240 and 242, had to wait until past 11 o'clock before they could get underway.

The "supervets" set off at a brisk pace and overtook the Putney Town 'F' crew before the White Hart and then set about closing down the Masters E division in front of them, eventually catching Marlow RC on the finishing line. They completed the course in 11 min. 32.76 sec, just over 10 seconds quicker than Thames, the second fastest Masters F crew. Their time also beat those of all the Masters E crews and only London beat them in Masters D. Their overall finishing position was 64th and the crew's performance entitles it to the Masters E/F handicap pennant. The "Barflies" decided on a more leisurely approach and completed the course in 12 min. 45.16 sec, placing them 180th overall.

Meanwhile the women's Masters B composite were giving the "supervets" a run for their money, completing the course in 11 min. 36.35 sec, only 3½ seconds slower. They were the faster of the two WMas B crews by 32 seconds, finished 73rd overall, and were the sixth-fastest women's crew, winning teh women's Masters B/C/D pennant.

The full results may be found at http://www.mikrotime.com/rowing/row2017/hamh17.html, and take a look at our Pennant Winners Chart.

The club's first and second eights were competing at the Reading University Head on Saturday. As expected, the race was dominated by Oxford Brookes University, who won six of the thirteen available pennants. Our first VIII, rowing in the Senior category in division 2, finished eighth out of ten in a time of 13 min. 42.8 sec. Our second VIII, also in division 2 but in the IM2 category, were fifteenth out of eighteen in a time of 14 min. 37.6 sec.

There was a record entry for the Quintin Head this year and the limit of 250 crews was reached on the Tuesday before entries closed. Inevitably for the time of the year there were a number of scratchings after entries closed, due to illness or injury. On the day a number of crews also scratched and one or two had equipment failure on the river before the race started and were unable to compete. This left 235 to complete the course from just below Hammersmith Bridge to the davit at Chiswick Staithe without major incident.

The weather gods smiled once again - daytime temperatures had risen a good few degrees since earlier in the week and, after a rain shower before racing started, the sun shone intermittently throughout the race. There was also a very moderate breeze blowing from the south.

Racing commenced just three minutes late at 12:18 pm and the last crew crossed the start line at half past one, and the finish line (a different crew!) at 1:50 pm, so well done the crew marshals, that's an average interval of just over 18 seconds, including a four-minute holdup in the middle of the race! An hour and a half after the last crew crossed the finish line, the provisional results were published, so well done the timing teams!

Pennant Winners

Now for the racing! Thames Rowing Club dominated the event, finishing head of the river and also taking the men's Senior pennant. They also won the men's and the women's Intermediate 2 events and the women's Novices pennant. As was rather expected, Cambrdige University's Elite women's crew were the fastest women's eight and finished 25th overall, only 48 seconds behind the overall winners.

As well as Thames, there were other multiple pennant winners. Westminster School won men's Junior 18 and Junior 16 pennants with their 2nd and 3rd VIIIs, while Latymer Upper won both men's and women's Junior 15. Henley Rowing Club won the women's Junior 18 pennant and also the men's Masters D category (with the help of their neighbours from Upper Thames). In the other masters categories Weybridge won both the men's Masters E category and the women's Masters B-E handicap.

Quintin Crews

The Quintin Senior VIII finished 15th overall and their IM3 crew, with one late substitute forcing it to row as IM2, finished 61st. Only 7½ seconds behind them were the Quintin "Supervets", racing for and winning the men's Masters F pennant. This crew were also pleased to note that their time beat those of all the men's Masters E crews and all but two of the Masters D.

Details of the winning Masters F crew on our Regatta Wins page.

Full results may be found on this website at ../quintinhead/results.php?date=2017-01-28.

Photographs of the pennant winners may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=2505.

Photographs of the three Quintin crews may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=2529.

The first Tideway Head of 2017 is fast approaching - only fourteen days to go. We hope that all club members will be involved - either rowing or helping to run this prestigious event. Over the years the race has grown from a small affair involving a few dozen crews to one of the major eights races on the Tideway Thames, with over 200 eights competing. So this is a call to all club members to make sure you are involved. If you are not in a competing crew or have not already volunteered to help get in touch with Adrian Ballardie by emailing headsecretary@quintinboatclub.org.

Christmas at Quintin got off to a good start today with the annual Plum Puddings race from the Pink House to the boathouse. There were seventeen entries and sixteen starters to the race, which was held in ideal conditions on a low ebb tide and very little in the way of wind. As expected, the fastest crew overall was the Quintin 1st VIII, with the Quintin IM3 VIII second and the Quintin "supervets" third. However the results were based on a sealed handicap and this gave the first prize of nine bottles of wine to the MAABC mixed Masters F crew, Christmas puddings for Putney Town women's Masters C and a couple of cases of beer for Barnes Bridge Ladies' WIM3.

The full results:

After the racing there was a very hot chilli con carne and a vegetarian alternative for eats, followed by sweeties and lots of Christmas cheer and drinks from the bar.

Five Quintin crews raced at Walton Small Boats Head this Saturday. The sole Quintin entrant in division 1 was Rebekah Edgar racing in a composite Women's Masters A double scull with Caroline Matthews (TSS). The crew completed the course in 11:41.2, a time that won them the pot for Overall Fastest Women's crew of the day (across all divisions). The same crew raced again in division 2, this time in the Women's IM1 double sculls category and recorded a time of 11:44.7, making them also the second-fastest womens crew of the day!

Beks goes top of the Pennant Winners Chart with four wins.

The event also marked the first race for this September's Learn to Row group with seven of the group racing across divisions 2 and 3, in the Mens, Womens and Mixed Novice double sculls categories. Fastest of the combinations was the Mixed Novice double of Laura McGarvey and William Nisbet in division 2 in a time of 12:16.3. The group, coached by Ashley Cowley, all thoroughly enjoyed their first race experience and are looking forward to their second at Plum Puddings next weekend.

The full results may be found at http://www.waltonrowingclub.co.uk/walton-small-boats/results/.

The club had two crews competing at Wallingford Head on Sunday - an IM3 eight and a Senior coxless four, both in division 2. The eight finished 13th out of 23 in the category in a time of 15 min. 53.9 sec. for the 4.5 km course. The four were third out of five in a time of 16 min. 10.7 sec, behind Oxford Brookes University and Lea RC.

The full results may be downloaded at http://wallingford-head.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/Div-2.csv.

The club had a solitary representative at the Teddington Head on Saturday - Beks Edgar in a women's coxless four composite with Sally Pollock Morris (Reading RC), Clare Hayley (Marlow RC) and Claire McIntosh (Tideway Scullers). The crew entered as women's Masters B/C in division 1, but in the absence of any opposition they were moved by the organisers to Elite (also with no opposition after Molesey scratched!). In cold but beautifully sunny conditions the crew completed the course in 19 min. 5 sec, two seconds behind the fastest women's coxless four from Tideway Scullers School. The fastest crew of the division was a London RC men's eight in 15:33.

The official results may be downloaded at http://www.walbrookrc.co.uk/UserFiles/Files/Teddington_Head/Teddington_Head_div_1_results_Div_1_by_class.pdf.

Briefly, our results from today's race (updated after publication of final results):

See http://9f0db76548b7fa184c81cf2d.evm7yyswhu5jxti0l0q.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/Scullers-Head-2016-Results.pdf for final results in finishing order and http://9f0db76548b7fa184c81cf2d.evm7yyswhu5jxti0l0q.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/Scullers-Head-2016-Results-by-category.pdf for final results by category.

Tom's win updates the Pennant Winners Chart.

There is to be a celebration of the life of one-time Quintin member Harry Purchase at the Leander Club, Henley-on-Thames, at 11:30 am on Sunday, 15th January 2017, which would have been his 85th birthday. Some of you may already know that there will not be a conventional funeral for Harry – in his usual generous fashion he left his body for medical research so that others could benefit. However the family will, in accordance with his wishes, be having a party, as mentioned above. It will be a proper celebration of his life and guests are requested not to wear black but bright colours – Henley garb is suggested. All are welcome to attend to help celebrate his wonderful, full life: the day will include a Humanist Service. All that is asked is that you let the family know if you would like to attend so they can make the right amount of sandwiches! Light refreshments and even a glass of something will be available – Harry’s party without a drink would be unthinkable!

You can contact Diane Purchase at dianepurchase@aol.com

The club has twelve entries in the Vesta Scullers' Head next Saturday. The race is over the traditional Championship course from Mortlake to Putney and starts at 1:30 pm. The start numbers for our scullers are given below:

The full starting order may be downloaded at http://www.vestarowing.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/Scullers-Head-2016-Draw.pdf.

We are sorry to announce that Harry Purchase died at the weekend. Having originally joined Quintin as a schoolboy cox in 1948, he rowed for the club in the 1950s, including in the 1955 Thames Cup eight. Younger members may remember him as the master of ceremonies at the centenary dinner in 2007.

Some Crew Photos

The club had four crews competing in the Veteran Fours Head on Sunday. The course was on the flood tide from the Mile Post to the derrick at Chiswick Staithe. We believe this is one of the few occasions a head race has been started at the Mile Post, but in any case the timing team at the start found crew identification challenging on this wide stretch of the river. As a result, times and positions have yet to be confirmed, but it looks as though our "Supervets" lived up to their moniker and brought home both the Masters E and Masters F coxless fours pennants. Beks Edgar built on her success in yesterday's race to win the pennant for women's Masters A quad sculls in a QBC/TSS/MAA composite. The crew was also the second fastest women's crew overall. The provisional results for the club's crews are given below, without overall placings as these have not yet been computed.

The winning Masters E four: Huw Jones (bow, steers), Steve Aquilina, Fred Jefferies, Richard Lonergan (stroke). The winning Masters F four: Geoff Peel (bow, steers), Leif Jacobsen, Jonathan Ferris, Pete Meaney (stroke). The winning women's Masters A quad: Beks Edgar (bow steers, QBC), Caroline Matthews (TSS), Rowi Mortimer (TSS), Lorna Cardwell (MAA, stroke).

See the updated Pennant Winners Chart.

The official results are available at http://static1.1.sqspcdn.com/static/f/428326/27338499/1479464720317/Vet+Fours+Head+2016+Results.pdf?token=hG31odtpTFpix3klgv9eBzeE3%2B4%3D.

Photographs of the event may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=2478.

While the rest of the club were facing the challenges of the tidal Thames over the weekend, Mike Ewing and Tom Bishop were savouring Italian waters at the Turin Silver Skiff, an eleven kilometre "there-and-back-again time trial on the River Po. Mike finished a very creditable 38th overall and won the Masters A pennant in a time of 43 min. 41.920 sec, ahead of 19 other Masters A scullers. Tom Bishop, hoping to retain his Masters G title from last year, was unfortunately beaten by three Dutchmen to finish fourth in category (out of 21) and 277th overall in a time of 49 min. 31.900 sec. Geoff Potts, in MAABC colours, was the seventh Masters G sculler.

The results may be found at https://www.silverskiff.org/en/classifiche/.

Mike Ewing adds to his Pennant Winners tally.

Crew Photos

The club had an interest in five crews in the Fours Head on Saturday, with three men's coxless fours, a men';s coxed four and a women's coxless four composite with Tideway Scullers School. The race was over the traditional Championship Course from Mortlake to Putney. The provisional results for the club's crews are given below, with the women's four first in their category.

The winning crew: Beks Edgar (QBC), Caroline Matthews, Judith Schulz, Andrea Finn (all TSS).

The full results may be downloaded from https://hor4s.files.wordpress.com/2016/11/results-2016-time.pdf.

Photographs of the event may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=2472.

Charles Harrison took on Charles Parry of Wallingford RC for the honours in the Masters F/G single sculls handicap at Henley Long Distance Sculls today. Our Charles clocked a time of 13 min. 39 sec. compared with Charles Parry's 14 min. 19sec. After adjustments for the handicap these times converted to 12:24 and 12:43 respectively, so the honours came to Quintin. Well done Charles! Mark O'Brien was unable to get his boat to Henley and so competed in the Kingston Small Boats Head (see below).

The results for Henley may be downloaded from http://www.henleyopenevents.co.uk/results and Charles' win is recorded on our Regatta Wins page.

Meanwhile our senior squad (the youngsters) were performing at Kingston Small Boats Head. In division 1, raced at 10:30 this morning, our Senior coxless four finished third overall in a time of 18 min. 16.6 sec, were the fastest coxless four and won the Senior coxless fours pennant. Our IM2 coxless fours finished 13th and 22nd and the IM3 coxed four finished 54th. Beks Edgar, in her composite women's Masters B coxless pair with Andrea Finn finished 108th. Graham Bagnall missed out on the Masters G/H single sculls handicap by a handicap time difference of 6.5 seconds to Andrews of Ardingly.

The winning Senior four: Mark Chatwin (bow, steers), Luke Moneley, Rob Williams, Max Murdock (stroke).

In division 2, starting at 14:00 our IM2 coxed four was placed 23rd while Mike Ewing, in IM3 single sculls, was 32nd, Mark O'Brien (also IM3) was 111th and Dick Findlay's Masters H double scull with Andy Kapica of Kingston RC was 118th. The provisional results show the winner of IM3 single sculls as KCS-Firullo (bow number 255). We believe this is an error as crew number 255 in the start list was an IM1 coxless four (also from Kings College School). We are therefore confident that Mike has won the IM3 single sculls pennant, but await confirmation from the organisers of the race.

The final results, published on Tuesday, 8th November, confirm that Mike won the IM3 single sculls pennant.

The final results for Kingston may be downloaded from https://www.kingstonrc.co.uk/kingston-sbh.

Winning Quintin personnel recorded here.

The provisional start order for the Veteran Fours Head is now available. The course this year is on the flood tide, starting at the Mile Post and finishing at what is described on the official website as Barker's Rails, but is more likely to be the derrick at Chiswick Staithe (Barker's Rails was a point further upstream, possibly where Hartington Court, the block of flats just downriver of the UL boathouse, is now situated or a little way downstream from there - see the article from the Brentford and Chiswick Local History Society). The Quintin start positions are:

• 86 - Masters E coxless four (stroke: Richard Lonergan)
• 92- Masters E coxless four (stroke: Aubrey Capel)
• 110 - Masters F coxless four
• 145 - women's Masters A quadruple scull (composite with MAABC & TSS)
• 194 - IM3 coxed four

The race starts at 10:32 after two minutes silence at 10:30 for Remembrance Sunday. All support along the riverbank gratefully received.

The starting order for next Saturday's race has been published. Here are the start numbers for the Quintin crews:

• 35 - Senior coxless four
• 178 - IM1 coxless four
• 186 - IM1 coxless four
• 273 - IM2 coxed four
• 337 - women's Senior coxless four (composite with Tideway Scullers)

The course is the usual Championship course from the University Stone/Post at Mortlake to Putney Pier. The race starts at 13:15 and all support along the riverbank would be gratefully received. Crews with high numbered starting positions are reminded that they may well require navigation lights for the journey home (no joke intended!).

The club has two scullers entered for Henley Long Distance Sculls next Saturday. Mark O'Brien goes first for Quintin at number 77 (IM2 category) in division 1, which starts at 10:00 am. In division 2, starting at 1:00 pm Mark competes in the IM3 category at number 477 (the division starts at number 301) and Charles Harrison (Masters F) competes for the Masters F/G handicap prize at number 556. mark informs us, however, that if he cannot get his boat to Henley he will be competing at Kingston - see below.

The club has ten entries in various categories for Kingston Small Boats Head on the same day. We have an IM2 and an IM3 coxed four, a Senior and two IM2 coxless fours, Mike Ewing in IM3 single sculls (along with Mark O'Brien if he doesn't make it to Henley), Graham Bagnall in Masters H single sculls, Beks Edgar in a composite women's Masters B coxless pair with Andrea Finn of Kingston RC (or is it TSS?) and Dick Findlay in a composite Masters H double scull with Andy Kapica of Kingston RC.

The Quintin start numbers are as follows:

Division 1, starting at 10:30

• 4 - Senior coxless four
• 18 IM2 coxless four (stroke: Nick Clay)
• 20 - IM2 coxless four (stroke: Byrne-Smith)
• 40 - IM3 coxed four
• 142 - composite women's Masters B coxless pair
• 191 - Masters H single scull (Graham Bagnall) in G/H handicap

Division 2, starting at 14:00

• 268 - IM2 coxed four
• 339 - IM3 single scull (Mike Ewing)
• 341 - IM3 single scull (Mark O'Brien)
• 425 - composite Masters H double scull in F/G/H handicap

Crew Photos

The club had a good representation in the Pairs Head on Sunday, with an interest in ten crews of whom five came away as pennant winners. This year the race was held on a flood tide with the course starting at Harrods wharf and finishing at the entrance to the Chiswick Quay Marina (formerly Cubitt's Yacht Basin). After a wet start to the day the clouds rolled away to leave a pleasant warm afternoon, but with a stiff SSW breeze, meaning that Corney Reach would be quite lumpy all the way from Chiswick Eyot to Barnes Bridge. The race started just a few minutes late but with some crews still attempting to gain their marshalling positions. With 472 entries and no opportunity for crews to "slot in", the lower order starters were on the water for over two hours before they got to race. Thank goodness the weather was warm!

The fastest crew overall was a composite Leicester/Peterborough Elite double in a time of 14 min. 10.1 sec. but our attention was drawn immediately to our Elite pair of Alex Miller and Mike Ewing, who, after last year's absence, regained their Pairs Head crown as the fastest coxless pair in a time of 14 min. 39.5 sec. Our Senior pairs also put in respectable times: 15:03.9 for Mark Chatwin and Max Murdock and 15:35.3 for Luke Moneley and Rob Williams.

Our masters also performed well, with the following pennant winners: Steve Aquilina and Ian Hyslop (Masters F 2x), Beks Edgar with Ian Roots of MAABC (Mixed Masters C 2x), Tom Bishop with Hilary Cook of MAABC (Mixed Masters F 2x) and Dick Findlay with Andy Kapica of Kingston RC (Masters H/I 2x).

To summarise the Quintin results:

The full provisional results may be found at http://www.bblrc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Pairs-Head-Provisional-Results-v4.pdf.

These wins kick off the 2016-17 Pennant Winners Chart.

Photographs of the event may be found at http://quintinboatclub.org/gallery/index.php?ref=2459.

The club has an interest in ten crews for the Pairs Head, which is on Sunday, 16th October, starting at 12:30 pm. The course this year is in the reverse direction on a flood tide, from Harrods to Chiswick Quay Marina, a further extension to last year's extended course. The crews entered are 100% Quintin except for the mixed Masters C double, which is a Quintin/MAA composite, the Masters H/I double (Kingston/Quintin) and the mixed Masters F/G double (MAA/Quintin). They are listed below, together with their starting positions. There are 472 entries, so pity the Masters G men's pairs starting right at the back!

• 21 - Elite 2-: Alex Miller & Mike Ewing
• 25 - Senior 2-: Rob Williams & Luke Moneley
• 30 - Senior 2-: Mark Chatwin & Max Murdock
• 52 - IM2 2-: Anthony Briggs & Richard Byrne-Smith
• 90 - IM3 2x: Phil Theron & Kierhan Brown
• 236 - Mxd Mas C 2x: Beks Edgar (QBC) & Ian Roots (MAABC)
• 421 - Mas F 2x: Steve Aquilina & Ian Hyslop
• 436 - Mas H/I 2x: Andy Kapica (KRC) & Dick Findlay (QBC)
• 439 - Mxd Mas F/G 2x: Tom Bishop (QBC) & Hilary Cook (MAABC)
• 469 - Mas G 2-: Andrew Bramah & Roger Hine

The full starting order may be found at http://www.bblrc.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Pairshead_Draw_v4.pdf.

The club had six single scullers competing in the Wallingford Long Distance Sculls today, over a 4250 metre upstream course on the River Thames, finishing a little downstream of Wallingford Rowing Club. We had five scullers in division 1, which started at 11:00 and one sculler in division 3, starting at 15:00. Both these divisions had mixed classes of boats - quads, doubles and singles, and so the finishing positions are not of immediate significance. The results for our scullers were as follows:

We await, with interest, news of what happened to Charles. Full results may be found at http://wallingford-sculls.org.uk/2016-results/.

Footnote:

It turns out that Charles, having overtaken the eventual winner of the Masters F pennant, and on course to win it himself, hit a tree with about 500 metres to go and capsized. He then managed to re-embark with help from a safety launch and completed the course.

The club has six single scullers entered for the Wallingford Long Distance Sculls next Saturday. In division 1, starting at 11:00, Alex Burton leads the way for the club, going off at number 82 in the IM3 category. He is followed by Mark O'Brien (100 - IM3), Geoff Peel (170 - Masters F), Charles Harrison (173 - Masters F) and Malcolm Cook (177 - Masters F). In division 3, starting at 15:00, Will Shrieve goes for the novice pennant wearing number 381. All support gratefully welcome.