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Ryde Rowing Club’s Senior Squad was in action over the weekend (Saturday,
27th March) travelling to London to compete in the Tideway Head of the River
Race.
The Tideway Head of the River Race is a processional race held annually on the
River Thames in London over the 4.25 mile (6.8 km) Championship Course that’s
used for the University Boat Race - but raced the other way round - from
Mortlake to Putney. The race is only open to men's eights and is considered to
be the peak of the head race season — attracting the top UK crews as well as
foreign clubs – with over four hundred crews competing, starting at
approximately ten second intervals, making it one of the largest rowing events
in the world.
Ryde have not competed in the event for a number of years because of the
difficulty of borrowing a suitable boat. But this year, following the Clubs loan
of a Coastal Four for training purposes to the Southampton University Boat Club
– they responed by making an eight available to Ryde for the Head Race.
With training opportunities limited to one session on the Median in a boat
kindly loaned by Newport Rowing Club and a race at the Southampton Head in the
boat they would use in the race expectations were not high and the Wightlink
sponsored Club new they would do well to get in the top two hundred.
But the Ryde crew of Russell Page, Sam Cocker, Stu Johnson, Tom Clark, Callum
Lowe, Ian Hayden, Nick Pike and Ben Ade with Maddie Dunn coxing completed the
course in a time of 19 minutes, 15.28 seconds to finish in 193rd place – a
reasonable performance in the circumstances.
On the previous Wednesday (24th March) Club stalwart Steve Bull attended the
2010 Hampshire & Isle of Wight Sports Awards Ceremony which took place at the
Botleigh Grange Hotel, Botley, where he was nominated for an award in the
“Service to Sport” Section – and was surprisingly the only Islander who received
a nomination in any of the seventeen categories. Judged by an independent panel,
the standard of entries was exceptional, with many current and aspiring
international athletes as well as long-serving officials featuring in the
shortlist.
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