Fullers Head of the River Fours

Last weekend I raced on the Tideway, Chiswick to Putney, for Fours Head.  I raced in elite quads, for Leander with (Stroke - Bow) Tina Stiller, Victoria Meyer-Laker, Polly Swann and myself.  I was steering, this was a first for me on the tideway and very nerveracking! The river is very wide and the stream is about 10m wide I've heard, and makes a big difference to your speed.  The instructions for getting the right 'line' are daunting to say the least, especially when you are taking 30+ strokes a minute and not facing the way you are heading!  All credit for my steering the fastest line goes to Rhiannon Jones, lovely housemate and fantastic cox, thank you for painstakingly teaching me the course.

Unfortunately we had to race for a time only, not a placing, because from the original entry I was the only consistent member of the crew due to illnesses and injuries in the original line up.  This meant a 75% crew change, when you are only allowed a 50% crew change.  However, this did not affect our starting position or the way we raced.  Despite a good racing line, it was not our best race and felt decidedly 'unracy' due in part to some injuries within the boat.  In addition, we had only had a few outings together, coming together on the Tuesday before racing on Saturday.  With this in mind we were very pleased with the results; our time put us second in the elite quads category behind another Leander boat stroked by Anna Watkins, the fastest female rower in the country and part of the gold medal winning GB double.  We beat on time a few other crews, including last years winner, Nottingham. 

We have a hard couple of weeks training now and then a 2k ergo test at the end of the month.  Outside of rowing I am looking forward to a visit from my parents and brother this weekend and am glad they will be able to watch me in concert with the Reading Symphony Orchestra!