Metropolitan Regatta 2011: The weekend was one of two halves, with a scorching Saturday contrasting dramatically with the drizzle of Sunday; the only certainty over the two days was the wind. Despite the difficult conditions, ICBC performed spectacularly with multiple wins for small boats and promising progression in the crew boats.
Photo by Pierre Thomas
Photo by Libby Richards
In the women’s Elite eights, Imperial had representatives in two GB composites; Zoë Lee and Lenny Kennedy (Zenny) in the Seniors boat and Lottie Howard-Merrill in the U23s. In the final, the Seniors took the win (6:37.32) with the U23s taking second place (6:49.40), results that were repeated on the Sunday (6:25.71 and 6:33.70 respectively). Zenny and Lottie were rivals once again in the Elite 4- later on Saturday. In the straight final, Zenny just missed out on the win to fellow GB athletes, who were in lucky/sheltered lane 1 against Zenny’s crew in exposed lane 7, while Lottie’s crew came fourth.
Sport Imperial’s women continued to bring in the silverware as the Elite double of Mathilde Pauls and Amy Propsting won (7:35.41). Lightweight Laura Greenhalgh decided to take on the heavyweights in the Elite single and won her heat easily. As with all the races, the start was tricky with the strong crosswind and in the final, the organisers informed the scullers that it would be a quick start. Greenhalgh was so prepared, she zoomed out of the starting blocks on the “tion” of Attention rather than the “g” of Go, causing a false start, much amusement for the starters (members of Laura’s previous club – London Rowing Club) and one frightened stakeboat boy. Second time round was more successful and Laura eased through her final (8:15.01), almost 10s ahead of her nearest rival.
Photo by Pierre Thomas
The wind also played havoc with the start of the Senior coxed four (cox: Jess Johnson/Adam Seward/Danny Bellion/Jake Lea-Wilson/Simon Steele). Despite aiming the bow into the wind, the boat was blown off the desired angle as the buzzer sounded, forcing Johnson to put the rudder on hard to prevent a collision. Once back in their rhythm, the fight with rivals Oxford Brookes and Upper Thames was on but IC couldn’t quite find the power. In the men's quadruple sculls, Imperial had two interests; in the Elite category Josh Butler and Wilf Kimberley were representing Imperial College Great Britain along with Zak Lee-Green (Agecroft RC) and Mikey Mottram (Reading Uni) in the U23 lightweight boat and in the Senior category the ICBC crew of bow: Gareth Brown/Paddy Hudson/Gillies/Tim Richards. Both had straight finals and the Elite quad took second place (6:17.12) in a pink Leander sandwich while the Senior quad came fourth (6:22.74) in a close race where the top four crews were within 1.5s of each other with 500m remaining. The women’s quad (bow: Chloe Symmonds/Louise Connell/Natasha Bolsin/Helen Austin) also came a respectable third in their Senior category.
Photo by Pierre Thomas
By the Sunday many were sun and wind burnt but anyone wanting to turn it into a tan would have been disappointed by the grey skies and rain. An optimistic Amy Propsting arrived at the boathouse wearing shorts but soon decided some leggings were required before arrival at Dorney. With the changing weather came crew swaps as Kimberley returned from ICGB to the eight, causing a shuffle in order (cox: Fieldman/Kimberley/Sullivan/Spencer-Jones/Goodier/Carrington/A Hudson/Gillies/Bradbury) for the Elite final. The boat was competitive, sitting within the pack at the halfway point but couldn’t quite retain the speed and finished fifth. In spite of not winning Team Kimberley doesn’t care as he has a beard but still eats pork [or so I am informed].
The Senior quad from Saturday stepped up to the mark on Sunday by joining fellow ICGB member Josh Butler’s U23 lightweight quad in the Elite category,. Both crews made it to the final with ICGB coming third and ICBC taking seventh. Returning to IC after his stint with TRC was Will Todd [obviously itching to get back in an Imperial crew, nowhere else can compete], who appeared in the Elite coxed 4 (cox: Libby Richards/Seward/Todd/Lea-Wilson/Steele), filling in for revision-shackled Danny Bellion. As relaxation before their straight final, messers Todd and Steele had some light banter [conducted through the medium of paper aeroplanes] with the female half of Reading University; entertainment that was continued in Henley later that evening – apparently RUBC’s “Informal” was legendary. From the start line the 4+ had nothing to lose with some of their competition scared off, leaving just London RC and Henley RC to race. The crew took second place (6:44.77), having kicked Henley into touch around the 1km marker.
Photo by Pierre Thomas
The Imperial small boats were the toast of the lake. Amy Propsting had also scared the competition into submission too, including injured club teammate Kat Holloway. As she arrived for the final of her Senior single, only two Scots were brave enough but Amy dominated, leading from start to finish (8:22.07). Further success was had from the “Don McLachlan School of Sculling” as easy wins were taken in the Elite lightweight single events by Laura Greenhalgh (8:01.47) and Sam Scrimgeour (7:22.79). Mathilde Pauls was not in her usual Dr Rabbit empacher, thanks to the crashed trailer, but soldiered on to take third in the Elite singles (8:10.48). In the Intermediate1 doubles, Tobias Witting and Ben Anstiss made their way to the final where drama unfolded. As the Anglo-German double began to build to the line, Anstiss clipped a buoy, causing his blade to flip under the boat and get stuck just metres from the line [damn seafood].
Photo by Pierre Thomas
Good progress has been seen in the club across all crews over the last week and things are beginning to settle with all eyes focused on the prize – Henley. Further racing experience will be had as some head to Reading Amateur Regatta in less than week and with Marlow Regatta and Women’s Henley in two weeks time, the big races are just around the corner. The challenge for the coaches is to see if they can eat more ice cream...
Libby Richards