Henley Veteran's Regatta

Pipped to the post!!

The Folkestone Veteran crew entered the Henley Veterans regatta. The Regatta attracts some of the best crews from all over the world. The regatta racing takes place over a few days which unfortunatly meant that Tim Cappel wasn't available. Matt Keller who rows for London RC as well as Folkestone switched hats to a London Vest and was joined by fellow London RC member Simon Bever to make a composite crew with Steve Tupper and Simon Appleby.
The crew enetered the regatta as a test of river boat speed against some of the best crews in the country and indeed from abroad. The South Coast Rowing Championships this year are being hosted by the West of England at Plymouth in river boats so it is an important test of competitiveness.
The crew were entered in the Coxed four(coxed by Rebecca Ambler) and coxless four events. The first race was on the Friday in the coxed four where they were pitted against rivals BTC Southampton from last years South Coast Championships. BTC again started strongly as they did at the south coast leaving the Folkestone/London composite with a length or so to catch up. The Folkestone/London composite winning by a length at the finish.
The plan for the second day was to race in th two semi-finals of the coxed and coxless fours at Henley and the head for Southsea regatta for the Veterans race in the afternoon wher they would link up with Tim Cappel. The whole plan depend on how the semi finals went.
The first race of the day was against Upper Thames RC in the coxless fours. Folkestone started strongly and were 3/4 of a lenghth up on the local Upper Thames crew. The crew steering was a bit eratic and they wandered into the the Upper Thames lane. This was deemed a foul by the umpire and the crew were disqualified.
the second race of the day was against Marlow in the coxed fours. Win this one and they were through to the final. The only downside to winning was that they would not make the Veterans race at Southsea Regatta. The Folkesone/London composite started well and lead from start to finish. The final would be against "Barone RC". A class crew from Australia who had qualified for the Brittania Challange cup at Henley Royal Regatta the week before!

I have taken a few extracts from the Barone Tour website. This is what they thought going into the final QUOTE:" We comfortably booked our spot in the final against the Folkstone/London crew who took out the other semi final. Our new opponents were a fit, extremely competent outfit that demanded our respect."

The final: The head wind continued to run the length of the course. The bar one crew felt that these conditions favoured them as the bigger an heaver crew. At the start of the race the Barone crew took to the lead immediatley. The positions of the crews remained the same at the half way stage. The Folkestone/London crew drove at the Australians as they headed for the line but were unable to bridge the gap. The Barone crew winning by 1 1/2 Lengths.

As far as I am aware this is the only time that we have competed at the Henley Vets Regatta. and was a good acheivement for the crew. Thanks to London RC for th loan of boats for the event.

BARONE Event Report
Photos of Folkestone vs Upper Thames
Photos of Folkestone vs Marlow
Photos of Folkestone vs Barone
Henley Vets Regatta Results