Glorious weather worthy of the Eton Boating Song graced Totnes and Bridgetown Royal Regatta and with a huge entry racing started at the almost inhumanly early hour of nine o'clock in order to maximise the available tide over the 1000 metre course.

 

Totnes won the points trophy despite a poor performance at the premier events. The exception was the mens senior C coxed four crew of Henry Wallace, Simon French, Peter Kerswell-Jensen, Owen Small and coxed by Adrian Roodenburg who squeezed first place just a canvas ahead of Exeter with Plymouth third in a very close fought race. The same crew with Nick Lovering replacing Simon won the mens J18 coxed fours by three lengths over Exmouth with Exeter third. Totnes womens senior A  coxed four were knocked out in the heats while the womens senior B crew managed second place behind Exeter University in the final. The two womens senior C crews also went out in the heats.

 

The men faired little better. There was no competition for the senior A coxed fours and in the senior B race the Totnes crew led from the start just managing to fend off Exeter until fifteen strokes from the finish line when a slight mishap stalled the boat and Exeter went through to win with Bideford Blues trailing third. Both the mens and womens novice coxed fours were knocked out in the heats

 

Exeter University gave the Totnes ladies eights crews some competition at senior C and open status winning both. The most visually spectacular race came from the last event on the timetable in the mens open eights. With the tide already perilously low the course had to be shortened by 100 metres to allow three boats to line up abreast. Totnes led from the start and with Dartmouth hot on their heals they soon dropped Ross-on-Wye to a safe distance allowing the dual to occupy the available water comfortably. The crew of Nick Price, Steve Wilson, Alan Langmaid, Nick Lovering, Luke Allen, Henry Wallace, Peter Kerswell-Jensen, Owen Small and coxed by Steve Grimes kept the stroke rate high and crept further ahead of rivals Dartmouth. Then stroke Owen Small took the rate up a notch and the Totnes boat surged ahead demoralising Dartmouth into a slog for the line and second place by two lengths.

 

An all Totnes dual at veteran level produced a touch of irony. The regular veteran D crew had insisted Totnes regatta held veteran events according to age handicap to level the competition. So it came as a surprise to find a very sharp and competitive crew made up from the veteran sculling squad entering a coxed sweep oar crew at the even older category of vet E. With an eight second head start it was too much for the regulars to close and the E crew cruised home to an easy win. The winning crew of John Harris, Pete Atkinson, Gary Cairns, Ray Davis and coxed by Suzanne Hutchings also entered a coxless quad against visitors Ross-on-Wye and stormed home to an easy win.

 

Totnes scullers had a field day with wins making up for the deficiency at sweep oared rowing. Louise Hawkyard upheld her 100% career record winning J13 double sculls with partner Jackie Gibbard against two Ross crews while Catherine Wiseman and Sophie Glenn-Cox matched them at J16 level with Dartmouth second and Ross third. Bill Lucas, a World Class Start athlete training with Dart-Totnes, made winning look easy beating Bradford-on-Avon and Plymouth respectively in the mens senior B singles and repeating the same performance in the final of the J18 singles race against Exeter.

 

Tom Aindow, another promising World Class Starter from Totnes, demolished his opposition in novice single sculls beating Exeter by two and a half lengths. Tom, however, scratched from the J18 event as the two races were too close together. Luke Allen managed a second place in the mens senior C final but a long way behind the winner from Exeter. James Lovering had an easy win in the J13 single sculls beating two Ross scullers and Pete Atkinson matched the same performance at veteran C level ahead of BOARC and Exeter. Totnes dominated the vet E event with John Harris beating Hugh Tubbs giving Totnes first and second place with Plymouth trailing a long way behind in third. At vet F Hugh had to yield another veteran handicap start to the vet G sculler from Bradford-on-Avon but still managed to win convincingly.

 

It was another first and second place for Totnes at womens novice double sculls with Laura Hutchinson and Lucy Obolensky beating Natasha Prior and Penny Lamkin with Torquay third. Back at sweep oar rowing the Totnes coxless pair of Suzanne Hutchings and Tracy Corbett defeated two Exeter University crews with Nick Lovering and Peter Kerswell-Jensen beating Exeter in the mens senior C event. The final win from Totnes came from the mixed senior B coxed four crew of Maya Maloney, Jess Carter, Simon Gifford-Mead, Steve Wilson and coxed by Steve Grimes who beat the Paignton crew comfortably.

 

Other results for Totnes include second place at mixed novice and mixed senior C coxed fours, womens J16 coxed quad, mens J16 double sculls, womens J16 single, second and third places for Totnes at J14 and J15 single and third place at mens J14 double sculls. Both mens and womens J14 coxed quads failed to reach the finals along with the J14 womens single sculler.

 

 

Alan Langmaid, vice chairman and PR, Dart-Totnes ARC