Ghent International Regatta 2016

Ghent Regatta has always been a big test of boat speed and this year’s regatta really saw our crews having to step on. With the demise of Essen and Ratzeburg, the German and Polish U23s pitched up making even getting out of the heats more exciting than usual.

The women’s squad had mixed results with the standout performances coming from Meghann Jackson in the LW1x. Meghann had good heats on both Saturday and Sunday, progressing to the finals where she won bronze twice against against strong competition from Germany.

The senior 8+ finished fourth in their heat on Saturday, narrowly missing out on qualifying in a strong field with several U23 squad crews from Germany and Poland. On Sunday they were fifth in their heat, easily the toughest of the two.

The 8 also split into two 4-s on Saturday and both finished third in their heats, beating the majority of the GB crews which were entered but finding the pace set by the German and Polish entrants a little too quick.

In the men’s squad, Tom Jeffery and Tom Harvey (one big, one small) had great weekends’ racing in the M1x and LM1x. Little Tom, with a full time job as a barrister, just missed out on the final of LM1x both days but pushed the field hard and probably would have made the final in the heavyweight field. Big Tom made the final on both days, winning two bronzes and with a much closer margin on Sunday.

The 8+ made the final both days but found the going very tough indeed. The crew showed some good speed out of the blocks but failed to find a rhythm to maximise their horse power.

The 4- messed up Saturday’s heats by rating 33 but came out all guns blazing on Sunday to win their heat over Henley RC, who had made Saturday’s final. This was a great field with Nereus and Oxford Brookes both bound for the Visitors, and Henley, Tideway Scullers and Thames as legitimate Wyfolds crews. By 500m gone Brookes and Nereus were stretching away but the Thames 4 put in a push to go with Brookes, gaining to within a seat by halfway and looking likely to either row through, or go pop. We went pop! However the boys managed to hold off Scullers in the charge for the line to get a well-deserved third place. One of the best and bravest races of any TRC crew of the last few years.