Women’s Eights Head of the River 2014

Saturday 15 March saw six Thames crews and two composites featuring Thames members race in the 74th Women’s Eights Head of the River. It was a very successful day’s racing, with all four of the senior and intermediate boats finishing in the top 50 – a performance unmatched by any other club.

Thames RC A (cox, Hannah Burke; Katie O’Toole, Bea Sheldrick, Maddy O’Shaughnessy-Hunter, Sarah Jones, Helena Green, Jordan Cole-Hossain, Vicki Mortimer and Jess Denman) finished 14th overall, taking home the club pennant;
Thames RC B finished 20th, the fastest B crew;
Thames RC C finished 32nd, the fastest C crew, and also the fastest Intermediate 3 Club crew (the category pennant went to Oxford Brookes University);
Thames RC D finished 50th, the fastest D crew by a huge margin. They were 7th in Intermediate 2 and the second-fastest club crew in that category;
Thames RC E finished 104th, eighth in the novice category and the second-fastest club novice crew;
Thames RC F also raced well in the novice category.

TRC members and Olympians Elise Laverick and Kate MacKenzie were part of an ‘all-star’ masters B composite (also featuring Olympic gold medallists Katherine Grainger, Anna Watkins and cox Adrian Ellison) which finished 10th overall, winning the masters pennant. The crew’s time with the masters’ handicap applied would have put them in 7th place overall.

Last but certainly not least, Pauline Rayner raced in a composite Masters F crew, celebrating the 60th anniversary of her first WEHORR! The crew finished an incredible 105th overall, but their converted time would have put them in 11th position. Pauline was just beaten to the masters pennant by Elise and Kate’s crew.

Congratulations to all the rowers.