City crewmake it a high five

Two young Peterborough City Rowing Club crews fared well at the prestigious Oarsport Sculling Head over a 3,600m course on the Dorney Lake in London.

The boys crew of Alex Leverage, Jack Collins, James Toynton and Benjamin Mackenzie finished fifth in a tough field of 17 in the J17 coxless quads despite half the crew racing up an age group. They did particularly well to beat Henley Rowing Club.

The Peterborough mens C eight which raced in the Thames Head..

placeholder image — The Peterborough mens C eight which raced in the Thames Head..

Jenna Taylor, Georgina Parker, Olivia Hutchinson and Hannah Bassett also exceeded expectations at the top event by finishing 12th out of 22 crews in the girls J17 coxless quads.

Two Peterborough crews braved horrible conditions to race on the Thames.

Peterborughs girls J17 coxed four of Jenna Taylor, Olivia Hutchinson, Georgina Parker and Hannah Bassett.

In the Women’s Eights Head on the Saturday, Hannah Parker coxed the eight of Hayley Marsters, Gail Parker, Gemma Singleton, Jo Canton, Tina Allen, Ilektra Apostolidou, Kate Read and Sarah Shelton to a fourth-place finish in the Provincial club M category. They achieved an excellent time of 22:40.2 over the 6.8km course placing them 164th out of the 300 crews that competed.

The following day, John Canton coxed Mike King, George Bushell, Alex Totty, Dan Heard, Martin Bagnall, George Wilson, Ed Burrows and Chris Elder over the same course at the men’s Head. Despite it being the first time many of them had raced in an eight on the Tideway, they came 209th overall, despite starting at 223. Their time of 20:48.3 placed them 93rd out of 133 in Category C.