Locals gainsome good results in big races on the Thames

Peterborough rowers enjoyed plenty of succes at various events in London over the weekend.
The Peterborough City Rowing Club IM3 eight who raced in the Vesta Veterans Head of the ThamsThe Peterborough City Rowing Club IM3 eight who raced in the Vesta Veterans Head of the Thams
The Peterborough City Rowing Club IM3 eight who raced in the Vesta Veterans Head of the Thams

In Saturday’s Head of the River race on the Thames current and former Peterborough City Rowing Club members did well.

Current members Tom Dolby and Tim Halliday joined the St Neots IM2 eight which moved from a starting position of 144th to finish in 66th place.

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The two former City members to shine were Adam Neill and Sam Tuck.

Neill’s Leander crew finished in second place to win the Page pennant while Tuck’s Molesey crew finished sixth to win the IM1 pennant.

In the Henley Boat Race on Saturday, former Peterborough and York rower Anna Robotham was in the Oxford University lightweight women’s crew which beat their Cambridge counterparts.

The Henley Boat Races are the equivalent of this weekend’s Boat Race but for the lightweight rowers.

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Two Peterborough City crews ventured on to the Thames on Sunday to take part in the Vesta Veterans’ Head race, which follows the traditional Boat Race course but runs with the tide rather than against it.

Over 200 eights took part, with crews travelling from Italy, Germany and France to compete.

The Masters E eight were coxed by Hannah Parker in her first Tideway event. She was able to make the step up from coxing on local canals and rivers to navigate the Thames admirably despite occasionally aggressive opposition.

Several members of Peterborough’s IM3 eight were also making their debut on the Tideway.

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With the exception of their cox Tracey Rushton-Thorpe, only one crew member had rowed the course before and six of the crew were novice rowers.

Despite losing to London club Lea, the crew performed well and showed promise for the future.

Peterborough rowers Hayley Marsters, Jo Canton and Bridge Lloyd took part in a composite crew with rowers from Leicester and Cambridge’s Rob Roy club. The Women’s Masters D composite moved from starting position 168th to finish 117th and took seventh place in their category.

Activities off the water provided chances for other Peterborough rowers to excel in the World Indoor Rowing Sprints.

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The competition attracted almost 4,000 entries from 53 countries.

Although Peterborough didn’t produce any category winners, they provided the fastest British results in four events.

Camilla Plumb was the fastest British junior woman with a time of three minutes and 47 seconds.

Cameron Bartley was the fastest Britain in the “Legs, Trunk and Arms - Learning Disability” section and Louise Dybell took the fastest GB time in the50-59 heavyweight women’s category, coming 16th out of 143 entrants.

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Sara Basuc completed the quartet of UK best times by coming 21st from 172 in the 40-49 heavyweight women’s event. This also placed her in the top 100 out of over 700 heavyweight women across all categories.

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