Upton Rowers well up in medal table by mid-season Members of Upton Rowing Club have had a good season so far, producing fine performances at several regattas, notably the British Masters at Nottingham, the Henley Masters and at Llandaff.

Eight Upton rowers raced at the British Masters Championships in Nottingham (on a day when the BBC recorded that Nottingham was the wettest place in the country). Despite the horrible conditions, Upton did very well. Debbie Thompson and Sally Miles were in the six boat final of the Masters double sculls. After a fiercely contested race, a closing burst from the crew from Falcon Rowing Club (Oxford) gave them the verdict by just 0.25 of a second, but Upton came away with a very well-earned silver medal (picture).

Upton’s women’s quad (Jo Hammett, Linda Scott, Liz Killick (now Elston – Congratulations Liz and Bruce!) and Maggie Jameson) were also on the wrong end of a 0.25 second verdict. Jo and Linda also raced in a double scull, in both the Championship and Intermediate events. In the first of these, they had a very tough semi final, being drawn against last year’s gold and bronze medallists. But they really rose to the occasion and qualified for the final, in which they rowed to a very creditable fourth place, just missing out on the bronze medal. In the Intermediate event they had a straight final of six crews and again finished fourth. But this was nonetheless a big step on from last year and they are clearly on an upward trend.

Upton rowers also joined in composite crews (with members of other clubs), several of which performed well.

Julian and Tabitha Scrivener raced in mixed Masters Double scull coming a close third to win another bronze. Julian finished off his day with a gold medal in an eight, rowing for London Rowing Club in the very fast time of 3.03 seconds for the 1000 metre course. The Club had a lot to celebrate in Nottingham: all but one of our crews achieved a top four placing in their various events. We should build on that. Next time we’ll take a bigger team.

Julian Scrivener won his second Henley Gold Medal in a single scull beating Stourport in the 1,000 metre final, winning by several lengths. On the same day, Julian was in an eight which reached the final, but lost narrowly to Molesley.

At the Llandaff Regatta, last Sunday Debbie Thompson & Sally Miles had good rows in their novice double sculls, winning early rounds by 2-3 lengths. In the final, the competition looked very good, but were not good enough, as Upton won by 3 lengths.

Toby Harris looked good in his novice single scull event and won the early rounds by good distances. His final was quite tight, just losing out in the latter stages and crossing the line just over 1 length behind a very capable sculler.

Stuart Edney and Maurice Stanley’s novice double got off to a bad start with technical difficulties, but slowly pulled away and won by 3 lengths. The Master’s C quad Crew (Jon Eaton, Keith Spencer, Stuart and Maurice) overcame difficulties caused by delays in the opposition getting on the water, to win by over 3 lengths.