More wins at Henley Masters

After the splendor of Henley Royal Regatta, Monmouth Rowing Club returned to the River Thames at Henley this weekend (7th and 8th of July) to compete in the marvelous Henley Masters Regatta and returned with two fantastic wins in the Women's F8 and the Women's D4+ competition.

In their first round the D4+ (Cox Taryn ,Ellen R, Sue S, Sara P, Dawn B) showed true Monmouth grit and determination to row through Auriel Kensington. They went on to beat Milton Keynes in the final by 1½ lengths.

The WD4+ rowing through their opposition at Henley Masters Regatta -Cox Taryn, Dawn B (Bow), Sara P, Sue S andEllen R

The WD4+ getting their Henley Masters Medals from Andrew Triggs Hodge, three time Oplymic Gold Meadalist

The F8 crew of Cox Darcy, Louise A, Melanie B, Mary M, Maggie H, Kate H, Bonita B, Shelagh S, Liz L (Bow) obviously got the memo and displayed similar style and speed, winning their final against Aberdeen easily.

The WF8 on their way to victory at Henley Masters

The Women's Masters Squad celebration their wins with Coach Tim

We had many other great performances, with the highlight being the nail biting race of the Open F8 against Tryian Club (alumni of University of London Boat Club) which contained several Olympians. After going down by ¾ of a length at the start, Monmouth fought back throughout the 1000m race and in the end lost by just two feet - the closest race of the regatta. The crew was Cox Hannah, Tim E, Nick Ho, Andrew B, Nick Ha, Colin L, Mark SW, Alex M and James A.

The Men’s Open F4+ (Cox Hannah, Tim E, Nick H, Simon L and Mark SW) had two great rounds beating very experienced US crews, but were beaten in the final by a very experienced crew from Moseley.

However, our winning run over US crews had to come to an end when the Women’s F4+ (Cox Darcy , Louise A, Melanie B, Mary M, Liz L) lost out to a strong crew from Marin, California.

MRC also had sculling crews, with Alex M and Toby competing in the Open E2X. Despite a pre race equipment failure, they beat Kingston in the first round but lost to a very strong crew for Crabtree, the alumni club for rowers who have rowed for Cambridge in the Boat Race.

Finally we had one more win, with our coach Tim M, winning Open D8 with his previous club Tideway Scullers School.

Overall, it was another great performance by Monmouth, getting two major wins in one of the most prestigious masters events in the UK. The next focus for many of the Masters squad will now be the European Masters event inMunich at the end of July.