Monmouth crews wins gold in Eights, Fours and Pairs.
Another weekend, another long trip to Nottingham for MRC masters squad, this time to compete in the 2022 British Masters Championships at Holme Pierre Point. First up, at 9:00am, the mens coxless D4 of Tim Male, Simon Lee, Paul Bezani and James Allison comfortably raced to qualify, in a time of 3:53.97, for their final later in the morning. Two races later, the older F4-, of Andrew Barnett, Nick Hooton, Colin Lewis, and Jonathan Keyte also comfortably secured their place in their final in a time of 4:02.67.
The first final of the morning for a Monmouth crew saw ladies captain Liz Lewis and her crew mate Louise Allison power to victory in a their coxless pair, in a time of 5:02.01; pushing a strong Weybridge combination into second place in a time of 5:07.72.
Next up the F4- failed to make the podium, coming a disappointing 5th. Less than half a second separated the crews in third to fifth place. Monmouth 3:52.87, third placed Bedford 3:52.13. The crew felt frustrated that they hadn’t executed their race plan well enough. No such problems for the D4-, they pushed home in gold medal place in a time of 3:55.84.
A new look mens masters coxed D4 of newly wed Matt Winters, Simon Lee, Paul Bezani, James Allison and cox Sara Part, were unable to qualify from their heat, despite posting a time of 4:04.93.
Taking part in her first multi lane regatta, relative novice, Rachel Westerlund coped very well with the tricky conditions and raced to a well deserved and impressive third place, in a time of 5:25.43.
The men from the F4 were then asked to park their frustrations as they joined with Louise Allison, Dawn Brace, Kate Hooton, Liz Lewis, and cox Darcy Birkett to form the mixed Masters E crew. Clearly wanting to prove a point the 8 quickly established a lead, and were leading all the way to the medal podium, winning in a time of 3:49.36; second placed Ancholme posting a time of 3:56.25.
The womens coxed D4 of Sara Part, Liz Newman, Sue Smith, Julia Cowton and cox Darcy Birkett left their strong charge too late to impact on the first placed crew, but a great race from the new look crew, posting a time of 4:04.93.
The mens D8 were the last of the MRC crews to race. having successfully managing to navigate the semi-final, the crew of Andrew Barnett, Nick Hooton, Matt Winters, Simon Lee, Tom Griffiths, Paul Bezani, James Allison and cox Liz Lewis picked up the bronze medal in a time of 3:38.10.
Some more encouraging results from the day, coach Tim Male was generally satisfied with the performances, but all crews know there is more work to do on and off the water before Henley Masters in July.
