Stroke: A Jeff, V Skinner, L Binns, G Stonehouse, S Felix, A Madhani, A Duval, Y Cook and Cox I Tovey)
On 20th June 2014 saw the pride of the Curlew ladies race against our local rivals Lea RC at Women’s Henley Regatta. We talk about the luck of the draw, but even by Henley Standard this was tough – this crew having beaten Vesta 1st VIII at WeHoRR finishing in the top 25, over 100 places ahead of the Curlew ladies. Lea were bigger, they were stronger and this showed…however, pride isn’t measured by victory, but by the manner of defeat – and Curlew can hold their heads up high, they fought, battled and pushed Lea all the way.
Curlew went off hard, clean and settled into a long and strong rhythm, even the commentator was very complementary on the technical prowess of the Curlew ladies. However, Lea were just put their greater power to use – and it proved too much Curlew. Lea were half a length up at the end of the island, that pushed out to a length by the barrier and the final result was a length and three quarters. Reviewing the other results, it seems that the Curlew vs Lea race was the second quickest, which proves that the this VIII is pretty quick.
Considering three of the ladies in our 1st VIII only took up rowing 12 months ago, to go from complete novice to competing at the premier ladies event of the season is testiment to Curlew RC. I wonder how many other crews had three novices in their boat?
There are exciting times for Curlew ahead…bring on 2015 season! Going to smash WeHoRR…