Oxford city regatta 2017 Curlew summary
Curlew ended the 2017 season on a high note at Oxford City, winning eight races from 18 events, and both of the eights sprint events.
The weekend started off on a high note on Saturday, with Tom Weeks and John Stewart winning the IM1 pairs event, which was quickly followed by Felix Hemsted winning the novice singles. The women’s coxed four of Gemma Barker, Becky Jackson, Jess Phillips, Sophie Leonard and Alex Smith rounded off a successful morning, winning their IM3 event.
The afternoon continued in the same vain, with Tom and John again winning in the pairs, this time as IM2. The women’s eight of Charlotte Waghorne, Anita Jeff, Jess Phillips, Becky Jackson, Claire Williams, Gemma Barker, Lianne Abbott, Sophie Leonard and Zoe Amos ended the day by winning their IM3 event. The women’s eight were also successful in the lunchtime sprint events, earning their quart pots.
The Sunday started with it being fairly obvious that a few people were suffering from the previous night’s party. Despite this, the Curlew men maintained a strong hold on the pairs events, locking out both the IM1 and IM2 finals. Ed Ninham and Stuart Beards managed to beat Tom Weeks and John Stewart in the IM2 event, helped in no small part by Tom and John being forced to race twice in their semi-final. Ed and Stuart then followed this up in the afternoon by beating Toby Churchus and Callum Stayton in the IM1 event, partially due to their opponent’s dreadful steering.
The mixed committee eight of Jess Phillips, Gemma Barker, John Stewart, Callum Stayton, Anita Jeff, Toby Churchus, Becky Jackson, Tom Weekes and Alex Smith got the afternoon off to a flying start, winning the mixed eights sprints. The day was then topped off by Charlotte Waghorne and Angus Wilson winning the mixed doubles event.
All in all, this was a great end to the 2016-17 season, and a good start for the 2017-18 season.
