Henley Women's Regatta - Our Most Successful To Date

It was a hard fought and heroic final performance at Henley Women's Regatta on Saturday by our S4-. The race, against Newcastle University, brought to an end our racing schedule at Henley Women's Regatta, it was a superb weekend for the club and brought us to the end of the official racing season for 2016-17. We had two crews out on the course over the weekend, the W4- and the W4+. The 4- was made up of: Hannah Myatt, Kirstin Giddy, Alex Shaw and Alice Thompson. The 4+ was made up of: Matt Taylor, Charlie Fling, Charis Evans, Ellie Livingston and Naomi Wood. Friday morning brought the time trials for both crews. With confident and strong performances, both crews swept through into their respective heats for Friday afternoon.

The S4- out on the course during their time trial run on Friday morning.

First into the heats was the S4- who drew Radcliffe, Harvard. The club has faced the might of American college rowing previous, with our M4+ drawing Yale University last year. Unfazed, it was a dominant performance by St Andrews from the start onwards. Taking a length straight out of temple, it was classic underdog racing. The girls held a length throughout and stretched out to 2 1/2 by the finish line, a dominant showing against one the mights from the US.

Next into the heats was the A4+ who drew Leeds University. It was a hard fought event out the blocks, but Leeds stretched out to a comfortable one boat length lead and held it throughout. It was a well versed and highly technical Leeds crew who we were delighted to push against throughout the race. They took the heat comfortably on the line and moved through to lose to UL on Saturday.

It was then through to the quarter-finals for our S4-. Drawing Newcastle University, the girls accepted it was a challenge that awaited. A crew mainly made of U23s and former champ juniors was a daunting prospect but none the less an exciting one. Aggressively exiting the start, St Andrews held neck and neck with Newcastle, continuing to maintain coverage long past Temple and into the main racing block. Newcastle executed a strong and aggressive push in the middle 500, with our 4 unable to mount a comeback. Newcastle had been pushed harder than expected and went on to win the S4- category. Congratulations.

The S4- heading towards the end of Temple, neck and neck with Newcastle University.

It was a highly successful weekend for us to end the official season. It was just a single A4+ sent a year ago, that was knocked out in heat 1. Just a year later, we've doubled our entry and reached the quarter-finals in a senior category.

It wasn't just the girls out racing this weekend, Alex took to the water over at Marlow Regatta in a composite George Watson's quad. The boys came 12th in the time trials before taking 5th in the B final.