Another hugely successful outing for our Juniors to this popular regatta. I strongly suspect they like it so much because it is only 500m long… but they also award old-fashioned glass-bottomed tankards as prizes, which is becoming increasingly rare. The organisers nearly cancelled it in the face of Storm Antoni, and in the end we were lucky to have little wind, a couple of hours of rain, and racing suspended for only an hour due to thunder and lightning. There was some great racing and interesting steering.
Our Band 1 Mixed 2x of Emma Moroney and Ollie Absolom (Nikki’s son rowing with us over the summer) won the first prize of the day, their adult opponents capsizing dramatically 5 strokes from the finish, but our duo already 1.5 lengths ahead. Michael Bell (also rowing with us for just the summer) won his first ever pot, in J16 1x, quickly followed by his second in J16 2x with Jacob Gunn. His sister Naomi Bell, a full-time member of the Junior squad, won her second consecutive WJ15 1x title after her success at Henley T&V the previous weekend, as well as WJ15 2x with Lauren Fiddy.
Becca McIntyre won her first ever race in Wallingford colours, in Band 2 Mixed 2x with Ewan Sleep. Ewan also won J18 1x, and is undefeated in three years of racing as a Junior at Maidenhead! There were also wins for Emma in WJ18 1x, and Niamh McAdden and Annie Collins in WJ18 2x. Nine wins in total for Wallingford!
Wallingford Rowing Club 