Author: wallingfordrowingwebsite

On Saturday we sent a small contingent of Juniors to the excellent Hampton Small Boats Head where we saw many top 5 finishes and two outright wins – our J16 2x and Theo in J15 1x (by only 0.1 seconds!) Then on Sunday we broke all records by achieving no fewer than 6 wins at our own Head: all three Junior women’s 8s (WJ15, 16 and 18) plus both J16 coxed fours (girls and boys) and Open 4- The fact that all of these athletes spent half a day volunteering as well makes it all the more remarkable.

We were so pleased to be able to run our Head this year after 3 years of cancellations – and what a day it was! A huge field of high quality crews from all over the country, in Senior, Junior and Masters events, racing on our iconic stretch of the Thames in blissful conditions. Congratulations to all winners, and many thanks to our Events Committee for all the hard work they put in to make it happen, and to all our wonderful volunteers – members, parents and friends. Hope everyone enjoyed the day!

Wallingford had a strong presence at both the inaugural Junior 4s Head and the Vets 4s Head this weekend, with 8 crews at the former and 7 crews at the latter. Our Juniors produced an outstanding set of results in a top class field including two 2nd places and a 5th position for our promising J18 4x. Our Masters proved their quality by winning two events – MasE 4- and WMasF 4x and a host of top 5 finishes. A great couple of days which even the weather failed to dampen!

Last weekend saw the club in singles mode, racing at Kingston SBH and at Boston Junior Singles Head. We had a winner at both. In Kingston WRC Treasurer Andy won Mas B/C/D 1x and in Boston Naomi continued her fine form by winning WJ18 1x. The latter was one of the GB U19 assessment events so she did very well indeed!

A small contingent of mostly singles braved the headwind to race once more on the most iconic stretch of the Upper Thames. A few second places and a convincing win for Naomi in WJ18 1x ahead of next weekend’s junior trials in Boston. 

Another trip across the Chilterns (AKA downstream) to give our J14s their first ever race. Very excited girls and boys who saw older members win both 4x and 4- at WMasF and 4x and 4+ at J16. A great outing for everyone aged 13 to 66 and lots in-between!

Our incomparable sculler Anne Grainger won her singles category, Veteran II, at last week’s prestigious HOCR in Boston, USA. A bit of a homecoming for Anne as she was born in Massachusetts and won two silver medals for the USA at the Olympics in ’84 and ’88. She then combined with daughter Rachel to be fastest mother-daughter doubles combo a couple of days later.

A great Head race to try out early crew combinations, get some singles racing and give our Novices a taste of competition. We achieved 8 wins for the Juniors including two of the WJ18 sweep events, J16 and 17 singles, and a super happy J15 2x who picked up their second medal after two races this autumn. 

We organise 3 events each year, this being the first and on our home stretch. Racing across 3 divisions it attracts some of the best single and crew scullers from the south of England. Huge thanks to our club members who volunteered beforehand and on the day: raft builders, the catering team, bank marshals, launch drivers and many more. It was a very successful event. 9 of our crews won, seniors, masters and juniors, including the fastest crews in division 1 and 2.

Some of our Masters women went to Banyoles, Spain, to race 10-14th September. In true Wallingford style they came back laden with gold! Winning both as WRC or in composites, sculling, sweeping and coxing – a perfect end to an already successful season.