News

Huge congratulations to the Juniors for completing their second annual sponsored erg at the weekend, and thanks to everyone who generously donated. They kept two ergs running from 16.30 on Saturday to 16.30 on Sunday, clocking up 580,193 metres and raising £4,644 (at the time of writing.)

Half of this will go to the children’s mental health charity Young Minds, and half to buying equipment for the club. Special mention to the J15 boys who had just completed the 6 day training camp, took the 05.00 to 07.30 shift on Sunday, played a football game in Sutton Courtenay, then came back for the 14.00 to 16.30 shift that afternoon.

Tired but happy. Also to the J15 girls who dashed off to the pubs with buckets and boards and came back with £96 from startled drinkers. Extra special thanks to Mattie Sizer who organised the whole event – well done Mattie!

We waited. And waited. And waited all week for Bedford Spring Small Boats Head to be cancelled, but no – the organisers were adamant that the Great Ouse would be rowable. And it was. Fast, quite high but perfectly safe, with all the usual low and narrow bridges intact and ready to be whacked by an unsuspecting blade.

The Club had a very successful day, racing from Division 2 at 10.30 through to Division 6 at 16.15 with some quick changeovers, one member even racing in three contiguous divisions in a 1x, a 2- and a 2x (sorry Zara…) Amongst our eight wins were Ruth Haigh who won twice, in her 1x and mixed 2x with partner Felix Rummel from Manchester University. Charlotte Hermsen and Phoebe Downs also enjoyed two wins, in their WJ15 2x and WJ15 4x+ with Lily Clayton, cox Nell Peters and first-time winner Daisy Coleman.

Most exciting of all was a first-ever win for our WJ14 girls in the their coxed quad, following on from their huge step-up at JSH two weeks ago. Well done to Alice Hull, Nell Bowden, Verity Goodall, Cecily Swinfen and Cecily Gauden, the first of may wins I am sure. There is a buzz about the whole J14 squad, ably coached by Henry White, and sure enough Will Andrews and Tom Fanstone also brought home gold in their 2x.

There were good wins in WJ17 2x for Zara Richardson and Niamh McAdden, who won together at Hampton before Christmas, and the J15 2x of James Evans and Fergus Caulfield.

A day to be proud of wearing the red and blue of Wallingford RC.

Last weekend, the Wallingford Masters travelled to Devon to take part in the notorious Head of the Dart. A 15km race from Totnes to Dartmouth, navigating tributaries, false turns, conflicting streams, moored boats and a chain ferry. It made for a fantastic weekend away and light hearted relief from the build up to the tideway heads, with all rowers having a night or two away as part of the trip.

The trip was run in conjunction with Shiplake College who assisted with boat transport. A real highlight was seeing David Millbourn race in Open 2x with his son Edward. A feat repeating the same race David did with his own father back in the 1980s.

Open 4- (Fastest 4)

Mixed 8 (Fastest Mixed 8)

Open Masters D 2x (2nd place)

Open 2x (Fastest Open 2x)

Wallingford’s Juniors put in some solid performances at this Head, the culmination of a winter’s work in quads. Best of all came from our amazing group of J14 boys whose A crew won a silver medal in J14 4x+, overtaking both boats in front of them during the race, as well as a gold medal for the B crew who came 11^th overall.

This is probably the first time our club has ever had such a strong showing from this age group, some of whom are pictured here at Dorney just before receiving their medals. We get very excited when we see them race!

Congratulations to our men’s crew on finishing 105^th on Saturday. The crew was a mix of our senior men’s squad and our masters squad with only one practice outing beforehand, so overall we think it was a decent result.

Thanks especially to Wallce Fisher who morphed seamlessly from Novice coach to expert cox for the day!

Our girls “A” crew had a storming row to win a silver medal in WJ16 Championship 8s, the first top three place for any Wallingford crew in a number of years.

It is unusual for Wallingford to put out junior 8s, let alone be less than 6 seconds from winning it! The crew of Elin Bahadori, Lily Clayton, Phoebe Downs, Lucy Mead, Martha Hudson, Annie Collins, Zara Richardson, Tabby Gauden and cox Jasper Tidmarsh contained three WJ15s experiencing the Tideway for the first time.

Furthermore we had a second WJ16 8 who put in a creditable performance given many of them have only had a couple of sweep outings, and a J15 8 who put in a sterling row against schoolboy crews who have been rowing a lot longer.

Congratulations to Chris Revell who was fastest overall sculler, and winner of Open 1x, at Avon Spring Head. Held at Saltford, half way between Bath and Bristol, Chris won in just under 13 minutes.

Not far behind was Andy Hull, second in Mas C 1x. Great to have two committee members racing in singles at the same head, well done both!

Our Women Masters “F” eight had a storming row to win not only their category but also the outright Masters pennant in todays Women’s Head! This is an amazing result showing what a depth of talent we have in our Masters squad.

Laura Forrest, Janet Dutton, Alice Brown, Rachel Edge, Judith Carr, Jenny Taylor, Julia Wilks, Becky Waller and cox Georgia Dowdeswell beat the nearest crew, who were racing as “D”, on average 10 years younger, by 5 seconds. With the handicap time applied, they would have placed 24^th out of 299 finishers.

Well done Wallingford ladies, you are inspiring!

A great head race today, though a touch chilly, and with success for our Juniors ahead of the Schools Head and Junior Sculling Head in March.

Our WJ16 4x of Annie, Tabby, Lucy and Zara won their event in style by some 20 seconds – pictured here with top supporter Bosch the dog. Our J15 8+ came a narrow 2^nd in a large field, in what was only their third outing in a sweep boat. Impressive stuff, all the more so because they are a squad of just 8 boys.

They were very excited to take part in their first race together in one boat, beating traditional powerhouse public schools in the process!

Wallingford RC won two events at this race thanks to Ruth Haigh, visiting old haunts but representing her current club.

Congratulations to Ruth on winning both W 2x and O 2x (but in a mixed crew.) She also came second in her 1x by only 8 seconds, pictured. Three races in one day and two wins is a good test of fitness and skill!