News

Posted: October 29, 2013

Three of the 1986 Commonwealth Games Rowing squad headed over to compete at the 49th Head of the Charles Regatta over the weekend of the 19th and 20th October.

Martin Holmes of Castle Semple Rowing Club, Willie Brown of Stirling Rowing Club and Quintin McKellar of Broxbourne Rowing Club were joined by comparative youngster Pete Murray, also from Castle Semple. The four entered the Men’s Senior Master Event (50+) where they competed against 39 other crews over the 3 mile course on the Charles River in Boston, USA. The race which receives entries from all over the world has been won by the 1980 Rowing Club for the last 4 years and they set off first in this year’s race. The CSRC crew set off in 23rd which meant they would not have the clearest of passages through the course. However the team were joined by local cox Alexandra Sopko who steered them a good course and by the time they went through the very useful live web streaming point they had moved up 5 places and looked in very good shape. After a tense wait by the computer for the official results fellow club-members were able to see that the CSRC Four had indeed moved up the field into 3rd place in a time of 17.38.717.

In the afternoon of the same day Martin was joined by son Andrew to compete in the Directors Challenge Parent/Child doubles. Andy is in his final year at Harvard and was to be racing on Sunday in the prestigious Championship Eights so this was to be a good warm up for him. Martin and Andy have not had a chance to sit in a boat together over the past few years but soon found their rhythm and, although starting at bow number 5, they were the first boat to speed through the viewing point. They kept up the pressure to the end and won by almost 8 seconds in a record time of 17.04.804.

The field for the Championship 8’s on the following day was full of world-class boats and recent world championship winners. Andy, in the Stroke seat for the Harvard A crew, seemed unflustered by this and the crew was eager to renew their rivalry with the University of Washington who had beaten them in the previous year. After a race full of excitement the Harvard crew made third place, beaten by the US national team, who had a disappointing 2012 Head of the Charles and had something to prove, and the Dutch top boat. Although they were disappointed to be third they could take some consolation in being the fastest collegiate crew in the event and beating the top French and Australian crews, with all top four boats finishing within 2 seconds of each other.

Those of us who sat and watched the events, thanks to the wonders of the internet, would like to say thank you to the crews for providing us with some great entertainment and a huge sense of pride. Well done guys!