Southampton Head of the River Report
Southampton Head of the River Rowing Report from John Bailey:
‘Lymington’s Senior A crew took advantage of a rare steering mistake by Ryde A to win the coveted ‘Head of the River’ in 18:18 minutes. This event was part of the Hants & Dorset 2008 Season Primary held on Saturday 26th April, on the River Itchen.
Ryde, last season’s Hants & Dorset and South Coast Senior Champions, were looking for their third consecutive Pennant victory, but lost their way between Cobden Bridge and the Railway Bridge, going inside the course markers. They probably lost more time than they gained having to rudder hard to get back into the main stream, but were disqualified by the eagle eyed course Marshall stationed there.
BTC A (18:18) moved up three places to finish second, whilst Itchen Imperial (18:38) dropped a place to finish third. Christchurch A (19:00) were well clear of Itchen Imperial D (19:55) to win the Junior Senior Section and Ryde B (19:13) held off Newport with little difficulty to win the Junior Title.
In the Veteran events Lymington B (18:53) retained the +40 Title for a second year just six seconds ahead of BTC B (18:59), whilst BTC E +50 Vets (20:15) stormed off the start to pass both Coalporters D (20:46) and Southampton A (22:42) to win by more than a minute.
In Division Two, Coalporters E Men’s Novice crew put in a remarkable time of 19:10 beating their own Senior Four’s time by two seconds and second place Novice Crew Poole (19:36) to take home the Novice Trophy, whilst their Senior Ladies put in the fastest ladies time to take the Pennant as expected, ahead of Itchen Imperial I (21:21) Ladies Novices. Itchen Imperial made light work of the three and a half miles to beat both Ladies Junior winners Lymington (21:41) and second place Junior Crew Southampton D (21:48). Three trophies then to Lymington who continue where they left off at the South Coast Championships in September, a remarkable performance from a small club.
The Aggregate Trophy, decided by each club’s two best times in Division One, plus their best time in Division Two, went to Itchen Imperial who pipped Lymington by just two seconds. with aggregate times of 58:23 and 58:25 respectively.
The Hants & Dorset Championship Season begins on Saturday 24th May at Ryde with Shanklin Regatta on 25th’.
Photos and more results from Southampton ARC’s website.
