Senior Men
The Tyne RC senior men's squad ventured out in force of the weekends of 24 and 31 October on the Tees and Tyne. There were strong entries in the singles sculls, doubles and quads in each of the Long Distance Sculls. Julian MacBride and Si Forster shared the honours of being the fastesat Tyne singles home, with Julian being fastest at Tees and Si at Tyne. Julian was fastest novice and Si fastest IM3. Ben Robinson took the J17 pot at Tyne. Wes and Dickie, having trained in their double for a few weeks found success at Tyne LDS and then went on to win at Wansbeck LDS as well.At Tees SBH we had success winning both the men's IM2 4- and IM2 4+, with a good performance form the younger Northumbria lads in IM2 4+. The IM3 4x- won their event as well, so a good day for the senior men. The conditions at Tees were quite challenging, not just having some very tight bends on the course, the day was wet with blustery winds which hit the crews from different directions as the course twisted it way towards the finish. It was pleasing that all crews had some good steersmen aboard to get them round the bends.
The Tyne on the other hand, on Saturday 31st October was at its best behaved in the morning with light winds and great water for the 5k course. Although against the tide for the afternoon race, TURC SBH, it remained good but with a totally different racing line needed to cope with the outgoing tide. At TURC SBH the sneior men once again put out a strong squad, with Guy, Jules, Si and Andy being the fastest crew overall and the IM2 4+ once again winning their event. The quad, second coxed four and coxed quad had good rows as well.
Senior Women
The ladies squad had a good start to the winter head season, with good results at both Tyne and Tees head, helping the club take 2nd place in the Sculling Series' Victor Ludorum.Tees hosted the first major races of the season with crews competing in the sculling series and small boats head. The windy conditions and tricky course gave the girls plenty to contend with. The morning saw fastest ladies quad going to our IM2 crew, coming an impressive 16th out of 145 crews. Hardy, our J16 single had a good row coming 96th.
The rain came just in time to drench the IM2 quad and coxed fours, waiting to boat in the afternoon division. Again the IM2 quad was impressive. They were the fastest senior ladies crew of the afternoon gaining a pennant, finishing 25th of 128 crews overall. The IM2 coxed four had a good race with excellent steering from new cox Joanne. The girls finished 52nd overall. The IM3 coxed four had a slightly more difficult race when one of the bow side riggers came off halfway through the race. A great day had and achievements by all.
Tyne presented the squad the chance to race on our home river. With a clear sky and good conditions the crews were ready to race, with entry in the morning sculling and afternoon small boats head. The morning saw the three quads entered perform well. The IM2 boat came 11th and was again the fastest ladies crew. The two IM3 boats entered had good rows finishing 36th and the other crew 64th. Along with Hardy in her J16 single who came 58th the results rounded off a good mornings sculling. The afternoon saw the chance for the sweep boats to race in the small boats head. The IM2 coxed four had a good result coming 23rd, the fastest ladies sweep boat of the afternoon. The 1M3 coxed four had a fantastic result winning their category, beating an 6 other impressive crews in the process.
Juniors
Tyne RC have been re-orgainizing their junior squad with some 16 youngsters regularly attending. Several ventured out for the some LDS races. The MJ14 2x Pederson and Miller comprehensively beat their opposition at Tees and Wansbeck, with Miller also putting in a good performance in his single at Tyne LDS.The WJ14 4x+ ventured out for their first Head Race at Wansbeck with Pearson providing the expertise in the coxes seat. On a fine sunny day they raced extremely well, narrowly missing out to St Leonards School in the WJ14 event but a great race for all 5 of them. They beat both WJ15 quads so were actually second fastest girls coxed quad on the day. Wansbeck also saw one junior venturing out to race a single at a head race for the first time, well done to her and she is now looking forward to racing at Rutherford in a quad.
The youngest of the Hardy sisters raced her single at several of the LDS races, winning at Wansbeck and Tees.
Well done to all juniors who took part in the recent races and their parents who helped with boats, trailerage and support on the day. Here's looking forward to some excellent racing in the coming months.
