British Rowing Masters Championships 2023 – Race Report

Saturday June 10th – Race report prepared by Bernarda Elizondo

Finally, the first big ticket item on the race calendar for the Poplar more “mature” members of the racing squad had arrived, the Masters Nat Champs. Time to make all the tough winter training in cold, dark mornings and the excruciating speed sessions at the Docks pay off. Or at least that was what we were hoping for since we knew we had some tough racing ahead of us! As described on the event’s website “this competition provides high quality racing for masters rowers in two full days of racing”. Nobody was going to give an inch away and therefore if we wanted to do well we were going to have to fight for it.

Quick explanation for those unfamiliar with the term “master” in rowing parlance: masters events are open only to rowers 27 years of age and older. Rowers race in age categories starting at ‘A’ for those with a minimum age of 27. The categories continue through to ‘M’ for crews with an average age of 89 or more. The race distance in all cases is 1,000 meters.

Poplar had four entries on Saturday: Ben & Dan (Op B 2x), Bev & Bernarda (W D 2x), Bob (Op H & I 1x) and Dan (Op C 1x). All this racing was done on a beautiful sunny day with 11 to 12 mph tailwinds in the morning which would turn into stronger crosswinds by the time we were paddling down to our finals and with the great pleasure of counting with our coach Gary’s presence and support again.

Dan’s Op C1x heat came first at 09:28. He qualified for the final which took place at 11:12. Having faced tough opposition he was left off the medals this year, however, an hour and a half later he was back on a double with Ben on the Op B 2x heat where they qualified for the final. They won bronze on what must have been a good battle against Birmingham/ NCRA which came second less than 2 seconds ahead of them.

The legend that Bob Milligan is, added gold to the tally on his Op H & I 1x final. He reported having had a good race that left him feeling satisfied with his performance and that of his shiny new Filippi.

The fourth and last event of the day was Bev & Bernarda’s W D 2x. Racing on a tailwind, great conditions for lightweight rowers like them they won their heat and ate a few seconds off their last best time. Less than an hour later they were back on the water for the final, now on less ideal conditions, with a cross wind and on the worst lane related to wind direction assigned to them. Things got a little messy at the start, but they managed to recover, get level with the Irish Portadown BC double by the 500m mark and win the final by one boat length, finishing with a time only one second slower than that of the heat.

Another good day for Poplar with everyone racing bringing home a medal. Many thanks to Gary for being there to help and support us. None of this would be possible without you. And a massive thank you to Ben, the absolute hero of this race: Our Club car had some mechanical issues that proved impossible to repair in time to use it to tow the trailer to Nottingham. Ben rushed to the rescue and the day before the race was calling every car hire company in East London trying to find a suitable replacement. Not only did he manage to find one, he also took it on himself to drive the trailer to Nottingham, race on Saturday and Sunday and then drive the trailer back to London. We cannot thank you enough Ben, this race would not have been possible without you.

Sunday June 11th – Race report prepared by Bob Milligan

The club continued racing on Sunday when the weather was just as good, the sun still shining and very unusually for Nottingham a benign following wind making the lake smoother than Saturday.

Ben, Vicki and Paddy were all competing in singles in the non-championship events in their age groups. Ben kicked off proceeding with a solid race in the category A-C singles He finished third and posted a time that would have got him in the medals on Saturday Championship event.

Vicki raced soon after and on her first ever visit to Nottingham and such a big regatta came second in Womens Non-Champs D to F single. a very sharp learning curve indeed but she said well worth doing and a great experience.

Bob was guesting in a championship Sweep rowing event with a lot of old mates from Thames Tradesmen’s RC one of his former clubs. Rowing as a Mortlake/Tradesmen’s/Poplar composite they just missed out on 3rd place medal by four tenths of a second to Broxbourne. A storming good race and about as far away from single sculling as it gets – but still great fun.

Paddy was last on for the club in a very strong heat of Non-Champs D to F singles. Happy to report no detours – no reeds and straight as it gets and a good time of 4.20 for the 1K. Total commitment and effort as always.

So no medals on day 2 but lots of fun, effort and good to be there flying the flag for Poplar, reestablishing our presence at top quality regattas.