Walton & Weybridge Regatta Report

Ben reports from Walton & Weybridge Regatta

Poplar had a good day at Walton & Weybridge Regatta. It’s a 900m course downstream with a staggered start to account for the stream. Yesterday had sunshine but a fairly substantial headwind which made for some choppy conditions, although nothing compared to the waves churned up by the East London river traffic.

The club had 7 entries: Nathan (Op 1x), Ben (Op 1x), Bernarda (W MasD 1x), Miggsy (Op MasH 1x), Nathan & Ben (Op 2x), Molly & Annika (W 2x), Bev & Bernarda (W MasD 2x).

Bernarda and Miggsy won their singles events – Bernarda won her heat by 3 lengths and the final by 4. Miggsy won easily too.

Ben & Nathan beat two Staines crews and one from Ardingly to win the Band 1 doubles event.

Bev & Bernarda reached the final in their double, as did Ben in his single, but couldn’t overcome tough opposition in those races.

Molly & Annika won their heat in the double, but went down to the fastest crew of the event in the semi-finals. Nathan also met with tough competition in the first round of the singles event.

The full results for Poplar can be found online.

It was great to see our very own Paddy umpiring the event. Always nice to have a smiling face on the start line. He reported that a few of the umpires had commented on how good it was to see Poplar crews racing and winning this weekend.

We’re getting the club’s name out there on the racing circuit, which we can be really proud of. Really well done to everyone who raced. If anyone else wants to race in the next few weeks please get in touch with Ben, who will be happy to give you some advice and details. It’d be great to get more club members along

Massive thanks to coach Gary who trekked all the way out to Walton to support us. Speaking for myself, the pep talk he gave me and Nathan after the singles event in the morning was essential to how we performed in the double in the afternoon. Couldn’t have done it without him.