Henley Masters 2025
Quintin rowed composite eights with both the Olden Bears and Endeavor Racing Alliance. We went fast and beat some strong local crews, but didn’t win the finals.
For the main regatta on Friday and Saturday, our eight consisted of Quintin members Simon Hunt, Ken Creighton, Mark O’Brien and Dave Allen. Plus Olden Bears Richard Ratcliffe, Joachim Sutton, Arthur Ware and Bill Jackman. Sune Keyser was the coxswain.
The Olden Bears are a team of the University of California, Berkeley Alumni and friends.
It was also special to have Joachim Sutton (Cal ‘19) join us. He is a Danish Olympian with a bronze medal in the pair from the Tokyo games.
Friday
The first event was Open D eight.
We were matched up against Tideway Scullers. Our local rivals and winners of Henley Masters the previous year. Although this race was the first time we’d rowed together as an eight, we jelled quickly and got off the line with ¾ boat length lead.
During the race we slowly moved away and ended up winning by a comfortable distance.
On Saturday morning we raced the Semi-Final against Marin. Marin are a very fast club from Northern California. We know them well! They won the Head of the Charles last year by 20 seconds over second place. We knew we’d need to be fast to win.
At the start, Marin had almost a boat length lead. We held them, and ended up losing by about the same margin. Our time was substantially faster than both crews in the other semi-final – Kingston and Upper Thames. In the final, Marin comfortably defeated Kingston.
We didn’t win, but we went fast and are motivated for next year!
Henley Masters added mixed events for Sunday morning. We were invited by friends at Endevor Racing Alliance to team up for racing.
Mark O’Brien and also QBC member Dov Ohrenstein teams up with Endevor to race in the Mx MasF 4x. They faced a fast Tideway Scullers compositie crew and narrowly lost by about a length.
Next, QBC members Dave Allen and Ken Creighton races with Olden Bears and Endevor in the Mx MasD 8+. We faced a Thames Tradesmen crew, and won easily to reach the fina.
The next semi final featured QBC member Simon Hunt, with the Olden Bears and Endevor in the Mx MasF 8+. They faced a fast Wallingford crew and were edged out by 1 length.
The Final!
Ken Creigton and Dave Allen’s Mx MasD 8+ made the Final and were matched against a well-drilled Marlow crew. Our scratch crew had not found our true speed and couldn’t match Marlow. They got a lead off the line, and while we closed the gap in the second half, we ended up losing.
Next year!
