Tom Bishop was the only QBC member to enter the GB Masters Championships Nottingham this year and brought home 5 gold medals for all 5 races he took part in. CONGRATULATIONS TOM!
Saturday -Sculling Day for Championship Events:
First was the I4x which I steered, nervously, in a strong headwind. It was against Tees Rowing Club from the Northeast. They were somewhat slower than us and contained John Lund who has rowed with me in the past to a win at Masters Henley a 4x . Winning Crew : Tom (QBC) Migsy Milligan (Poplar) Rod Stewart and Lee Brown (UTRC)
Second the i 1x at around 2 pm. By now the headwind down and across the course toward lane 1 was at least the 16 knots ( sailors will understand) as forecast and some more. The waves at the far end of the course were filling my boat without breaking. Intermediate racing was halted as some 8’s reportedly got stuck sideways on the start pontoons and couldn’t turn onto the start. Good Nottingham weather. However the Championship racing continued. I had lane 2 to Rod Stewart’s Lane 1. We are close rivals each having won over the other from time to time. We couldn’t use the start pontoons and it was a free start. Rod shot off as I tried to start in big waves. I decided to drop the rate and heave the finishes so I didn’t have to take a lot of strokes ! At 250-300m I passed Rod who by now was shipwreking and getting blades caught in the rough water. In the end I sculled off at rate 20-22 into the distance. Usual time for 1k is around 4.15 ; this race i did 5.45 and Rod 6.21 with the other 3 scullers over 7 mins. It wasn’t really scullable. Still a win is a win !
I didn’t have a third division race in i 2x as Mark Alloway from TSS whom I raced with last year was recovering from an operation. Others I tried had, possibly sensibly, decided not to go to Nottingham.
Sunday-Sweep Day for Championship Events:
Less wind but still a strong headwind and first race was i4+ , a handicap against two H crews . We were allowed an 11 sec start and managed to increase the gap to 14 seconds by the finish (same crew as the 4x- plus a lady cox from Marlow – Alison Hood)
Second was a mixed 8 F/G organised by UTRC. We had an 8 second start over the two F crews this time with a Broxbourne G crew off scratch with us. In a powerful row held our advantage after the 500m mark.
Third : a mixed Molesey crew (including Dave Jillings), I was a late replacement for QBC supervet Ian Hyslop as he was suffering from a back strain. I was put at 2, so you can imagine there were some strong ladies in the middle 4. Racing A and D crews on handicap we were led to 500 by a Wallbrook D crew who then faded, the London A crew stroked by former QBC’s Rob Williams was unable to make up any ground and we won by clear water.
Words by Tom Bishop
