Minerva Smash It Up At Stourport Regatta

13th August, 2023

At Stourport Regatta the weather was much better than the forecast, and Minerva had a great weekend of racing. The men’s development squad (Matt Bone/Andy Rodgers, Oliver Spilsbury, James Havard and Callum Caldwell with Laura Cowan coxing) entered Low CRI open 4+ on both days and showed their class by reaching the final on both days. Both finals were closely fought, with the crew unfortunately losing on Saturday, but coming out on top and winning on Sunday.

The masters E 4+ (Andy Tyler, Matt Clayton, Andrew Gordon-Brown and Ian Townsend coxed by Maggie Cooke) faced Grosvenor in a straight final. After a long delay at the start, Minerva kept their focus and quickly caught the stagger and passed Grosvenor to claim an easy victory.

The women’s masters D4x (Maggie Cooke, Katrina Hayes, Juliet Stephenson and Heidi Richards) won their final easily, but were unfortunately disqualified in a decision even the opposition thought was questionable. Heidi then teamed up with Ian Burdis in the mixed doubles, where, because no masters crews were entered, they had to race as band 2 against much younger opposition. Unfortunately this proved a little too much and they lost by a length to the eventual winners.

To round out Saturday, the masters 4+ teamed up with Maggie, Laura, Juliet and Lucy Dewy to race open mixed 8’s. The opposition from Loughborough was much younger, though equally scratch, and after a close fought race, Minerva were able to use the stagger to squeeze ahead and with the finish line in sight they used their experience to push away and claim another victory for Minerva.