Ironbridge, June 28th-29th

30th June, 2024

On Saturday 29th June, five of our Junior Squad headed to Ironbridge Regatta. We had a great day of racing the 900 metre course, surrounded by stunning scenery and with some superb competition.

We had three single entries: Henry (brilliantly racing for the first time in a J17 single) sadly missing out in his quarter final race. Alice C in the J17 category battling it out all the way to the finish in a straight final and Charlotte in the J16 winning her semi final by some distance but missing out in the final by 1/4 boat length.

Alice H and Annabel racing for the first time together in a J15 double earned the biggest cheer of the day from the large and excitable crowd. In their semi final they were looking strong until an unfortunate capsize. Demonstrating incredible grit and determination they both climbed back into their boat and rowed to the finish line with great speed and style past the euphoric crowd. A fantastic demonstration of Minerva Spirit!

Richard and Laura also competed at Ironbridge. With no mixed competition available, they rashly entered the masters men category over a 900m course. A lucky last-minute ‘bye’ propelled them straight to the final, where they faced a formidable looking pair: one an ex-rugby player, the other over six feet tall, both with plenty of rowing experience. As a staggered start, Richard and Laura were positioned a length and a half down, being on the far side. They executed their race plan, with a powerful start at a rate of around 40, catching up and overtaking their opponents within the first 250 and being able to drop to 28 spm (below the planned 31/32) to cross the finish line ahead looking fairly relaxed.