Vesta Masters Head race, 23rd March

25th March, 2025

Masters Men

Given our lack of racing, Gloucester was effectively a warm up for the main event the following Sunday: Vesta Masters Head. After having to race on the way up to the start last year, we arrived rather early to get ourselves ready, and found an almost glass smooth Thames laid on for us! We had a cracking row up to the start and were feeling confident as we set off across the start line. A certain amount of chaos behind us (broken rudder for Thames RC) meant that we rowed over with clear water behind us, and despite pushing the crew ahead very hard we were never quite able to get past them.

A solid row placed us 9/21 in a very strong Masters D field, with the winning crew having a rather large number of Olympic medals between them! Again, big thanks to our super sub, Mark Melbourne, and our star cox Maggie who got the most out of us, the boat and the stream.
With winter racing and 5k tests now behind us we look forward to regrouping for the summer campaign.

Masters Men: Nick Gatehouse, Mark Melbourne, Brett Hardy, Andy Tyler, Francis Firmstone, Charlie Pearson, Ed Haddon, Marc Baldwin, Matt Clayton (cox Maggie Cooke)

Masters Women

On the day, we had extraordinary, flat conditions after preparing for the waves, but a reduced flow rate too. The 5am wake up call was easy with such amazing company and this wonderful crew of  Masters Women, four of them Tideway novices. We had a great row, benefitting from a shorter wait at the start, rating 28-30 throughout, upping it to overtake one crew and ensuring we weren’t overtaken by the men behind us: great, inspiring coxing by Laura Cowan as always.

We finished 4th out of 8 in our 8+DNov class. The sense of achievement gained after weeks and months of training, and working as a team through every obstacle is the best. Thanks to Andy Hoyes and Andy Ursell for coaching input, to Jules Taylor for being our bank-side support, and to the rest of the squad for their support.

Masters Women: Ali Turner, Sharon Alcock, Flic Plowman, Pip Marchant, Emma Puzey, Jane Yates, Katrina Hayes, Jacqui Lindsley (cox, Laura Cowan).