Bedford Sprint Regatta

We went to Bedford Sprint Regatta - the ladies W1 in Dawn Treader as IM3 and Nov, in order to get at least two races; and me in Joy as MasC 1x. In this I continued the care in event selection that Will and I displayed so well at Peterborough, only worse: my opponent in the first round, a nice chap called Audinis, won two FISA gold medals in Poznam, and only the day before had won the MasD category at Henley Vets. Oddly enough, I didn't get past the first round (verdict: "easily"). However it was still fun, and afterwards I had a nice quiet scull under the finish bridge and further. But I learnt a useful lesson, which is: enter more than one category if you have the spare time.

My race was just before 1, and the ladies as IM3 were just after 3, leaving me time for tea and cake in Bedford's rather pleasant boathouse overlooking the river (jealous, moi?) and a quick browse of Hobbes. They were against Bedford Girls School, and despite a decent row ended up two lengths down. However, that was as IM3, so there was some hope for them as Novice at 4:30. That one was against Norwich, and I stood on the start bridge to video it, as you see. It looked about level as far as I could see, with Norwich perhaps slightly ahead, and alas they did win by 1 1/2 lengths in the end. So, no medals for us this time round.

Bedford is a nearby regatta and easy to get to. We really should have put some more boats in - the novice IV's looked quite ropey and distinctly beatable, and perhaps the pairs too :-)

A couple of pix, in case you don't know Bedford. This is a view of the start (oddly enough) taken from the right (embankment) bank. I rather likes the situation of the start-girl on her moored pontoon in the middle of the river.

After the start there is a slight curve around to the left (as you look down the course) that I should have studied more carefully, as a scull, though its clear enough for a coxed boat. I watched a City pair on the left (boathouse) bank nearly hit the bank on the corner.

And her is Joy, looking very bright and shiny and pleased with herself for getting a chance to go off Cam for what I suspect is the first time in ages.

Oh look, here is a view of the course I happened to take, because I liked the foreground of the pontoon. These are all with my poor quality camera phone, sorry. You see the bend in the course, and just at the end, on the right bank, you can just make out the rightmost low arch of the bridge - its a bit of a nightmare getting back through that arch.

There is lots of nice space to warm up after the bridge, and Star Bedford is down there too, and several km of quiet river after that.

The Ladies start as IM3. No-one can ever sit bolt-upright at the start, not even the lovely young girls from Bedford Girls School, and they have probably studied Deportment and Bearing.