The season for the Tyrian masters squad concluded the weekend after Henley Royal Regatta with Henley Masters regatta, the sister event for the old boys (and girls), run over the slightly shorter course from Temple Island to Upper Thames. This event was viewed by many as the warm-up event to the Olympics – well, at least in the heads of those taking part anyway…
Tyrian fielded a number of highly competitive crews, with entries in the coxed B and C category fours, a masters C coxless four, masters D coxless pair and one of our newer members, Paul Keane, competing in the A category single scull.
All crews proved to be highly competitive, with both the coxed fours losing in tight races to the eventual winners, despite adopting a very professional looking bucket rig with stroke on bow side. If that didn’t scare the opposition quite enough then it certainly scared the hell out of those competing in that formation!
The ‘youthful’ masters D coxless pair of Graham Faultless and Julian Rodd, only just moving on from masters C this year, could not quite do the double after their success at Masters National Championships, succumbing to a strong Upper Thames crew. However, without making excuses for a truly strong row by the opposition, the stream conditions certainly did not help. Post racing analysis showed that two thirds of races were won on the Berks station, with the pair being on Bucks, and onlookers suggesting the Berks stream advantage could have been as much as a length in the first couple of minutes.
Paul Keane, competing in the masters A single scull, showed the kind of sculling prowess that enabled him to qualify for the Double Sculls at Henley Royal, losing only by a length there. After dispatching early opposition, his run was unfortunately ended by a strong Grosvenor sculler in the final, with Tyrian again featuring on the Bucks station.
The masters C coxless four was therefore left with the final honours to bring home a win for Tyrian. After much work on their racing starts the effort had already proved worthwhile in the Friday semi-final, where they beat the previous year’s winners, Marlow, by 2½ lengths, aided by a crab from the opposition after about a minute. However, the Saturday final pitted them against an equally quick out the blocks Cambois crew, with Tyrian again racing on Bucks. Early indications suggested that losing to the eventual winners might be the trend for the day, with Tyrian a length down at halfway. However, a series of determined pushes saw Tyrian claw back level and eventually move through Cambois, who had thrown everything into the race, to take the lead with 25 strokes to go and finally win by 3 lengths.
This hard fought win means that Tyrian has now continually medalled at Henley Masters for the last decade and it has to be said that all of the crews that did not come home with a medal lost to the eventual winners in their event.
Looking ahead to the 2012-2013 season Tyrian is poised well to maintain this record and is firmly entrenched as one of the most competitive masters rowing squads in the country. We are always looking for new blood, so if you want to compete with Tyrian next season and share our success then get in touch.
With just 51 days to go until the start of the London 2012 Olympics, the British Olympic Association (BOA) has announced today 48 rowers as officially selected to represent Team GB at the Games..jpg "Jubilee Pageant (33).jpg")
Although unable to have members of our own club in the boats, 10 ladies from Henley RC were able to participate in this ‘once in a lifetime event’. Suffice to say they decorated the boats, and themselves, in a most suitable fashion for the occasion!
Tyrian tested the waters with a broad variety of boats this year, ranging from single sculls through to a fine selection of coxed and coxless fours. Top marks had to go to Graham Faultless and Julian Rodd in winning a hotly contested field of ‘D’ class pairs, with Poole providing a fitting challenge in both the heat and final. After winning the equivalent ‘C’ event last year and then being the oldest in the field, they enjoyed seeing a little more grey hair around them this time as the youngsters of their new age group. Graham described the race as ‘controlled aggression’ whereas Jules simply used the term ‘hanging on for my life’.
Oxfordshire rower Frances Houghton has set her sights on taking her last opportunity to win Olympic gold.