RRC’s Pudding Races
A fresh, sunny December morning was the setting for the 2011 RRC pudding races, a welcome relief after 2010’s races were cancelled due to bad weather conditions. Forty rowers signed up for this mixed up crew, coxed fours event, racing over approximately (depending on the starter) 300 meter course from the canoe club to the clubhouse balcony.
Tensions mounted as Bosco made the draw and early favourites were crew 4 – Pete, Nick, Roger and Phil W and crew 8 – Simon T, Jamie, Simon L and Toyboy. However the first crews to hit the water were crew 2, Gemma, Mick, Adam and Sam and crew 7, Ross, Julia, Kier and Simon, with the Andrew Shaw Smith stroked by Ross sweeping the lead. Crews 5, Vikki, Sam, Nicky and Ros, and 6 Bella, Rob, Nathan and Keeley gave a dramatic following with Vikki’s crew catching a major almost boat drowning crab and Sam breaking a blade! Unsurprisingly, Bella’s crew stormed to victory. Sam (now known as Snapper)’s oar destroying performance was later topped off with a new record time on the loom drinking challenge.
Heat three involved crews 3 and 10. Crew 10 of Chris, Nico, Phil and Carolyn had a close but convincing win over James, Bosco, Emma and Jo to knock crew 3 out of the competition.
The final race of the first round was the race of the favourites. Crew 4 stroked by Simon T braved the cold to go topless while going head to head with crew 8 stroked by Phil W in a test of power versus technique. As said by our coaches, technique will always win out, and the topless team breezed over the finish line.
Second round racing continued with Ross’s crew 7 heading up against crew 9 of Luke, Mike, Helen and Seb. This was a tightly fought battle between both crews and coxes, with David and Alex jostling for the inside line around the slight bend in the course. The aggressive tactics of David set him up well on this racing path, but Alex’s quick thinking and determination ensured a good fight for position from start to finish. With nothing between these evenly matched crews, a re-row or two was inevitable. In the third re-row Luke’s crew finally decided the battle with a clear win by a length.
Bella’s crew 6, faced crew 1 of Ann-Marie, Caroline, Glen and Harry in the last of the second round races. This high paced effort from both crews culminated in a firm win for Bella’s crew to finish this racing round.
Semi-finals racing was getting even closer, starting with Luke’s 9 crew coxed by Sally, facing Chris’s crew 10 in an exciting race of coxing. Sally critically took the inside line from the start, but ended up too close to the landing stage pulling out into David’s racing line. An exciting clash of blades took the crews to a fight for the final few meters, leaving Chris’s crew in the lead. A brave and decisive effort by Sally, who was so instant of a re-row she decided to head straight back up to the start. However the judges were adamant that it was a victory to Chris’s crew 10; leaving the next crew having to salvage another boat out from the boat house. The second semi-final was a lot more decisive; with Simon’s crew 8 making it look easy, gliding to victory over Bella’s crew 6.
The final was decided, Chris, Nico, Phil and Carolyn in Andrew Shaw Smith with Sally coxing, versus Simon T, Jamie, Simon L and Toyboy with David coxing in True Blue. The club watched intently from the balcony as both crews fought for the most coveted prizes of the rowing calendar… The RRC Christmas Puddings. Both crews delivered a good fight, with Chris’s crew battling for every meter, but still they were no match for Simon’s crew’s topless display of dominance, which breezed over the line with over a length to spare. Toyboy was especially pleased to maintain his 100% record in the RRC pudding races since he joined in 2009 and he also doubled his rowing career victories.
Well done and thank you to all competitors, and congratulations to the deserving winners of the 2011 Reading Rowing Club Pudding Races, Simon Tapley, Jamie Goldsmith, Simon Last, James Batchelor and David Locke.
Race Report by Caroline Withers
More picture available on the club’s Facebook Group