GROSVENOR ROWING CLUB NEWS OPEN THE NEW E-RAVEN

 

 

FIRST FLOOR PROJECT - NEWS 

 

Home Countries Regatta

The Home Countries International Rowing Regatta was held last weekend in Cardiff Bay, and five members of Grosvenor Rowing Club were selected to represent Wales following recent good performances at the National Championships. The Welsh eight contained Grosvenor members Tim Betteridge, Paul Turner, Ste Callaghan, Iwan Jones and Sarah Armstrong (cox), joined by other Welsh squad athletes, Robin Dowell, Dave Donaghy, and Tom Cookman. Racing against Scotland, England, and Ireland the Welsh eight pulled into a lead shortly after the start which they extended down the course to record the first Welsh victory in the event for 42 years.

 

Paul Turner, the Grosvenor Senior Men’s coach and previous winner of two gold medals at the Home Countries International Regatta was also honoured by being made captain of the Welsh team. The win was a particularly outstanding achievement for Ste Callaghan, who has been rowing for less than three years after learning as a member of the Redgrave’s Raw Recruits project, shown on TV last week. The contribution of Grosvenor members to the Welsh victory rounds off one of Grosvenor’s strongest ever seasons, with a 14th place finish at the Head of the River Race, quarter finals finish at Henley, medals at Henley Veterans regatta, and three crews to finals in the National Championships.

Henley Veteran Regatta/Nat Championships

Grosvenor's oarsmen were in action recently at two big summer events, Henley Veterans Regatta and the National Championships of Great Britain. The club came home with a clutch of medals from Henley, which is raced on the same course used for Henley Royal Regatta, but over a shorter distance. Grosvenor's winning crew boat was the quad of Steve Walker, Brian Chapman, John McMahon and  Mike Allwood, racing in the veteran E event. Also winning in the veteran B single scull was Iwan Jones, back at Henley after racing there at the Royal Regatta the previous week. 

The senor men's squad have been busy too, racing at last weekends National Championships held on the 2000m rowing lake at Nottingham. Conditions were testing, with a strong wind that made fair racing difficult. Grosvenor had three crews racing, a composite eight, coxed four, and double. The four and double progressed through their heats with strong second place finishes, whilst the eight had a more difficult first race, failing to qualify automatically and instead facing a very tough draw in the repechage which included this years Henley finalists, Tideway Scullers School. The Grosvenor eight fought hard, managing to beat the odds and overcome Tideway Scullers to take a place in the final. The wind was even stronger on finals day, and without being drawn in the favoured lane, Grosvenor crews felt the brunt of it. The double of were particularly unlucky, suffering an injury after a strong start that saw them unable to race out the course. However, having three crews in the finals of the National Championships is a first for Grosvenor, and bodes well for the future.

 

Henley Royal Regatta

Grosvenor had an excellent Regatta. The four pre-qualified in the Wyfolds, the eight qualified for the Thames and Iwan Jones qualified for the Diamonds.

The four won their first race but were then knocked out on Thursday. The eight reached the quarter finals before going out to a seeded crew Gent.

Grosvenor Success at Dee Autumn Head 

This Saturday saw another strong performance from Grosvenor crews in the Dee Autumn Head event, held as a timed race over a 4km on the Dee in Chester. In the morning division, the Vet C 4+ (Dave Naylor, Mike Alwood, Tony Churchill, Ian Tweedie) fought off several crews including local rivals Northwich to take victory. The afternoon division, which was delayed for one hour due to the unusually high tide, saw Grosvenor add to their medal haul. This included fielding the fastest women's eight of the day (Claire Sayle, Emma Davison, Mel Graham, Rhiannon Seys Llewellyn, Laura Magee, Virginia Allan, Fiona Claymore, Grace Neal coxed by Alex Newton) and the fastest quad (Paul Johnstone, Iwan Jones, Chris Hudson, Mark Devaney). There were further victories for the men's senior 3 coxed four (Mark Edney, Brian Black, Pete Dean, Tim Goldsbrough coxed by Sarah Armstrong), the women's Vet D double (Maria Labedzka and Su Wine), and Steve Walker in the Vet E single scull.

 

Dee Autumn head is run by Grosvenor Rowing Club and sponsored by Eventful Hospitality, Watkin Jones Construction, Informe, Blue Moon Café, Storrar Crane Financial Management, and Fanatic Clothing.

Manchester Medal for GRC Sculler 

Grosvenor scullers achieved more success last weekend, with wins at Agecroft head, held over a 3km course on Salford Quays. Tim Goldsborough took home the pennant for senior 3 single scullers, coming 2nd overall in his division, and Ben Dickinson put in a strong performance, finishing 5th out of a field of 69 scullers. Grosvenor oarsmen were also competing further from home, with Matt Neam and Steve Callaghan both participating in trials to be selected for the GB rowing squad. This involved a gruelling series of tests on the water and in the gym on rowing machines. Both athletes put in strong performances, and are now awaiting the outcome of the selection process.

 

Henley Royal Regatta

Four rowers from Grosvenor Rowing Club have become the first crew in the club’s 138-year history to reach a semi-final at Henley Royal Regatta.

Henley Royal Regatta, one of the world's most famous regattas runs for 5 days (Wed to Sunday) attracting over half a million visitors. Amongst the 467 crews taking part this year were Grosvenor athletes Tim Betteridge, Paul Turner, Ste Callaghan and Martin Chandler. Grosvenor were ‘selected’ by Regatta officials as one of eight favourites in the coxless fours event after securing impressive wins earlier in the season at Nottingham City Regatta, Ghent (Belgium) Regatta, and the Metropolitan Regatta.On Wednesday, day one of racing, the four made an excellent start to their campaign beating London Rowing Club by a convincing 3 1/4 lengths. The following day, with up to 30 mph winds to contend with, Grosvenor found themselves rowing against Reading Rowing Club. In an eventful race in which Reading were warned several times for their steering Grosvenor excelled, leading from the start, and won by 3 boat lengths. On Friday, just 16 crews from 45 remained and Grosvenor entered the quarterfinals against hotly tipped Sydney Rowing Club of Australia. With 750 metres of the 2,112 metre course to go Sydney lead, but a well-timed push from Grosvenor, secured a win and a place in the semi-finals for the Chester-based crew (2 1/2 lengths ahead of the opposition). This was the first time a Grosvenor crew had reached a semi-final at Henley and Sir Steve Redgrave congratulated the crew.

On Saturday, semi-finals day, Grosvenor faced the difficult task of beating ‘1829’ Boat Club. Racing on the Berkshire side of the course this crew of Boat Race Alumni proved unbeatable and brought an end to Grosvenor’s winning streak. However Grosvenor were able to take some consolation as ‘1829’ went on to become the overall winners of the event on Sunday.

Also racing from Grosvenor was Iwan Jones in the Diamonds (an event for single scullers). On Thursday Jones raced against Australian Champion Kris Coventry, and although leading at the Barrier, Jones was unable to hold off Coventry (a Cambridge Blue in 2004), who won by 1 length.

 MET REGATTA

Grosvenor rowing club secured three wins at one of the UK's largest regattas on the weekend. 900 crews raced over 2 days at Dorney Lake (which will host the 2012 Olympic rowing) across a 2km purpose-built rowing lake. On Saturday the Senior 2 coxed crew of Tim Betteridge, Ste Callaghan, Paul Turner and Iwan Jones coxed by Sarah Armstrong collected gold medals after recording the fastest time of 6 minutes and 39 seconds ahead of several top UK crews including Durham University, Molesey and Reading Rowing Club. With Jones being replaced by Martin Chandler the four went on to secure another victory in the Senior 2 coxless event beating Henley Rowing Club, Rob Roy and French club SN Oise. The following day coxless four raced again in a higher status event and beat 13 other crews, including Sir Steve Redgrave's club Leander, to win the Senior 1 event convincingly. A senior 3 men's eight also raced from Grosvenor and despite progressing through to the repecharge missed out to eventual winners Exeter University. Grosvenor's senior women squad were out in force too racing in  both senior and senior 2 eights and finished in creditable 6th and 5th place respectively in the finals.

Gent/Shrewsbury

 Grosvenor rowing club collected silver and bronze  medals at Gent Regatta, Belgium on the weekend. The international regatta attracted high quality crews from across Europe including  current world and Olympic champions and doubles up as the Belgian  national championships. On Saturday racing as a  coxed four, Tim Betteridge, Ste Callaghan, Paul Turner and Iwan Jones coxed by Sarah Armstrong  recorded the fastest time in the preliminary heats  ahead of GB squad crews. They went on to win a  bronze in the final on the 2km multi-lane course,  just 2 seconds behind Sir Steve Redgrave's club, Leander. Betteridge, Callaghan and Turner then  teamed up with Martin Chandler, also from Grosvenor,  to race in the coxless fours event. Facing stiff competition and a strong headwind the four clinched  second place and a silver medal behind UK crew, Oxford Brookes University.

 Whilst the senior crews competed in Europe the novice squad raced nearer to home at Shrewsbury regatta and Harry Vanson, Tim Clifton, Gareth Gordon  and Rob May coxed by Gemma Welsh won the novice  coxed fours.

Notts City Regatta

Grosvenor Rowing club's seniors squads were on form at Nottingham City Regatta, collecting 19 tankards at the National Water Sports Centre. Racing side-by-side with up to 5 crews at a time the rowers coped well with high winds and rough water on the 2km multi-lane course. Competing against crews from across the UK Virginia Allan, Fiona Claymore, Lucy Benbow, Claire Sayle, Emma Davison, Laura Magee, Hayley Pearce and Grace Neal coxed by Alex Nexton won the senior 2 eights convincingly. Virginia Allan, Fiona Claymore, Claire Sayle and Hayley Pearce, coxed by Alex Newton were also winners of the senior 2 coxed fours event. The Senior 3 class was won by Grosvenor crew Lucy Benbow, Laura Davison, Liz Perkins and Emma Davison coxed by Alex Newton. In the men's events Tim Betteridge, Ste Callaghan, Paul Turner and Iwan Jones coxed by Sarah Armstrong won their qualifying round easily and went on to take the senior 2 title in the final. With Jones replaced by Martin Chandler the four also raced in the coxless fours events and finished in second place by the narrowest of margins.

Northwich Head

Grosvenor Rowing Club won two events at the Northwich Head Race over the Bank Holiday weekend. Veteran double scullers Steve Walker and Mike Allwood completed the 2,350 metre course on the River Weaver in a time of 9 minutes 18 seconds to take the Veteran

E title. In the coxed fours event Will Vaughan, Rob May, Colin Morris and Jason Carr, coxed by Gemma

Welsh, completed the course in 9 minutes 27 seconds, ahead of Warrington Rowing Club and Manchester-based club Agecroft, to win the senior 4 category.

HORR

Grosvenor sent one of its strongest squads for many years to the Tideway but unfortunately the event was called off after the first few crews had set off and it became clear that conditions were deteriorating.

North of England Head of the River

The senior women were true to form on Saturday taking the Senior 3 Pennant at the North of England Head race. Coxed by Alex Newton the eight of Virginia Allan, Fiona Claymore, Lucy Benbow, Laura Magee, Emma Davison, Liz Jervis, Hayley Pearce and Grace Neal completed the 5 km course on the River Dee in a time of 18 minutes 38 seconds and won in the morning division. The Veteran C crew of Jeremy Lush, Ad Gideonse, Tony Churchill, Mike Allwood, Jeremy Perkins, Steve Walker, Ian Tweedie and Paul Larby coxed by Dean Ratcliffe won their class beating several younger crews and finished second out of 48 crews. The afternoon division saw some exciting racing with the first eight going to head-to-head with Agecroft Rowing Club. Martin Chandler, Paul Turner, Nick Lloyd, Harvey Worden, Ste Callaghan, Ben Dickinson, Iwan Jones and Tim Betteridge coxed by Sarah Armstrong took the Senior 1 pennant, and were the second fastest crew of the day, but missed taking the Head of the River title by just 2 ½ seconds from Agecroft . The men's Senior 3 eight finished fourth in their category and the men's Senior 4 eight finished in sixth place in their event.

Yorkshire Head

Tim Betteridge made the trip to York for the Yorkshire Head and won Senior 3 single sculls.

Women's Head of the River

Grosvenor rowing club’s women excelled at the Head of the River Race in London on Saturday. The event is the largest of the women’s UK races and attracted entries from  the GB national squad as well as international crews. Grosvenor were the fourth fastest in their status and finished 25th out of 286 crews. The eight consisting of Virginia Allan, Fiona Claymore, Lucy Benbow, Laura Magee, Emma Davison, Liz Jervis, Hayley Pearce and Grace Neal coxed by Alex Newton  overtook 4 crews in the first half of the race and did well to cope with the strong cross winds in the second half. They completed the 4 ¼ mile course from Mortlake to Putney on the Thames in a time of 19 minutes and 58 seconds and despite having 5 novice rowers in the crew finished ahead of many higher status crews  including several Elite eights. The crew is now looking forward to their next race this weekend, the North of England Head on the River Dee, where they hope to win the Senior 3 event.

Runcorn Head of the River

Head of the Mersey

Grosvenor’s veteran men were on winning form at the Head of the Mersey rowing race at the weekend. In the processional race which took place over 6 divisions the veteran C/D quad of Paul Larby, Jeremy Lush, Mike Allwood and Ad Gideonse were the fastest in their event and finished 3rd out of all of the 90 crews that took part. Larby, Lush and Gideonse teamed up with fellow rower Tony Churchill and were coxed to victory in the ‘C’ class fours by Dean Ratcliffe. Grosvenor also took the ‘B’ fours title with cox Dean Ratcliffe steering Tony Churchill, Jeremy Perkins, Pete Abbott and Dave Naylor to a win on the course in Warrington. Naylor then paired up with Ian Tweedie to claim the Veteran B/ double sculls title. Novice crew Tim Clifton, Harry Vanson, William Vaughan and Mark Shone coxed by Gemma Welsh rowed over but did well to finish ahead of higher status competition. With Shone being substituted by Rob May the crew went on to win the Senior 4 coxed fours event.

Scullers Head

Grosvenor rowing club fielded three of its senior men’s squad in the Scullers Head of the River Race on the Thames, London on Saturday. This prestigious event attracted 325 athletes and was won by World Champion, Mahe Drysdale of New Zealand. Harvey Worden was the fastest Grosvenor sculler completing the 4 ¼ mile course in a time of 21 minutes 52 seconds to finish 5th in the Veteran B class and 55th overall. Veteran C sculler Phil Hill finished in 11th place in his class and Mark Devaney competed in the Senior 3 class and finished in 17th place

Fours Head

Grosvenor Rowing Club's senior men's squad raced in Fours Head of the River Race on the Thames in London. This race is popular and attracts crews of the highest calibre including current GB athletes and crews from abroad. This year the race was over-subscribed and organisers stopped accepting crews once 550 had registered to take part. Crews raced along a 6.8 km course from Mortlake to Putney on the River Thames, which is the University Boat race course in reverse. Grosvenor produced impressive results including 55th place for a Senior 1 quad of Martin Chandler, Harvey Worden, Iwan Jones and Tim Goldsborough. Coxed four of Tim Betteridge, Rick Anderson, Paul Turner and Ste Callaghan, coxed by Sarah Armstrong were the second fastest senior 3 club on the day and finished 108th overall. Coxed four Chris Hudson, Tim Beesley, Luke Pendlebury and Joe Robson, coxed by Sarah Bryson finished 160th overall and were 7th in their senior 3 event.
 

Dee Autumn Head

Local crews collected a total of 18 wins in the Dee Autumn Head rowing race on Saturday. 107 crews took part in the annual, 4km processional race from the Motorway Bridge to Dee Lane in Chester. The leaders of the morning division were the senior 2 eight consisting of Luke McMurray, Paul Turner, Ste Callaghan, Phil Hill, Iwan Jones, Ste Robinson, Luke Pendlebury and Mark Edney (coxed by Sarah Armstrong) who completed the course in 12 minutes 20 seconds. Grosvenor had a further six wins and collected titles for the fastest women’s eight (Lucy Benbow, Liz Jervis, Clare Sayle, Laura Magee, Emma Davison, Claire Edwards, Jo Harding, Sarah Bryson coxed by Alex Newton) fastest women’s four (Grace Neal, Fiona Claymore, Rachel Jones, Hayley Pearce coxed by Alex Newton) and fastest women’s quad (Di Moore, Karen Hough, Gilly Page and Sue Bein). Tim Betteridge was the quickest sculler of the day winning the senior 2 title, single sculler Mark Devaney won the senior 3 event and Sue Wine was the fastest veteran novice woman.

 The event is only made possible through the work of volunteers and the contributions from sponsors who included Aaron and Partners, Castle Cement, Carlsberg, Mathew Clarke, Ingrid Eaton, Eventful Hospitality, MG Services, Steve Goodwin and Shell.

CITY OF CHESTER LONG DISTANCE SCULLS

Grosvenor Rowing Club made a spectacular start to the new season on Saturday when they were awarded the Victor Ludorum prize for the most successful club. The processional race over 5km on the River Dee attracted 286 entries from UK clubs.

Grosvenor secured wins in 11 events starting with Tim Betteridge in the morning division who, not only won the Senior 2 singles, but finished 3^rd fastest overall out of 128 crews. Iwan Jones and Tim Goldsborough won Senior 1 and Senior 3 lightweight sculls respectively. Mark Devaney won the Senior 3 single sculls class some 30 seconds ahead of nearest rival Cowan of Northwich. Senior 3 women Grace Neal and Rachel Jones won the double sculls event comfortably and Emma Davison and Laura Magee took the novice double sculls title. In the afternoon Iwan Jones and Tim Goldsborough each collected a second medal when they finished first overall taking the Senior 1 quads title in the process. Tim Betteridge teamed up with Paul Turner to win Elite double sculls and a Senior 3 quad comprising Phil Hill, Mark Devaney, Chris Hudson and Bruce Belcher also won. Sarah Bryson was the fastest woman in the Senior 3 single sculls class and Sue Wine added to the medal haul by winning the veteran novice event. One other notable performance was from Ste Callaghan who having only sculled for a matter of weeks finished in a creditable 4^th out of 23 Novice scullers.

Boston Marathon

The Veteran men's eight came second overall in the Boston marathon setting a course record in their event category, unfortunately they had no opposition so were unable to claim a win. The women's Novice double scull came a creditable second in their category.

LEN BORROWS

Len joined in 1956 He immediately took on the role of Captain which he carried through to 1957. Len was  very much an oarsman who worked for the benefit of the Club but also assisted the other clubs on the River Dee and throughout the Northwest. 

 

Len was Chairman  of Grosvenor Rowing Club for 13 years.   He also served the club as Secretary in 1985.  Len was made a Life member of GRC in 1976 and served the club as a Trustee for many years.

 

Len Represented GRC on the North West Regional Rowing Council from 1977.  He was elected chairman of the NWRC and during that period he was awarded the Amateur Rowing associations Medal of Merit. He was a qualified umpire and attended many local regattas on umpiring duty. In fact he officiated in the 1950’s at Chester Regatta as a race official before licensed umpires were introduced into rowing.

 

Throughout the 70’s, 80’s and 1990’s he was an active member of Chester Regatta Committee, holding at various times the posts of umpire co-ordinator, chairman, vice-president, president & trustee.    

 

 Len was a believer that rowing was a key to a long life. He was active in the veteran eight. They were regular entrants in local heads of river.  In 1979 Len had rowed for 25 consecutive years in the Chester head of the river race.  1979 was a particular successful year with wins at Chester, Worcester and Runcorn. In 1981 he rowed the Boston Marathon with the veteran eight - 31 miles from Lincoln to Boston.  Len also had an international rowing career. He rowed at regattas in Slovenia and Holland in 1994 and 1995 in a joint Royal Chester and Grosvenor crew.  

 

It was shortly after this that Len had to take time out for a while when he fell and broke his upper arm.   This he found highly frustrating, especially as he couldn’t row.   When he did eventually return to rowing his arm remained a nuisance, but did not stop him.  In fact Len rowed up until about two years  when his Alzheimer’s disease finally prevented him from rowing.

 

As a recognition of his work on and off the river for the club two boats were named after Len, a coxed four back in the 70’s and more recently a double scull.

 

Len will be sadly missed.

Stourport

Tim Betteridge and Simon Speed notched up four wins between them on Saturday (August 14), bringing an end to a hugely successful summer season for the club. Beating off stiff competition on the 1100m River Severn course, Tim won the Senior I single sculls event. Joining forces with Simon Speed, he also won the Senior II doubles category. In addition, the pair tasted victory as members of winning Senior II quad and Senior II eights crews comprising rowers from other clubs.

RUNCORN HEAD

Grosvenor won three categories at the Runcorn Head. Men's Vet C, Women's Senior 1,

and Women's Senior 2 (Quickest Women's eight), , 

AGECROFT HEAD

Grosvenor Rowing Club is celebrating after taking home a clutch of winners' medals from the Agecroft Small Boats Head event.

Harriet McElhouse recorded a time of 14:43.00, ahead of four other competitors, to win the women's novice sculler class.

Sara Coey and Fiona Claymore recorded a time of 13:33.24, beating off competition from three other entries to clinch the women's senior III double title.

There was also success for the club's veteran C coxed-four comprising Jeremy Lush, Ad Gideonse, Tony Churchill and Mike Allwood, coxed by Sarah Armstrong. They completed the event in 11:22.03, ahead of three other crews in their class.

CHESTER LONG DISTANCE SCULLS

 

Grosvenor Rowing Club had three wins at this weekend’s City of Chester Long Distance Sculls. This event starts the sculling season off in the North West and attracts top quality competition, and is rowed over four and a half kilometres from Eccleston Ferry to Dee Lane by Royal Chester Rowing Club.

 

In the morning Simon Speed won Senior 2 sculls, followed by Tim Betteridge who won Senior 3 Sculls.

 

In the afternoon race they combined with Paul Turner or Grosvenor and Craig Morgan of Hollingworth Lake Rowing Club to win Senior 1 Quadruple sculls.

 

GROSVENOR VETERAN WOMEN BRING GOLD BACK FROM WORLD MASTERS

 

Grosvenor sent a large contingent to this years World Masters Regatta held at Strathclyde in Scotland. This event is for rowers over 28 and races are split into age bands from A to I. A crew can find themselves lining up next to great rowers of the past with a clutch of medals from World championships and Olympic Games.   The outstanding result was the women's coxed four of Sue Bein, Karen Hough, Diane Moore and Gillian Page, coxed by Sarah Armstrong, who won the gold medal in their age category. The closest the veteran men came to a medal, the Masters only award Gold, was a close second from the men's coxed four of Phil Hill, Alastair Slinn, Jo Robson, and Chris Hudson, again coxed by Sarah Armstrong.

 

EX CAPTAIN REVISITS GROSVENOR

 

Ray Kenzie was treated to a surprise outing from the club on Saturday 10th September to celebrate his birthday. The big 60!. Ray was club captain in 1969. Despite an absence from the water for over twenty years he coped well in a single scull and was last heard muttering about a return to the water. Unfortunately not on the Dee but on his local water at Burton.