Saturday the 7th of February dawned bright, chilly and blustery with a cold northerly wind blowing down the Henley reach. Eight of the Marlow Old Men had entered the Henley Fours Head, racing a coxed and coxless four in both division's 1 and 2. As Henley had only one Veteran's category in division 1 the coxless fours were racing against the seniors (Senior 2 in div 1 and Senior 1 in div 2) and the coxed four had squeezed into Senior 3 in division 2. Due to the stong stream conditions the two divisions were split into four to allow for safer marshalling at the start, so coxless boats were sent off first for each division.
The Senior 2 4- of Gary Phillips, Mark Davies, Ed House and Mike Spencer-Jones started of 16th, just behind the MRC men's squad lwt 4-. Battling into the headwind around the first corner they struggled to hit their rythm, managing to stay ahead of Maidenhead, who just pipped them on time despite hitting the bank at the start of the enclosure.
The Veteran C 4+ of Simon Huntley, Mark Henstridge, Chris Lenton and Tony Ellis coxed by Kate Tucker on the other hand struck a good rythm off the start, quickly overhalling Milton Keynes to put on a strong show, keeping well ahead of Reading's Vet D four to win the veteran handicap.
After a bit of crew
juggling the coxless four of Gary, Tony, Simon & Mike pushed off the landing
stage. After paddling across the river to adjust footplates etc a large black
cloud blew over, dropping a freezing shower on one and all and blowing the finish
tent into the Stewards Enclosure. Luckily it passed quickly, allowing the 4-
to paddle to the start in the winter sunshine.
A better start allowed them to settle into a good strong rythm. Rounding the
first corner Gary skillfully navigated the channel by Temple Island, where several
crews were pushed into the bank by the river current. Passing Sean Farrelly
on the bank they got a rating call of 28, which they maintained with an excellent
rythm into the head wind up past Old Blades.
The Senior 3 4+ of Ed, Mark D, Chris and Mark H, with Kate again in charge, boated later in the drier weather. Battling into the wind the 4+ didn't settle into a proper rythm and had to fight their way down the course, pushing their way through a crew from Milton Keynes just before the finish line.
Henley's Sen 2 4- won
in 11:09
Sen 2 4- 12:55
Vet C 4+ 12:58 Winner
Sen 1 4- 12:35 6/8
Sen 3 4+ 13:38