Burton Head 2013

With originally 17 crews entered to compete at this year’s head, we thought we would have plenty of opportunity to celebrate. However the good old British weather interfered, throwing the worst storm the country had seen in five years.Sadly, but sensibly, three days before the race, Burton had to withdraw all novice single and double sculls and pairs entries, as well as all juniors under J15.

The day was exceptionally blowy, the Trent churning and flowing at great speed, and wellies were definitely on the agenda. The first division crews boated and fought their way up the river to the start. Knowing that it would be a slog heading up stream, the crews were prepared, but as the rowers approached the final corner towards the start, gale force winds had crews rowing at nearly firm pressure to simply tread water. The ladies 8 had a near miss when finally turning to start their race had their bow blades sucked under by the enormous river flow causing a near capsize.

Possibly in one of the fastest Burton Head races for a while, all crews in the first division made it back down safely, despite the ladies 8 catching a “proper” boat stopper of a crab due to a universally agreed “faulty blade”. The men’s 8 had a fabulous row, missing out on first place by only 6 seconds and coming 4th overall in the first division, however the 17 second time penalty they had to suffer due to the “youth” of their crew dropped them considerably in the rankings.

Division 1 Results

With conditions worsening, the decision was made to withdraw all junior crews from division 2, and the start of the race was brought forward by 200-300m to avoid the gale causing mayhem at the start, leaving only two Loughborough Crews to race in the afternoon and complete confusion with the final results with the two divisions being amalgamated. All crews that rowed put in a tremendous effort in very challenging conditions.

Division 2 Results