Ironbridge Regatta 2011

The weekend of the 25th and 26th June saw Minerva Bath venturing up to Ironbridge for this years regatta. After successfully pitching the tents in the pitch black, accompanied by pouring rain, we were woken by the smell of Steve cooking pancakes in the morning. This was just the first of Steve’s many roles over the weekend, along with paddle carrier, flip flop fetcher, car key carer, photographer, boat rigger and loader, he definitely won the prize for the ‘person we couldn’t have done without’ throughout the regatta.

The next couple of days were filled with some fantastic rowing. Sarah, Jeanette, Arianna and Emily won their first heat in the Novice women’s coxed 4, before being knocked out by the Warrington girls, who then went on to win in this category.
Sue came along in her campervan as cox, and was definitely the nicest cox ever, full of calm and encouraging comments no matter whether we were ahead or not!
Helen and Elaine raced in a double, rowing brilliantly but unfortunately losing to the other crew.

Following all the rain on Friday and Saturday, the river rose several feet overnight so this, coupled with much debris and sweltering heat, meant that racing was delayed throughout the day, before eventually being abandoned. Elaine and Helen won their first round in a women’s double, finishing with style as they narrowly avoided a 4 on the landing stage, before being knocked out in the semi final. They then went on to race in a coxed 4 with Emily and Sarah, with only slight hold ups and minimal help from the medics at the end of the women’s intermediate 3 race for a case of sunstroke, mentioning no names . . .!

Jeanette also sculled in the novice women’s class and did fabulously, considering she had sat in a single very few times before going for it and entering the regatta! Max and Charlie entered a J18 double on both days (so 800m and 500m respectively) and Max also entered the J18 single sculls on the Saturday.
Marley, as the pair became known, kept us amused all weekend. They even braved the British weather to camp out on the roof of the van on the Saturday night (whilst Sarah and Emily were partying in the disco tent with DJ Clive!).
The final highlight for Minerva had to be the food, especially our pub lunch on Saturday! All in all, although we didn’t come away with any pots, Minerva were by far the most supportive team present, even cheering when our boats left the landing stage to go up the course, and for the underdogs who seemed to have no cheering from their clubs on the bank.

Emily Porter.