19 July 09: Nothing could quite match last year's clean sweep of the men's open events, but Leander athletes still had plenty to shout about after winning seven gold medals at last week's National Championships in Nottingham.
The first gold medal came from the coxed fours, in which scullers Robin Dowell and Dave Read joined forces with Nick Clarke and Clive Kennedy-Burn from the Ladies Plate eight. After 500m Leander were exactly a second clear of the Henley crew, with Molesey third, and they extended the lead at halfway. A push from Henley narrowed the gap with 500m to go, but Leander held them off as Newcastle University snatched bronze from Molesey.
Dowell and Read were back in action three races later in th equad scullss final, partnered by Phil Turnham and Jack Hockley, in the same line-up which reached the final of the Prince of Wales at Henley. Tideway Scullers led by less than a second at the first split, and from then on it became a two-horse race, with Leander only gaining the upper hand in the final burst, as Scullers took silver almost 28 seconds clear of third-placed Newcastle University!
In the women's quad sculls Olympic silver medallist Debbie Flood and Fran Nicholls teamed up with Henley's Rachel Willis and Bethan Thomas. After a fast start they were in the silver medal position behind Minerva Bath, but they couldn't maintain the speed and slipped back to fifth on the line. All four athletes were in action in the women's doubles later in the programme, where the Henley pair led to 500m before Leander came back strongly in the closing stages to take a two second win.
George Laughton and Colin Williamson had a straightforward win in the coxless pairs ahead of Robin Dowell and his Cardiff City partner, Dave Donaghy. Laughton and Williamson led by more than seven seconds at halfway, and took their gold medal just under four seconds clear at the line.
Both athletes picked up a second gold apiece as part of the Leander coxless four, in which they were partnered by Rick Francis and Al Sinclair. They stormed off the blocks to reach the first signal two seconds clear of Imperial College, but then Star came through to take the silver medal position at halfway. The winning Leander margin was just over four seconds ahead of Star as IC held on for bronze.
Two Leander athletes took part in the final of the lightweight singles, in which Simon Barr had to come from behind to take the national title, with Durham University taking silver and Leander's Adam Ridler in fourth place.
In the final race the Leander men's eight, rowing virtually unchanged form the line-up which contestd the Ladies Plate at Henley, led Molesey across the line for the club's seventh gold medal of the three-day regatta.
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