23 March: Leander athletes, sponsored by Invesco Perpetual, once again finished Saturday's Head with three crews in the Top Ten, just as they did one year ago. But despite this dominant position among the leaders, and with the lightweights regaining the class pennant they last won in 2005, there was disappointment for Leander I who lost the overall Headship by a narrow margin to Tideway Scullers.
As defending titleholders Leander I featured a whole host of Bejing medallists, including Olympic champion Pete Reed, as well as three members of the GB silver medal eight and bronze medallist Steve Rowbotham. But Scullers had amassed a crew which included all six of the Beijing men's singles finallists, with the giant Norwegian Olaf Tufte, the double Olympic champion, in the engine room. As Leander led the 420-boat field off the start they rapidly established a clear lead at the head of the field and found themselves rowing in a comparative vacuum down the second half of the course. But Scullers, who started in fifth place, were able to use the surrounding crews to good effect, and not even a minor collision with the Mile Post marker buoy could stop them taking a four second verdict.
Starting in third place behing Imperial College Leander II had to go the long way round to get past IC at Hammersmith and finished a further seventeen seconds behind their clubmates, while Leander III finished ninth and completed the trio of Top Ten places for the second year in succession. The Leander lightweight eight squeezed home just under two seconds clear of London to regain their class pennant, while Star and Arrow, composed entirely of development athletes, put in another strong performance to finish in 67th place.
CREW PHOTOS
Click on each thumbnail for full-size view
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Leander I
Elite |
Leander II
Elite |
Leander III
Senior 1 |
Leander IV
Lightweight |
Star and Arrow
Senior 3 |
LEANDER CREWS and RESULTS
Finish position |
Time |
Position in event |
Start number |
Number |
Event |
Crew |
2 |
17:29.10 |
2 |
1 |
Leander I |
Elite
|
Alex Partridge
Marcus Bateman
Matt Langridge
Rick Egington
Pete Reed
Steve Rowbotham
Tom Broadway
Tommy Burton
Cox: Phelan Hill |
3 |
17:45.35 |
3 |
3 |
Leander II |
Elite |
Will Laughton
Will Satch
Colin Williamson
Nick Clark
Clive Kennedy-Burn
George Laughton
Tom Wilkinson
Rick Francis
Cox: Praneet Shivaprasad
|
9 |
18:13.75 |
2 |
9 |
Leander III |
Senior 1 |
Al Webb
Robin Dowell
Dave Bell
Phil Turnham
Al Sinclair
Tom Clark
Dave Reed
Ray Poulter
Cox: Jasmine Kwan
|
18 |
18:24.03 |
1 |
43 |
Leander IV |
Lightweight
|
Dave Jones
Tom Harvey
Alex Woods
Charlie Pitt-Ford
Simon Barr
Adam Ridley
Jono Clegg
Chris Bartley
Cox: Zoe de Toledo
|
67 |
18:51.90 |
7 |
289 |
Star and Arrow |
Senior 3 |
Alex Leigh
Adam Webb
Nick Middleton
Andrew Duffy
Nick Challinor-Halford
Graham Hall
Tom Springbett
Tom Wright
Cox: Courtney Wiilkinson
|
ENDS
|
