Rowing News

3 April: Despite boating two late substitutes Leander took back the Men’s Head of the River title last Saturday, beating Molesey by three and a half seconds to avenge the bitter defeat of last year.

The win completes a hat trick of victories for Leander, who won the Fours Head in November and the Women's Head last month. No other club has ever won all three major events over the Championship Course in the same season.

Leander started in second place among the 420-strong fleet, and were just 0.8 sec off Molesey's lead at Hammersmith Bridge, but took four seconds off their rivals in the final third to regain the title in 16.50.75.

Coach Mark Banks stated this had always been the race plan, saying: “The boat always had fantastic rhythm and conditions were conducive to racing really well at that rhythm. The boys paced it very well and it was always in the plan to have a solid start and come through hard at the end.”

Cox Phelan Hill, double Head of the River champion after steering both the Women’s and Men’s Head crews to victory agreed.

In previous years we faded in the second half so we knew we have to build through. We couldn’t give Molesey a stroke” he said.

The victory was by no means a given outcome. Leander knew last minute substitutions of Ben Duggan for the injured Tom Broadway and Boat Race winner Simon Hislop for club captain Rick Egington meant that the boat had lost some horsepower and, for a short while in preparation, it was touch and go.

Mark Banks compared the crew to a wounded animal and believed they would react aggressively to the disruptions of the week. Olympic champion Pete Reed added: “We lost power as Rick Egington stepped out of the boat but we had absolute confidence in Simon Hislop. He had big shoes to fill but he’s got massive feet. I have massive respect for Molesey and we knew in order to beat them we had to have the perfect race. “

The victory for their first boat was complemented by both Leander II and Leander III, who won the Lightweight and Senior pennants respectively.

The lightweights, finishing fourth in 17.03.77, were not as lucky as Leander I to have such a clear run. Some aggressive coxing from the Oxford Brookes boat, starting just ahead, pushed the Leander boat out of the stream as cox Zoe de Toledo tried repeatedly to overtake.

Zoe, who steered Isis to victory against Goldie in the Reserves Boat Race the previous week, stated: “We were out of the stream for two thirds of the race. I was screaming at Brookes to move out of the way and so were the marshals, and there were times when I thought we were going to clash. The guys were great though and really kept their cool. It’s just a shame, who knows what we could have done if we’d had a clear run.”

Leander II submitted a complaint against the Oxford Brookes crew who subsequently received a ten second time penalty, eventually finishing thirteenth. Coach Rob Dauncey believed: “Fourth place is very good for a lightweight boat and demonstrates the quality of both Great Britain’s and Leander’s lightweights.”

The lightweight boat had only spent five days training together before the competition. Paul Mattick, world champion in men’s lightweight fours, rowed in the 6 seat.

“It was the best eight I’ve ever been in and in my opinion the best lightweight 8 ever boated in the UK. It was a fantastic fight against Brookes and we did the absolute best we could do given the racing conditions. I’m very proud of the boys" he said.

Leander II were only four seconds off Czech Republic, who finished third in 16.59.60, so given a clear run, the crew believe they could have sneaked in to the top three.

Leander III secured the Senior pennant, finishing 11th in 17.23.98 and the club's fourth boat put in a solid performance to move up fourteen places and finish 30th in 17.49.51.

Coaches and athletes alike delighted with results, the Head of the River was the best possible culmination of the Head season for Leander Club who have now equalled the total number of wins at the event as London Rowing Club.

LEANDER CREWS

30 March: Leander athletes, sponsored by Invesco Perpetual, will be boating four crews in this year's Head of the River Race, the event that marks the end of the long distance winter training period.

Leander I will be making a concerted effort to wrest the Head pennant back from Molesey, who won last year's race. The GB men's four, which is composed entirely of Leander athletes, will be joining forces with Tom Broadway, Dan Ritchie and cox Phelan Hill from the GB men's eight, and Olympic champion Pete Reed in the 5 seat. For the bow pair, Ben Duggan and Will Satch, the occasion marks their first foray into the Leander first boat.

The Leander lightweights, including our three world champions, Paul Mattick, Richard Chambers and Chris Bartley, compete as Leander II, while Leander III is composed of athletes hoping to contest the Ladies Plate at this year's Henley, and our fourth boat is a combination of previous Henley talent and development athletes.

Leander will be boating as usual from the British Rowing headquarters at Hammersmith and all members and other supporters would be very welcome to help send off our crews at about 4.15pm, 45 minutes before race time at 5.00pm.

ENDS