Burton Leander had actually had a very strong tradition as a rowing club. Back in the 50s and 60s the club hosted a hugely popular regatta, which was the largest outside of the London area. More significantly the club had also had a crew that had won Henley Royal regatta. This was by far the most prestigious event in the rowing calendar in the UK. Every year thousands of people descended on Henley-On-Thames to enjoy five days of rowing races. For that week the town was taken over by people dressed smartly in blazers and formal attire. It is the Ascot of the rowing world and has a very strong tradition. To qualify for racing at Henley you either had to win or perform strongly at one of the major competitions, or get one of the remaining available slots by having a fast time in a qualifying event the week before Henley regatta.
As Burton Leander had won the Fours event fifty years ago, there was a supposed guaranteed spot at the anniversary year in 2008. With this looming, that season we decided to switch from the quad to a Four in order to claim that available slot if it was indeed available. We shuffled around the order a few times until we settled on the right format. I ended up at stroke, with James Walsh at 3, Rob Jephcote at 2, and Matt Isard at bow. We spent the whole season training hard with the aim of competing at the Royal Regatta. We entered the major events and managed to pre-qualify for the Wyfold Challenge Cup. I don’t think we will ever know whether we qualified outright or were allocated the 50th anniversary place, but it didn’t really matter. We were racing at the event.
This was a major deal for us as a club. We’d had some successes with people like Ashley Prestidge winning national single sculls titles and Liam Rose representing GB, but we hadn’t had a crew boat race at Henley for years. The mood of the club changed. A few of us had wanted to move the club from a social club to one that could compete at the major events and this was a significant stride forward.
The draw was made a week before the event started. We discovered that we were up against Marlow rowing club. They had a very strong reputation so we knew it was going to be tough to get through to the next round. The likelihood was that they were a solid crew and had probably competed at Henley before. However, they were by no means one of the strongest crews so we felt like we had a chance of progressing to the next round. We spent the rest of the time in the build up to the race practicing out on the river at Burton and trying to get ourselves in race mode.
As usual I was driving the minibus and towing the trailer. As I was working the day before the race I went with Matt to the boathouse to collect the boat and blades after work. Double checking we had everything (it wouldn’t have been the first time we had forgotten something) we set off down the motorway to the venue. We got there quite late but it was a relief to get the trailer parked up and head over to Swiss Cottage, the campsite that most competitors used during regatta week.
We woke up early next day to head down to the regatta course so we could do a practice session.
The place was packed with competitors and supporters. It was by far the biggest thing I had been involved in and it was great to get the boat on the water the day of the race to familiarise ourselves with the conditions. We did some drills and practice starts, getting used to the feel of the water. Everything felt good and we were starting to psyche ourselves up for the race itself.
The day couldn’t have been better in terms of the weather. It was calm and sunny. It was perfect for rowing and for the friends and family coming down to support. In the hours before the race we just chilled out as much as we could. I spent most of my time mucking about with Erica, my eldest daughter. It was great to have her there, even though I’m sure she had no idea what was going on.
When our race eventually came around we had our final pep talk which involved a lot of comedy swearing, something about ‘not making up the numbers’ and manly fist pumping before putting the boat on the water. We went through our usual routine of drills as we made our way up to the start. We waited in the queue of boats for our turn to race, getting more nervous as the time approached. It was great to be part of the event.
There were some big names milling about including the likes of Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent. Being members of Leander Rowing club, which was headquartered at Henley, these Olympians often helped out as officials during the event. It all helped to the atmosphere knowing that you were surrounded by the very best in elite rowing.
I remember sitting on the start in silence just waiting for the umpire to appear in the official race boat to get us lined up and ready. The Marlow crew were sat alongside us and I couldn’t help notice that they were big lads. Given that I was the tallest in the boat, that wasn’t much of a shock. We were always one of the smallest crews.
The moment finally arrived. The umpire called us to attention and we sat forward with our blades resting in the water. It felt like we were in that position for a long time but I’m sure it was just a few seconds in reality. It’s always the weirdest sensation waiting for the start. It feels like time stands still, you can hear your heart beating and your adrenaline is firing.
The umpire shouted and we were off. We all pushed down hard on the footplate before spinning the hands to get the rate up high and accelerate away. The tactic was always to rate high for 100 metres before settling in to a rhythm through the first 500m of the race. It wasn’t the greatest start we’d ever had so we found ourselves playing catch up right from the off. When you are sat in the stroke seat it’s difficult to know where you are in the race unless you are pulling away from other crews so you go with the cues from the others in the boat. Everyone tries to not look round to see what’s happening but it’s pretty difficult when you’re in the race itself, especially when it’s a head to head race.
I think we had a pretty good row overall after the dodgy start. The atmosphere was incredible, and the noise of the crowd as we moved up the course grew and grew. As we moved past the half way point and in to the last part of the race the legs really started to burn. The grimace you can see on all of our faces in the photos towards the end is plain to see. During the final section we were physically spent but as we approached the finishing enclosure we gave everything we had. I’m sure they were mainly cheering on the local club of Marlow but it didn’t matter. It was a unique experience and one I’ll never forget. I guess we were disappointed when it was over knowing that we’d been knocked out but it wasn’t to be. Rather predictably we had a large number of celebratory drinks afterwards, joining all the other crews that had been knocked out that day.
We tried in subsequent years to qualify again for Henley but never quite managed it. We were always a few seconds off the pace at the qualifiers. It was by far the biggest race we were involved and one which we never really quite replicated. After a while the crew went their separate ways. I carried on training and racing in various different boats, including eights, quads and the pair but it never felt quite the same. I think the real turning point came when one of our crew, Matt, passed away. For reasons none of us will ever understand he decided to take his own life. It was a complete shock. He was a genuinely nice guy, very popular and outwardly he seemed so full of life. I guess you never really know what is happening beneath the surface.
Somehow it was difficult to stay motivated knowing that he was gone. Also, things in my own life were changing and dedicating such a large amount of time to a hobby with two young daughters growing up fast just didn’t seem right any more. Inevitably my passion for the sport slowly faded away. I’d had a great time doing it and I will always look on those year with really fond memories but it was definitely time to move on.