Hamburg, 2nd-5th September 2004
Karon Phillips reports from the lakeside, 6th September 2004.
Last weekend the rowing calendar featured two important events: important, that is, to some sections of the rowing community, but going unnoticed by most. Number one was the start of Boat Race training for the hopefuls at Oxford University, and number two - at the other end of the age scale - was the World Masters Regatta in Hamburg. As the veteran competitors (aged from 27 to 85) arrived in Germany on Wednesday evening, conditions on the course were on the discouraging side, the wind making even hardened Tideway rowers wish for calmer waters. Then Thursday morning dawned, and Hamburg started its racing show, with glorious sunshine, and a headwind which slowly turned tail on Friday, before settling to no wind at all over the weekend.
Competitors' initial impressions of the organisation had not been great, but by Thursday morning it was starting to settle down. Advance marking for trailers and campers had been precise, as you would expect, but some catering and transport logistics took a while to meet expected standards for the largest regatta in the world. With 3,500 competitors and 8000 seats, racing had to start early on Thursday, and was keenly fought. The Masters races are run over 1km, and in straight finals, with only gold medals awarded, but to the winner of each heat. [This can lead to some argument, as everyone wants to be not just a champion, but the fastest champion out of several in the class.] Winners were justifiably proud, with victory times in some cases equivalent to those for open events at national level. The long list of British gold medals (see below) attests to the standard shown.
Thirty-nine nations were represented, and the large team of volunteers proved tireless in helping everyone. An event of this size is bound to have problems, and there were frustrations on both the rowing and the social fronts. A lack of repair facilities at the start (which would be standard at most international events) meant that a handful of crews was unable to compete due to last-minute equipment failure. In the bars, German beer was flowing - but oh so slowly, leading to some less than favourable comments about efficiency.
However, there were more good points than bad. with boat rental reported to be well-organised, with good-quality equipment and service. It was needed: much had been done to prepare the course, so it was disappointing that some hazards on the lake were neither marked nor buoyed off, leading to some boats being seriously damaged.
There are always rumours about 'ringers' and 'age cheats' but the authorities ran random checks, and all complaints were thoroughly investigated, using a combination of race photo comparisons against pre-lodged passport details. It is pleasing to know that all allegations were proven to be unfounded. On a Health and Safety note (given the ages of some of the competitors, with the oldest born in 1919), it is amazing that the only medical emergency, other than the usual hangovers, involved a member of the catering staff with an epileptic condition.
The Masters' Party was held in the old dockside area of the city, and proved to be a great success. Plenty of good quality food, and a band that had people dancing all night. Rowers who have abandoned this fixture after problems in previous years may wish to try again, as lessons have obviously been learnt.
While the weather undoubtedly made the regatta a success, it is the rowers themselves who make it special. It is highly competitive, and a very high standard, with a good number of former Olympians taking part, including Germany's Thomas Lange picking up a Masters gold to add to his three Olympic medals. The World Masters Regatta is also one of the friendliest events, and some Murphy's bitter supplied by the 'boys in green' (Dublin's Old Collegians) made the post-race analysis and drinking on Saturday evening especially pleasant. Meanwhile Strathclyde put on a good show to entice those present to next year's Masters in Scotland. They have already done a lot of preparation, and look set to make Masters 2006 an even bigger event.
One final story - anyone in Germany looking for cheap rigger-jiggers should take themselves along to Hamburg Airport and start working out how to bribe the security guards. Quite a few rowers had theirs confiscated, and a few found that even arguing with a policeman didn't get their rigging implements back. They're still trying to work out what kind of harm could be inflicted with a rigger-jigger, compared (say) with a humble car-key...
W1xC, Friday
City of Sheffield RC (Janet Vickers) 4:39.84
W2xB, Friday
a) X-Press/Leicester composite (Sue Brown, Sally Horrocks) 4:01.39
b) St. Andrews/Clydesdale composite (Ailie Ord, Alison Hulme) 4:09.84
W4-B, Friday
Leicester/Rob Roy/Hornets/Wycliffe composite (Claire Allen, Morag Hunter, Liz Pulford, Sarah Payne) 3:45.60
W4-C/D, Saturday
Bedford/City of Sheffield/Agecroft composite (Sara Reay, Vicky McDougall, Janet Vickers, Mandy Calvert) 3:31.48
W4+B, Saturday
Sons of the Thames/TTRC composite (Felicita Pike, Hilary Cook, Ailie Ord, Pauline Bird, cox Debbie Bregenzor) 3:48.73 (fastest time)
W4xB, Friday
X-Press/Notts/Wycliffe/Leicester composite (Sue Brown, Rachel Scott, Sarah Payne, Sally Horrocks) 3:31.02
W4xC, Saturday
Sons of the Thames/Mortlake/TTRC composite (Alison Elliott, Hilary Cook, Joy Skipper, Pauline Bird) 3:31.05
W4xE/F/G/H, Saturday
Thames/Fredensborg/Christiania/Roskilde composite (Elaine Laverick, Merete Boldt, Grete Stokke, Judith Lyster) 3:47.85 (fastest time)
W8+C
Sons of the Thames/TTRC/Mortlake/Wycliffe/Clydesdale/St. Andrews composite (Felicita Pike, Hilary Cook, Ali Elliott, Joy Skipper, Pauline Bird, Sarah Payne, Ailie Ord, Alison Hulme, cox Debbie Bregewzer) 3:42.62
M1xB, Friday
Canterbury Pilgrims BC (Andrew Rudkin) 4:01.80
M1xC, Saturday
Royal Air Force (Graham Price) 3:53.52
M1xD, Friday
Dart Totnes ARC (Peter Atkinson) 3:57.19 (fastest time)
M1xE, Saturday
Dart Totnes ARC (John Poland) 4:04.79
M1xF, Friday
a) Minerva Bath (Arnold Cooke) 4:20.71
b) Dart Totnes ARC (John Poland) 4:20.95
c) Wallingford RC (Sean Morris) 4:14.90 (fastest time)
M1xH, Thursday
Lea RC (Alf Botterill) 5:03.56
M2-B, Friday
a) UL Tyrian (Chris Andrews, Clint Evans) 3:53.70
b) UL Tyrian (Jeremy Page, Graham Faultless) 3:49.00
c) Gloucester RC (Richard Woods, Mark Pollard) 3:42.21 (by 0.01 second the fastest time of all heats)
M2-C, Saturday
Warwick (John Charlesworth, Chris Skose) 3:31.53
M2-D, Saturday
a) Wallingford RC (Colin Cusack, Sean Morris) 3:40.78
b) Walbrook RC (Roger De Jonge, Colin Fellows) 3:44.46
c) Invercargill RC (Rex Ryan, Kevin Flutey) 3:36.60
M2-E, Saturday
Wallingford RC (Colin Cusack, Sean Morris) 3:38.38 (fastest time)
M2-F, Friday
Palm Beach/Wallingford composite (Duncan Spencer, Sean Morris) 4:05.28
M2-G, Friday
a) Bosporos BC (Alex Lindsay, Duncan Spencer) 3:57.44 (fastest time)
b) Henley/City of Sheffield composite (Merve Theaker, John Stoddard) 3:59.30
M2-H, Friday
Notts & Union/Notts composite (Michael Collier, William Payne) 4:32.91
M2xB, Saturday
a) Molesey BC (Andrew Graham, Magnus Burbanks) 3:16.75
b) Gloucester RC (Richard Woods, Mark Pollard) 3:16.78
M2xD, Saturday
Invercargill RC (Rex Ryan, Kevin Flutey) 3:32.80
M4+B, Saturday
a) UL Tyrian (Jeremy Page, Chris Andrews, Clint Evans, Graham Faultless, cox Helena Smalman-Smith) 3:15.38
b) Crabtree BC (Neil West, Matthew Parish, Peter Jacobs, Sean Gorvy, cox Andy Probert) 3:11.44
M4+C, Friday
Royal Chester/Newark composite (Iwan Jones, Nigel Pratt, Graham Price, Tim Birtwistle, cox ?) 3:36.19
M4+D, Friday
Upper Thames RC (Graham Lloyd, John Ewans, Charlie Hamlin, Paul Stuart-Bennett, cox Terry Baker) 3:33.92 (fastest time)
M4+E, Friday
a) Wallingford/Upper Thames/Bedford composite (Sean Morris, Clive Cooper, Richard Garrett, Colin Cusack, cox Terry Baker) 3:37.48
b) Lea RC (Stuart Larkin, George Saunders, Les Foy, Roy Vigus, cox Henry Lawrence) 3:40.00
M4+F, Friday
a) Henley/City of Sheffield/Minerva composite (Merve Theaker, John Stoddard, Arnold Cook, Tim Lincoln, cox ?) 3:41.36
b) Tideway Scullers (Andy Kapica, Dick Findlay, Chris Harris, Francis Pinkerton, cox Elissa Johnson) 3:36.08 (fastest time)
c) BTC Southampton (John Parkess, Ray Green, Norman Harper, David Wyatt, cox Sarah Wardell) 3:44.65
d) Lea RC (George Saunders, Les Foy, Kevin Kavanagh, Roy Vigus, cox ?) 3:40.53
M4-B, Thursday
Crabtree BC (Neil West, Matthew Parish, Peter Jacobs, Sean Gorvy) 3:20.33
M4-D, Thursday
Upper Thames RC (Graham Lloyd, John Ewans, Charlie Hamlin, Paul Stuart-Bennett) 3:29.98
M4-E, Friday
Wallingford/Upper Thames/Bedford composite (Sean Morris, Clive Cooper, Richard Garrett, Colin Cusack) 3:38.06
M4-F, Saturday
Henley/City of Sheffield/Minerva composite (Merve Theaker, John Stoddard, Arnold Cooke, Tim Lincoln) 3:34.97
M4-H, Saturday
Notts & Union/Notts composite (Michael Collier, Alec French, Stuart Wharton, William Payne) 3:45.39
M4xD, Saturday
Dart Totnes ARC (Peter Atkinson, John Harris, Ian Andrews, Ray Davis) 3:12.79
M8+E, Saturday
Crabtree BC (Neil West, Iain Pritchard, John Pritchard, Paul Brockway, Johnny Moulsdale, Matthew Parish, Peter Jacobs, Sean Gorvy, cox Andy Probert) 3:03.00
X2xC
Wycliffe/Old Collegians composite (Patrick Gannon, Sarah Payne) 3:47.15
X4xC
UK Gold/Palm Beach composite (Tina Bonam, Rachel Knight, Howard Strateman, Nick Holland) 3:26.70
X4xD
Poplar Blackwall/Medway Towns/Thames composite (Maurice Coughlan, Paul Prentice, Liz McVeigh, Pauline Bird) 3:38.45
X8+C
Sons of the Thames/Clydesdale/St. Andrews/Vukovar/Mladost composite (Felicita Pike, Hilary Cook, Ailie Ord, Alison Hulme, Boris Martin, Drago Grubesic, Darko Miksic, Vlado Krizek, cox Debbie Bregenzor) 3:19.83
X8+F
Los Gatos/Potomac/Denver/Bosporos (Nancy Miner, Linda Hall, Evelyn Hamann, Tenny Collins, Townsend Swayze, Alex Lindsay, Duncan Spencer, Norman Thetford, cox Peter St Joe) 3:31.70 (fastest time).