Issue 103 - November 1997

Hail Kettle, supremo of small boats

Martin Kettle, with due deference to Tom Gale, is surely the small boat head supremo. Kettle and Gale, in a double scull, duly retained their Pairs Head title from Mortlake to Hammersmith under Queen's Tower colours after Kettle, earlier in the year, had also added the Scullers Head and Wingfield Sculls titles to his list of successes.

The Queen's Tower duo led off the 155 crew field, knowing that crew number 10, Molesey, was now Richard Stanhope and Greg, rather than Jonny, Searle. Jonny had sprung a rib at Greg's 'stag party' in New York a week before, apparently saving an unstoppable shot in a football match.

Kettle and Gale, starting first under the direction of Jim Hopkins, the starter, who got the whole flotilla off in 25 minutes, paced themselves well, building up after the Bandstand to move away from the pack to eventually beat Molesey by five seconds. The pride of Scotland, Alistair Warnock and Martin Holmes, were third, a further three seconds back. The star women's double of the day were Tegwyn Rooks and Caroline Dring of Kingston,winners of the Senior 2 class but 20 seconds faster than any other combination, including the Open category winners.

London RC, with eight crews in the line-up, were the only club to win two trophies on the day, the most prestigious coming for John Warnock and Theo Hudson in the open coxless pairs whose lively rating gave them a 15 second winning margin. The women's open coxless pairs winners, Kate Templeton and Jo Dowman of Thames, were even more impressive, 27 seconds faster than any of their rivals.

James Cracknell spent the day with his girlfriend, Emilie Haslov, a Danish international lightweight, in the mixed double event. It was an interesting 'little and large' spectacle, particularly with Haslov at stroke, keeping the rate well above all their rivals. It worked and they won by 23 seconds in a fast time. 'It was a bit high for me,' said a smiling Cracknell.

St Pauls and Eton won the junior doubles and coxless pairs respectively. In the pairs the Eton crews were under instructions to keep the rate at a maximum 28 but, in spite of this, still filled the first three placings, although the third crew, Brun and Crockett, were clocked at 29 at one point. 'There will be an extra circuit for them later this afternoon,' said coach Bruce Grainger.

Results
Double Sculls
Men
 Open	Queen's Tower.(Kettle and Gale)  12m. 03s
 Sen.2	London IV (Watkin and Brown) 12.46
 Jun.  	St Pauls I (Lovett and Bourne) 13.08
 Vet.B 	Walton II (Hassan and Scrivener) 12.32
 Vet. 	Handicap Tideway Scullers/Army (Gramolt and Harris) 13.28. 

Women
 Open 	Tideway Scullers II (Toye and Dale) 13.49
 Sen.2	Kingston V (Rooks and Dring) 13.29
 Mixed 	Leander/ Danske Studenter (Cracknell and Haslov). 12.41


Coxless Pairs
Men
 Open 	London VII (Warnock and Hudson) 12.57
 Sen.1 	Kingston II (Andrews and Shirley). 13.23
 Sen.2 	Oxford University Lightweights (Heise and Watkinson) 13.29
 Jun. 	Eton I (McGarel-Groves and Pinsent) 13.25
 Vet. 	Wallingford (Morris and Cusack). 13.21

Women
 Open 	Thames VII (Templeton and Dowman) 14.05
 Sen.2 	Capital Rowing Centre (McCulloch and Howard) 14.50