Issue 107 - March 1998

Leander retain Head and London's lightweights give chase

Leander won the Head of River Race from Mortlake to Putney by 11 seconds on a slack tide. With the world champions Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent, Tim Foster and James Cracknell on board, they began at the head of the 420 crews and remained totally in command, increasing their lead over second-placed London RC by four seconds over the last third of the 4.25 miles from Hammersmith to Putney.

London's lightweights, starting third, closed on the University of London who started second, finishing second. While UL dropped to seventh place, Queens Tower and Oxford Brookes moved up, Tower coming from 15th to third and Brookes from sixth to fourth. Nottinghamshire County's second crew just pipped their first boat for fifth place.

The highest-placed overseas crew was Zurich SC in eleventh place, dropping from seventh and not helped by hitting the Black Buoy which was the obstacle that brought Agecroft's day to an end. Neptune of Dublin in 12th place were the fastest Irish crew.

Leander III, Neptune II and Sons of the Thames were disqualified for infringements.

Head of the River Race (Mortlake to Putney):
1	Leander I	17 mins 44.10 secs (and Page Trophy)
2	London I	17:55.89
3	Queens Tower	17:56.31
4	Oxford Brookes 	18:01.44
5	NCRA II		18:06.85
6	NCRA I		18:07.25
7	Univ of London	18:08.61
8	Molesey I	18:09.05
9	Tideway Scullers 18:11.54
10	Leander II	18:14.98
11	Zurich SC (Switzerland) 18:17.10
12	Neptune (Ireland) 18:19.92

Vernon Trophy:				London I
Ortner Shield (fastest UAU crew):	15 Imperial College 18:25.97
Senior 1 and Jackson Trophy:		24 Nottingham BC 18:44.88
Senior 2 and fastest UAU 2nd crew:	19 Imperial Coll II 18:39.89
Senior 3:				49 St Paul's Sch 19:11.70
Senior 4:				126 UC London 19:58.03
Novice:					89 First and Third Trinity 19:40.70
Services:				125 Army 19:57.84

© Copyright Christopher Dodd, 1998.