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Issue 97 - April 1997
'If we don't cross the line first, we haven't won the Head.' So said Richard Phelps, coach to the Thames RC women's first eight before the 57th Women's Eights Head. In other sports, this would have been a self-evident comment, but in the case of his Thames crew with five Atlanta performers on board it meant that the crew, starting fourth, had to overtake the three accomplished crews ahead of them.
Thames, stroked by Ali Gill, a veteran of three Olympics, and steered by Suzie Ellis, Britain's Olympic female coxswain, duly conformed. Ellis made her way past Tideway Scullers, 'after some threats to get out of the way', at Barnes, overhauled Cambridge's Boat Race crew along Chiswick Eyot, before sweeping past London University's crew of international aspirants in the last mile.
The crew then waited anxiously to watch two fancied late starters, a crew of Dutch internationals from Utrecht and a crew of other GB hopefuls from Marlow, but they posed no threat to Thames's superiority which produced a 16-second winning cushion over Marlow with London University and Utrecht a further 20 seconds adrift. The results produced consolation for Ellis who, since Atlanta, had failed to gain selection with the Cambridge men's Boat Race crew but was given a day off from her duties with Goldie to achieve her fifth Head title.
Mike Spracklen, who is back in Britain as Women's National Coach and who has already set up a training centre at Marlow, watched the 227 competing eights with interest. 'There are one or two good ones,' he commented cautiously. 'It will take a long time and we need more.' The large time differences between the established internationals in the Thames and Marlow crews and the rest of the pack was perhaps in his mind, but there is clearly student talent at London, Cambridge and Imperial College, the latter rising from 161st to 7th in spite of their diminutive size.
A young crew from Kingston/Southampton University, coached by Ian South and based around GB lightweight and ex-junior internationals, retained their Senior 2 title, and Ian Shore, the chief coach at Thames, had a happy day, seeing three of his women's crews finish in the top 15. Lady Eleanor Holles and Kingston Grammar remain the country's top female nurseries of talent. Holles, as a nice appetiser for the later Schools Head, edged the school verdict from Kingston by just two seconds.
Women's Eights Head: Top Ten:
Other pennant winners:
© Copyright Mike Rosewell, 1997.
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