Head of the River – Feb 2008
The mens novice 8 produced a solid performance at the recent Head of the River race, illustrating their potential for the forthcoming regatta season. Starting at 182 out of 420 crews, the crew set off at a rate of 34 for the first minute, settling at 30 for the remainder of the race. Rowing against tough competition around them, MAA overtook Emanuel School at Hammersmith Bridge, before pushing through the last gruelling third of the course to pass City of Derby. With cox Jenni Allen urging the crew to the ever elusive finish line, MAA finished 180 overall, and 5th out of 65 in the Novice class, beating the majority of S4 and S3 crews.
Crew: Matthew Weston (Bow), Alec Jones, John Sutherland, Derek van den Brink, Phil Long, Wayne Newton, Joe Steel, Brett Greenwood (Stroke), Jenni Allen (Cox)

Excellent win for Vet men at Hammermsmith
Beating 4 crews in their category (E/F) and on handicap beating all of the other veteran crews (10 in total including competition from quality clubs like London, Quintin and Bedford/Star). Our vets actual time was 12:30.44 41 out of 61 crews, (adjusted 11:17.44 which would have been 2nd on the river!) Great to see good quality racing from all aspects of the club.

Great novice result from Mens head
Our two mens crews from the novice/ intermediate mens group both had good races at the mens head. Previous crews (placings came from the outcome of the 2006 race) had left high starting positions so both crews had to put up with some overtaking, but then placed well within their own divisions. The novice (going off 2nd of our 2 boats) but technically the more proficient/stronger crew came 180th which was an excellent 5th out of 65 novices (2nd club crew home behind Thames) and the S4 boat were 356 which is respectable for a mainly novice crew.

Veterans head cancelled
The veterans head was cancelled - always disappointing for crews that have spent a longtime preparing for and looking forward to the good competition from similar crews that the major races bring. Sadly the weather does seem to claim the scalp of a major race every year.

2 Mortlake friends row to Paris
Nick Tittle, Mens Vet. Squad & Met Pol and Amy Green, (of PTRC noviced at MAA in 2005) are raising money for the British Heart Foundation by rowing from London to Paris in the first organised side by side race. Leaving Westminster Bridge on Friday 2nd May they will row 480 miles down the Thames, across the Channel and up the Seine, hoping to arrive at the Eiffel Tower on Thursday morning. Follow their progress and find out more about the event. on the Le Figa row website.

Four great results from Womens head
After a nervous last few hours watching the weather forecast (and the white horses on the waves outside the boathouse!) finally the hour for racing arrived and the wind dropped enough for the race to go ahead. A strong tailwind made for fast times down the course if a little gusty on the Putney / Fulham reach.
4 crews raced, showing the depth of the current womens groups at MAA this year - MAA A - S1 - finished 16th 20:06.98; MAA B S2 - 28th in 20:30.49; MAA C S3 - 61st in 21:01.59 and MAA D - S4 - 176th in 22:53.80 We also saw some familar faces racing in other crews - retired senior squad member Tasha Smith in the Henley/Upper Thames crew that came 18th and Helen Austin in the composite that came 7th. 2 students who spent the summer with us, Amy Nihad rowing for Cardiff University came 51, Harriet Keane racing at 6 in the Osiris B crew came 40th.

Mens HoRR coming up
The mens HoRR is on Saturday 15th March - MAA has 2 crews entered, S4 starting 121 and Novices starting 182. The MAA/Quintin composite crew which has been racing in recent weeks will race as Quintin starting 98. There are also entries for the Vets Head on Sunday 16th March.

Senior Women win at Hammersmith
The S1 womens crew (first boat of 2 from senior squad) won at the Hammersmith womens and juniors head. Raced over the same short course as the Quintin and Pairs Heads, this is the final preparation race before the Womens head (1st March). MAA had four crews racing, essentially the same crews who will race the Womens head - from the Senior group, S1 and S2 boats, from the intermediates S3 and essentially the Novices racing S4. We wish all the crews well next weekend.
The men are also preparing for their own big race - off to Reading this weekend, forcast looks good for some racing rather than a cancellation!

Anna Townsend places 1st in GB lwt womens trials
Held at Boston as usual, this final head race style time trial was a smaller than usual event, with the current GB althetes exempt from competition. However Anna had a good race to place 1st overall in the Lightweight womens category in a time that was 8 seconds ahead of 2nd place and would have placed her 5th in the heavyweight category. Well done Anna and good luck for future competition.

Upcoming races - eights heads
The main Eights head races are earlier than in previous years due to the early Easter and tide conditions. Next weekend is the last 'primer' for the women with the Hammersmith Womens and Juniors race, raced over the 'short course' Chiswick to Hammersmith. Then the main Womens Head of the River is on Saturday March 1st, followed by the Hammersmith Mens head on Sunday 2nd. The HoRR (mens head) is on 16th March this year, with the Veterans HoRR (full course, Chiswick to Putney this year) on Sunday 17th.
MAA will have 4 womens crew in both Hammersmith and the WeHoRR (2 from the senior group racing S2, 1 from the intermediate racing S3 and 1 mixed intermediate / novice racing S4). Any support on race day is most welcome!

Senior women win at Thames valley head trial
Okay so the MAA senior girls may have been the only entrants in their event (W Open 4-) but they raced the course (Dorney lake) 3 times each in different combinations and one boat finished the 3rd piece in 3rd place overall the division and ahead of several mens eights and all of the womens eights in that division. The time was the fastest womens boat overall that day beating a Marlow 8+ which had raced in the first division.

Quintin Head - Novice men and Veteran men win pennants
Congratulations to the Novice men who won their first event, after so many frustrating cancellations, they were pleased to get across the start line for once! They beat good competition (6 boats) in their category and were placed 17th overall - just 23 seconds behind the Quintin/MAA S2 composite crew. The Veteran men won their pennant, but were disappointed as local adversaries TSS had pulled out. They still beat the other VE crew by over a minute.
Thanks as usual to the kind people next door for running this event (right outside the club, thanks!) and giving us a chance to race in the run up to the main Tideway heads.

Tideway league - MAA novice men win first match
The novice men belatedly got racing underway in 2008 with a strong performance in the newly-formed Tideway League. Following the cancellation of the postponed Wallingford Head they were champing at the bit for some organised racing and a side-by-side challenge over the course that will comprise next week's Quintin Head was the perfect opportunity.
Full tideway league race report

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