Kingston Small Boats Head | 9 November 2024 Race Report

After entering 5 crews, we managed to secure three entries into the Kingston Small Boats Head on 9 November 2024.  A wonderful, large and competitive event spread over two divisions.  

With great teamwork and planning we managed to secure a trailer and tow car (thanks Simon!) to bring our equipment over to Kingston for a full Saturday of racing.

It really does take a lot of planning and teamwork to make these races happen, from entries to rigging, it’s a full team effort.  Especially the races that require a trailer and not just a row to the start!  Huge well done to all.

Division 1

Our first race was the men’s quad in Division 1.  The whole squad arrived at Kingston at 8am to unload, rig and cheer on the men’s quad in the MasC.4x- category.

They were:

4 Maurizio Conza

3 Gideon Fackrell

2 Gary Mills

1 Devlin Lindeque

After a strong start, they had equipment breakage!  (always check your rigger bolts!).  But they handled it brilliantly.  Being forced to row with only three, they managed a second place in their category, powering through the course and dealing with the adversity.  A great effort.

Maurizio says:

‘We trained hard together for over a month, coming into the race in top form. We started off at a solid, steady pace, unfazed as two boats sped past us. Just as we were beginning to close the gap, disaster struck: a bolt fell out, leaving a rigger dangerously loose. Without a rigger jigger on hand, there was nothing we could do to fix it, and Devlin couldn’t row.

But giving up wasn’t in the plan. Together, we decided to push on, with Devlin expertly balancing the boat, his blades resting just above the water. We held our own, finishing strong and even keeping another quad from catching up to us.

We took second place in our category—okay, out of two boats, but at least we beat a crew that opted not to race! We trained, we raced, we faced challenges, and we didn’t back down. As “someone” always says: “Gotta love it!”’

Division 2

The other two crews were in Division 2.  After cheering on the men’s quad, both the men’s double and women’s four quickly got ready to race.

The next down the course was the men’s MasD double of Ken and Simon.  They actually are an

average age E category…but were racing against younger competition.

‘We just focused on being long and smooth.  Not going ‘caveman’ and trying to break the blades…we just worked on flowing together, being long and strong.  It worked.  The race felt good.  We were strong and powerful’ - Ken

Just before Kingston Bridge, about 1500 metres to go, there was a collision near the finish.  An emergency boat whizzed by them and created a huge wake.  It was a challenge bouncing through it toward the finish.

2 Ken Creighton

1 Simon Hunt

But they did finish and won!! 

Not only did they win their D category, but age adjusted, had the fastest time in the C, D and E category!  Winning the D category by one second, C by an adjusted four seconds.

The final Brentford Crew was the women’s straight four.

4 Sam Harris

3 Ainslie Rimmer

2 Kirsty Russell-Duff

1 Lorna Anderson

Another victory for Brentford Masters! 

Kirsty notes: 

"It was a cold grey English day. We rowed up the river to Hampton Court, turned, and raced 2 Kingston Women's Four boats the 5.3kms to the finish. It was fantastic to hear so many Brentford Masters members shouting and cheering for us along the course. The race was tough, but we had the advantage of age on our side, and came 1st in our category".

After a smooth, strong row the women finished with the fastest time.  All the more fun as they rowed our brand new (to us) boat the Alan Cox.  A boat we just bought from Cygnet Rowing Club last weekend.

Although we had some historic victories, the real highlight of the day was the support.  The cheers of ‘Go Brentford’ were deafening.  It was wonderful to hear the support while racing, and enjoy the win with so many from the club after. 

Thanks Brentford Masters!