Durham ARC returned with 3 gold medals from 10 events entered at Henley Masters Regatta, the regatta established in 1994 and hosted by Upper Thames Rowing Club held on July 7th and 8th 2017, the week after Henley Royal Regatta. Competitors travel from all over the world to compete over 1000 metres on the famous Henley reach.
Gill Prescott and Eva Rankin (Loch Lomond ARC) each won 2 gold medals, firstly in the Women’s Masters F double sculls before combining with Helen Frykman and Sherri Kline from Long Beach Rowing Association, California to win the Women’s Masters E coxless quad.
Gill was returning a favour to the Americans who had made it possible for her to race in the Head of the Charles Regatta (HoCR) last year as they had always wanted to race at Henley. A third member of the Long Beach RA contingent, Wendy O’Brian, raced at Henley in the Women’s Masters D 2x with Antonella Corazza from SC Varese, Italy (who had also raced with Gill in the 4x- at the HoCR) and they also won their event, ensuring all of the group came away with a Henley Medal.
A third gold for Durham ARC was secured by John Lund in a Masters H 4x- composite with Quintin BC and Wallingford RC, overcoming a Cambridge (USA)/Christiania (Norway) combination in the semi-final and Upper Thames RC in the final.
In other events, the Durham Masters F eight beat Crabtree by a canvas in the semi-final but lost to Quintin in the final. The Durham/Upper Thames RC MasG 8+ also lost to Quintin in the final.
After a dead heat and rerow David Muse lost in the quarter-final of the MasB 1x by 1 foot against Twickenham. The Masters F 4+ lost to Crabtree in the quarter-final, and Andy Jaggard lost against Poplar B&D in the quarter-final of the MasG single sculls.
In their first appearance at Henley Kim Forster and Gabrielle Moore lost in the quarter-final of the WMasD 2x against Tideway Scullers, and the MasD 2x lost in the semi-final against Burton Leander.
Full results are here.