94 - December 1996

Pangbourne Milestones

For 16 years Pangbourne Junior Sculls has been the principal long-distance junior sculling event of the autumn term on the Thames.

Among the quads and doubles, the J18 quad from Sir William Borlase School recorded the fastest time of the day (10m 28s), but were pressed quite close by the crews in the strong J16 class where St George's College Crew (10m 35s), with the GBv France double scullers Matthews and Loake aboard, were chased hard by Westminster and Pangbourne.

A feature of the day was the close competition in some classes which contrasted with a number of very clear wins in others. The WJ18 winners, King's Canterbury (11m 48s) certainly won comfortably, but even more prominent were the Headington School WJ16 quad (12m 17s), stroked by Coupe de la Jeunesse sculler Stewart, who had a margin of 73 seconds over their pursuers. In the MJ15 quads only five seconds separated winners King's Canterbury (11m 13s) from consistently strong Windsor Boys School whose MJ14 crew had a clear win in a fast time (11m 19s), but there was also close racing among the WJ14 quads where Gloucester (12m 44s) achieved the first of their three successes of the day.

There were some high class MJ18 doubles with members of the 1996 GB Worlds and Coupe teams vying for top spot. In a close contest the higher-rating Warner and Baker (11m 0s) finished eight seconds in front of the steadier, powerful-looking King's Canterbury Sterck/Smith combination with the well-fancied Poplar double of Hunter and Kingswell two seconds further back. The WJ18s were dominated by the geographically unlikely but outstanding GB Worlds pairing of Houghton and Walker (12m 24s) who were some 34 seconds in front of the WJ16 winners, Malenczuk/Constantinidi of Wallingford/Downe House, aspirants for team honours next summer. In the MJ16 class the St Neots double of Rooney/Porteus (11m 34s) took the eye and the medals 15 seconds in front of two of the Windsor boys who had sculled for GB against France in the quad last July. Gloucester recorded a fast time (11m 24s) in the MJ15 class but were hard pressed by RGS. In both the J14 classes the Hereford Cathedral School doubles proved outstanding (12m 11s, and 13m 22s).

There were some high class performers among the J16 singles, too. At the front Mark Hunter (11m 50s) had 13 seconds on his Poplar team mate Kingswell, with Baker just a second behind, while Frances Houghton (13m 5s) finished almost half a minute clear of her ex-Coupe pursuers. Showing real promise, Maynard of St George's (12m 6s) and Gelling of Claire Court School (12m 10s) headed the MJ16 class, finishing fourth and fifth overall. In view of her eclipse in the GB v France match earlier this year, Bedingfield's 20 seconds win (13m 26s) perhaps suggests that the WJ16 class was less strong. While Ligertwood of St Edward's (12m 40s) made his mark in the MJ15 class, Emes of Evesham (14m 28s) devastated the opposition by almost a minute in the WJ15 event. Her club colleague R. Edgewell (13m 19s) had a comfortable margin in the MJ14 class, as did Nieduszynska in the WJ14s (15m 10s).

The younger age groups race over a 1500m distance at Pangbourne. The WJ13 winner, Cogger (8m 51s), had finished a creditable second-equal in the morning's WJ14 race and now finished fifth overall, behind MJ13 winner Goodey of LRS (8m 9s), with Atkinson of Bewdley close behind her. The closest margin of the day was the one second victory of Lovett (8m 59s) from Tideway Scullers over Maidstone's Mollison in the MJ12 class. The WJ12s were dominated by Headington School, Dingley (10m 8s) finishing 15 seconds in front of the field. Zakrzewski (9m 26s) won MJ11 by two minutes, but only six seconds separated the two youngest competitors, Urwin of Dragon School (10m 15s) and Kessell of Claires Court.

Peter Politzer

© Copyright Peter Politzer, 1996.