SBC Win at Burton ... 1975

Tom Edwards won Stourport Boat Club its seventh trophy of the season by taking Senior B Sculls at Burton Regatta last Sunday.
In favourable conditions he completed the 1100 metre course in 3 minutes 42 seconds, 2 seconds faster than the Elites. Stourport's three other entries all achieved final placings, but Tom's was the only outright win.
His race came in the semi-finals when he was drawn against a sculler from Nottingham and Union, after half the course Tom had a slight lead, though at no time were the scullers more than half a length apart. With 300 metres to go it looked as if the Nottingham sculler would use the advantage of his bend to row through Tom, but a magnificent effort saw him hang on to take the verdict of one foot. A very tired Tom then made a miraculous recovery on being told that the other two semi-finalists had failed to report, so he had just won the final. This is the first Senior B sculling win recorded by a home grown oarsman.
Stourport's other three finalists at Burton were in Novice Fours, Junior Under 15 Fours, and Senior C Sculls. The Novice Four had been showing very well in recent weeks, reaching the final at Huntingdon, only to be beaten by 2 feet in Junior Novice Fours, and losing a tight semi-final at Llandaff last Saturday by half a length. At Burton it became obvious they were more suited to the longer courses as they won three races to get to the final by rowing through from behind. Birmingham were first to go, Stourport winning by 1 1/4 lengths, time 3.52. Loughborough were then beaten by 1 length followed by Derby in a most exciting semi-final, the crew just squeezing past in the last 50 metres. Nottingham Boat Club produced their finalist opponents, and yet again Stourport trailed at halfway by 1 1/4 lengths but Stourport again mounted a very strong challenge, running out of water with a canvas still to make up. The crew now have an enforced rest while holidays are taken, but they will be back in contention for Stourport Regatta on 16th August.
The Junior Under 15 crew, considered by many to be one of the club's most important assets, raced well in their event, despite being outclassed by Becket School, National Championship entries in the final. Their semi-final win was recorded against Becket's 'B' crew, the time of 3.57 comparing favourably with four of the novice event races, however Becket's 'A' crew were 10 seconds faster in the other semi-final and the result was predictable.
Richard Lloyd, competing for the first time in his new Senior C Sculling statusreachedthe final of his event by beating Nottingham Britannia by 1/2 length and Stratford by 1 1/4 lengths. In the final he was still in contact after 1 1/2 minutes, but lost the race by allowing his opponent too much room on his bend.
R. Lloyd Report July 1975