Win at Local Regatta ... 1975

A fine win in Junior Under 16 Fours last weekenf gave Stourport its 10th win of the season. Its first ever recorded Junior win and its first win at Bewdley Regatta since 1962. The crew, five members from Stourport High School, have been showing great promise all season under the watchful eye of Dave Pearson, coach; and the club captain, Fred Caswill. They have already narrowly lost two finals in their first ever rowing season, so a win was on the cards. Their first race against Hereford had the crew worried as they have already met defeat by Hereford twice this year. However, this time they were able to pull away to win a good race by 1 length. On the way up to the start a blade had been broken but the crew had mastered this unnerving experience. The semi-final saw the host club, Bewdley, produce the opposition, but for once Stourport were able to control the race throughout, winning by a comfortable margin. The final against Liverpool Victoria was a similar story, Stourport coming home well clear, before being given the ceremonious ducking for winning their first pot. The crew: bow, Brett Birby; 2, Duncan Gwilliam; 3, Mark Daglish; stroke, Steve Brazier; and cox, Kevin Morris, have only been together in this formation for two weeks, and are alleligible to row in under 15 fours.
Stourport's Novice Four were very unlucky to lose the final of their event after four gruelling races compared to theit opponent's two. This had come about when Stourport had to race an eliminator against Derwent, a crew they had dead-heated with at the club Sprint Regatta, which they won. In the semi-final they dead-heated yet again after a poor start, but made no mistake in the re-row. Their opposing finalists from Ross were still comparitvely fresh, but were a powerful crew anyway, and Stourport had no answer for their fast start. The result of all this is that Phil Bettis, a very keen oarsman of the last two seasons, goes into the army next week still a novice oarsman, after losing more finals than he would care to remember.
Stourport also narrowly lost the final of Elite B Fours to a Bewdley who appeared to take more than their fair share of the river, but the resulting appeal was turnrd down on the grounds that Bewdley had not been warned. The club's Senior A Four and a combined Bewdley/Stourport ladies four both met defeat in their first race, as did Paul Graetz in Senior C Sculls.
Names of Competitors:- Elite B Four: P.Lloyd, M.Edmonds, K.Barwise, E.Mol, cox M.Reeley. Senior A Four: P.Lashford, R.Lloyd, T.Edwards, P.Dowmes, cox C.Reeley. Novice Four: S.Webster, A.Harris, G.Handley, P.Bettis, cox C.Downes. Ladies Four: M.Bettis, A.Roberts,......... cox S.Downes. Senior C Sculls: P.Graetz.
R. Lloyd Report July 1975