Stourport Win 3 More ... 1979

Three wins in two days gave Stourport Boat Club much to cheer about last weekend, leaving them with two to get to equal the record total of wins.
An all Stourport final in Senior C Sculls at Gloucester Regatta ensured one of the wins, and Phil Downes winning his Novice Sculls at Bristol provided the second, but the Senior C Eight defeating Burton Leander and Gloucester to win their event at Gloucester was the most surprising and popular win of the weekend.
The eight was formed for Stourport Regatta earlier in August but was unsuccessful against some tough opposition. They were entered for Gloucester, but with little expectation of what was to come. One member dropped out which meant drafting in someone who had just returned from holiday and no outing was completed with a full crew before the event. On the day, however, they took an immediate lead against a young Burton Leander crew and despite some strange bladework completed the course without mishap to win by one length. Gloucester, in the meantime had beaten Ross in the other semi-final, and looked much tougher opposition. After only ten strokes in the final, the Stourport crew came to a virtual stand still through a stroke side crab, but some excellent coxing by Chris Downes saw them draw back from 3/4 length down to level by 500 metres. The final verdict of 1 1/2 lengths meant a well deserved victory and it is good to see some heavier oarsmen coming through the system at last. Tony Gavin, at bow last won in 1967 which must be some kind of a record in itself. The rest of the crew included Shannon Conway, Nigel Thomas, Pete Fabian, Nigel Davies, Daryl Beech, Rob Jones and cox Chris Downes.
The Senior C Sculls event at Gloucester had some 22 entries and should really have been split into two divisions. As it had not, the result was two Stourport finalists, being Maurice Hayes and Steve Downes. Steve raced scullers from Northwich, Staines, Liverpool Victoria and Reading to reach the final, coming in approximately 3/4 length ahead of each though in control of the race, Maurice had a row-over and then defeated Avon county and Bewdley as his opponents studied the fauna growing out of the canal bank. The final saw the scullers neck and neck for the first 250 metres before Maurice moved ahead, finally winning by 2 lengths. This is his second win in Senior C Sculls this year and makes his investment in a new carbocraft sculling boat all the maore worthwhile for 1980.
Maurice went on to reach the final of Senior C Sculls at Bristol after beating Northampton Casuals by 2 lengths, but lost the final to a Thames Tradesmen’s scullersome two stone heavier.
Phil Downes is the longest serving active oarsman in senior rowing at the club, having started coxing at the age of eight. He added novice sculls to his quota at Bristol Regatta by defeating Worcester by 1/2 length and Avon County and Cambridge by 2 lengthd. This was despite breaking a fan belt on the motorway and arriving an hour late for his first race which ended up as a row-over. This win brought Stourport Boat Club’s tally to 34 regatta and head wins since November last year, which is two short of the record set last season.
Other entries during the weekend included a Senior C coxed pair of Duncan Gwilliam and Henry Evans, coxed by Chris Downes, which lost in the final at Gloucester to Stratford by one length. Two open coxed pairs did battle at Bristol but failed to get beyond the first round, and a Senior A and Veteran B Four raced at Ross.
With two more regattas to go this season, followed by a number of small boats heads, Stourport has high hopes of beating the ‘pots’ tally which broke the club’s record in 1978. A strong team will also be attending the International Veterans meeting at Holme Pierrepont on 21st September this year and some wins would really cap this record breaking season.
R. Lloyd Report August 1979