Head of the East @ WNRC: race report

On Sunday 2 March, IOERC visited our neighbours West Norfolk Rowing Club at Denver, Norfolk, for the Head of the East – which delivered a blissful day of family-friendly rowing rivalry in the glittering spring sunshine.

Ely saw more success for the junior section, with Emily and Antonia picking up silver trophies for their superb J16 doubles performance – making history as the first crew ever to be awarded pots (official British Rowing category winners, no less) at West Norfolk! The Ely W8+ raced as a final training run for WEHoRR and was the fastest women’s boat on the river. Two Ely junior quads battled it out with the J16s just pipping the J17s to the post; and Matthew stormed home, posting another very speedy performance in his single. Ely also saw strong rows from a J16 double, senior single sculler Tom, the men’s coxed quad, and the men’s coxed four.

This was the first British Rowing event hosted by West Norfolk, and a great day – we really enjoyed being back at this beautiful stretch of river, enjoying the scenery, the competition, and seeing so many old friends from both Ely and West Norfolk. The hospitality was impeccable — WNRC serves the best chilli for miles around, and the bacon rolls went down a treat too! They even lent us a rower – many thanks to Poppy, for subbing into the eight and doing a brilliant job.

There were some fascinating local informative presentations about the sluice and fenland waterways. We look forward to returning to the beautiful Great Ouse at Denver for WNRC’s next event!