Wye rowers prove Master-ful on the Thames

WYE rowers made a splash on the River Thames at the first ever three-day Henley Masters Regatta.

Racing upstream head-to-head over 1,000m of the boom-lined Royal Regatta course, Mark Woods, Nick Hooton, Ian Townsend and Tim Male retained the Masters E (over-55) coxless fours title.

And the MF (over-60) coxed four of Paul Bezani, Colin Lewis, Woods, Alex Mitchell and cox Bonita Birkett also came through to win.

The women's MF eight also did well to make their final, but had to give second best to a multi-club composite of top rowers.

The E four cruised past Vikings Australia by 4L in their quarter-final, and then beat BTC Southampton by 1 3/4L in the semi to set up a final with Welsh rivals Llandaff, who had beaten Bradford-on-Avon, Reading and Bristol Ariel.

And the Wye crew then beat the Taff boat by 3L, coming home in 3 minutes 23 seconds.

In their opening heat, the F four faced a rematch of last year, when Upper Thames racing on their home water came through to pip them on the line before going on to win the event.

But Monmouth made no mistake this time, storming into an early lead and coming home 1 1/4L to the good.

Next up in the semi-final, they cruised home against Worcester by 3L.

And the final saw them pitted against another Upper Thames boat, where this time Monmouth edged out to a slight lead and held off their rivals' final charge to take a hard-fought 1/3L verdict in 3.34.

The women's 8 beat a Milton Keynes/ Wallingford crew by 1.5L in their semi, but missed out to a Wallingford/Upper Thames/Maidenhead crew containing some ex-internationls by 2 1/2L in the final.

Former head of Monmouth School Rowing John Griffiths also raced a pair with son Tom, giving Bradford-on-Avon a decent race before losing by 3L in MC (over-42 average age).