OTRC bagged a win at the British Rowing Masters at Strathclyde Loch!  Keely Watson battled tough conditions to beat her opposition in her Single A-C event.  Keely also raced with Nick Hurford in a Mixed double and writes the match report:

Apparently Nick had promised sunshine but the Scottish weather decided to provide everything from sun to rain and thunder and lightning (casing a delay).  My semi-final in the single was cancelled due to someone scratching and making it a straight final. This was a relief as the time that the race would have been on a short storm came through the area with thunder, lightning and wind – I definitely would have gone swimming! Luckily the weather turned out to be good and deciding not to wear myself out (or look like a fool by falling in) I didn’t practice a start on the way up. Somehow, I am not sure how, everything went well. I had a good start and managed to stay ahead, crossing the finish line first without a clue about the rating or check as the stroke meter didn’t work. (Knowing me it was not slow or gentle, GPS later showed a ‘brisk’ start settling down to 32-34spm).

The double race was a mixed age category, expecting 7 crews on the start it turned out that only 4 crews made it there (and one of the crews was a pair of honey monsters). After waiting for a long time at the start (due to issues
with a previous race) we started and settling into a rhythm and worked hard for the whole time. It was a hard fight for 2nd place (the honey monsters were well ahead) and but the opposition just finished a bow ball ahead of us. Again we did not have a clue about the rating as our full focus was on the rowing but as the boat unofficial name is ‘Red Mist’ people could guess it was not slow!

It was a beautiful venue, nicer than Nottingham with a lot less concrete and a well organised event and we were lucky with the conditions when we were on the water.

Thank you to Nick for all of that driving!