Here is a roundup of the Summer 2010 Vesta wins so far:

• Jamie Wooller won Novice Singles at Richmond Regatta

• Bevan Goulden, Laurence Manning, Nick Nevelling, Harry Bond, Alister Campbell, Chris Clements, Chris Burnell and Jamie Wooller, coxed by Sophy Fuchs won Intermediate 2 Eights at Kingston Regatta

• Jamie Halliday won Senior Coxless Pairs as part of a Vesta/Burton Leander composite at Burton Regatta

• Lara Brock and Vics Mcleod-Moore won Intermediate 3 Doubles at Molesey Regatta

• Hilary Blandy won Novice Singles at Molesey Regatta

• Alister Campbell and Laurence Manning won Elite Coxless Pairs and Intermediate 1 Coxless Pairs at Henley Town & Visitors Regatta

• Kitty Lowings, Vics Mcleod-Moore, Kat Hedges and Kate Tilbury won Intermediate 2 Quadruple Sculls as a Vesta/Mortlake composite at Henley Town & Visitors Regatta

• Kat Hedges won Masters B Quadruple Sculls as part of a Vesta/Eton Excelsior Composite at Maidenhead Regatta

More wins to follow at Peterborough and Oxford City I’m sure…!

The winning crew were (B-S): Rahma Barclay, Alex Johnson, Kat Hedges, Vicky Williams, Lara Brock, Vics McLeod-More, Charlie Dempster, Emily Trant and Julia Hedley (coxswain), and are very ably coached by Matt Gilliver, James Parris and Paul Fitzwilliam. This is an incredible achievement, rewarding our girls and coaches for their huge amount of effort, patience, tenacity and humour over the past nine months.

Earlier in the weekend, Vesta was very well represented in the quarter finals of the Intermediate Club eights with our club crew losing by two lengths to the eventual winners, Thames Rowing Club, our lightweight coxless four losing to Marlow Rowing Club, and Ailsa Tremayne losing to London Rowing Club in the elite singles.

A Vesta Senior Women’s crew will now attempt to qualify for the Remenham Challenge Cup this Friday at Henley Royal Regatta, please come and support them along with the Vesta Senior Men’s Wyfold ‘B’ Entry

Having destroyed the cream of British rowing at Met the previous week, the women’s Senior Eight turned their sights on the US. Following their string of recent wins, the girls were racing the elite American crews , St Joseph’s and Drexel, and proved that they have the power to stay cool under fire – rowing through from half a length down to win the final from Drexel by a foot.

Vesta 2, Americans nil – that’s how it’s done, Capello.

In the final of the women’s IM1 coxless 4, the Mighty Lighties (Tamsin Bernard, Pamela Brent, Freya Johnstone and Holly de Gay) cruised to a comfortable 3 length victory over Putney Town, demonstrating that sharp technical focus is more than a match for brute strength. The win so excited coach Matt Gilliver that he threw himself off his own bike and was removed from the regatta to have his leg stitched up.

The women’s intermediate eight made the finals of IM2, but were beaten by the more experienced Thames crew, while Ailsa Tremayne sculled through three rounds of the IM1x but was beaten at last by MAA.

Less than a week to go… be afraid, HWR, the Vesta women are on their way!

L-R: Vicky Williams, Alex Johnson, Kat Hedges, Lara Brock, Rahma Barclay, Vics Mcleod-More, Julia Hedley (cox), Charlie Dempster & Emily Trant

L-R: Matt Gilliver, Holly De Gay, Tamsin Bernard, Pamela Brent, Freya Johnstone, Paul Fitzwilliam & James Parris

The Vesta Women continue to dominate at the business end of women’s club level rowing, this time winning Women’s IM1 Eights on the Saturday and Women’s Senior Eights on the Sunday.

Can anyone halt their victory strewn rampage towards Henley Women’s Regatta?

The IM1 crew of L-R: (Cox: Julia Hedley, Emily Trant, Charlie Dempster, Rahma Barclay, Alex Johnson, Vics Mcleod-More and Lara Brock (Verity Ansell missing))

The Senior crew of L-R: (Vicky Williams, Vics Mcleod-More, Lara Brock, Cox: Julia Hedley, Kat Hedges, Emily Trant, Charlie Dempster, Alex Johnson & Rahma Barclay)

Having come away with one Gold medal last year in the quads (see report here) the bar was raised through the roof this year with the squad having 8 Crews in Finals and coming away with 2 Bronze Medals, 2 Silvers and 1 Gold whilst setting a course record (6.51.10) and claiming the International Belgian Championship for Women’s Eights.

In an exciting race, Vesta A tore through Thames (who had beaten them in the heats earlier in the day) to clinch victory by 3 seconds in a well fought final.

Belgian National Champions (L-R): Rahma Barclay, Alex Johnson, Helen Edwards, Vicky Williams, Lara Brock, Vics McLeod-More, Charlie Dempster, Emily Trant & Julia Hedley

Along with the victorious crew pictured above there were other medals in the form of:

Silver Medals for Emily Trant, Lara Brock, Vics McLeod-More & Charlie Dempster in the Women’s Coxless Fours.

Silver Medals for Lara Brock, Ailsa Tremayne, Charlie Dempster & Natasha Bolsin in the Women’s Quads (pictured below).

Bronze Medals for Ailsa Tremayne & Natasha Bolsin in the Women’s Pairs on Saturday (pictured below).

Bronze Medals for Kitty Lowings & Alex Johnson on Sunday in the Women’s Pairs on Sunday (pictured below).

Amongst the medallists there were 8 crews that made finals, including two eights for the National W8+ Final which is a staggering acheivement.

Congratulations must go to the whole squad and coaches: Matt Gilliver, Paul Fitzwilliam and James Parris.

For full Vesta Results click here

So it was that they disappeared off to Mulhouse for a week long training camp (noticeably without the distraction of the Men’s Squad) where they plotted their takeover of the world of women’s club rowing.

Winning their heat comfortably at Wallingford Regatta, the IM2 8+ of cox: Julia Hedley, Emily Trant, Helen Edwards, Vicks McLeod-More, Aga Siemiginowska, Hillary Blandy, Kat Hedges, Alex Johnson and Rahma Barclay caught the scent of blood when they lined up for the final. Alongside them at the start were old Putney embankment rivals Thames RC and the club that had denied Vesta a HWR ’09 Medal, York City RC – the scene was set for payback.

In a blanket finish, mighty Vesta pulled out all the stops to beat Thames and York City into 2^nd and 3^rd in a time of 07:02.20.

It was about 7°C, and they do say revenge is a dish best served cold.

Other notable performances on the day came from Kitty Lowings and Alex Johnson coming in a very respectable 2nd in their IM1.2- final and the Vesta Men’s Senior 4- of Rob Shaw, Nick Nevelling, Harry Bond and Jamie Halliday, who despite illness in their boat managed to qualify for their final in a very tough field.

With entries in the IM1, IM2, WIM1, WIM2, WIM3, N and WN categories, the club was thoroughly represented at all levels of racing and with seven crews entered, Vesta had the largest amount of entries for any club on the day.

After decent performances in the Remenham Head the previous week, expectations were high for the Senior Men and Senior Women and in true Vesta fashion, they did not disappoint.

The Men’s IM1 crew of Cox: Liz Head, Laurence Manning, Christoph Schrader, Rob Shaw, Nick Neveling, Michael Hughes, Alister Campbell, Nick Ireland and Bevan Goulden won their category pennant in a time of 12:18.8.

The Women’s IM1 crew of Cox: Julia Hedley, Emily Trant, Sarah Wood, Lara Brock, Charlie Dempster, Vics McLeod-More, Kat Hedges, Mary Francis and Rahma Barclay was the Fastest Women’s Crew with a time of 13:28.6.

The Women’s IM2 crew of Cox: Katy Hinks, Hilary Blandy, Kitty Lowings, Athene McGregor-McDonald, Aga Siemiginovska, Jenny Douglas, Helen Edwards, Alex Johnson and Vicky Brock won their category pennant in a time of 13:50.7.

For the rest of the Vesta Results, please visit the results page.
Photographs used with kind permission of Birdman Photography, please visit their site for more images.

A veritable flotilla of Vesta scullers was out representing their club at this year’s Scullers Head.

There were some very positive results from members of all the squads despite many of the participants recovering from the recent illness that had swept through the club.

As per the norm for a Vesta event everything went smoothly and thanks go out to all who helped out with the organisation and running of the event.

Full Results