Nottingham High Performance Squad took on Henley Women’s Regatta at the weekend, and it was the squads most successful year to date!

Friday:

This was where racing began for the weekend with single file time trials for the senior doubles and senior quads. Racing in the senior double was Laura Champion and Ellie Whittle and the senior quad was made up of Lindsay Marshall, Catherine Lineker, Sarah Bonar and Beth Lloyd.

Both crews were off to a great start qualifying into the last 16 to then race over the Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday:
This was the first main day of side by side racing for all high performance crews. Along with the quad and double there was also Yasmin Marks in senior lightweight single sculls, Louise Hart in senior single sculls, Lucy Mason in junior singles and a junior double made up of Kyra Edwards and Olivia Kay, coached by Lauren Fisher.
The Senior Double race got off to a good start racing Ironbridge, winning by three quarters of a length, although they got off to a leisurely start they then romped through in the last 300m to take the win. This set them up for a race against a Thames double later in the day, and despite a strong effort couldn’t continue the winning streak. The Thames double then went on to be overall winners of the event.
Yasmin Marks in the lightweight senior single, was in fine form winning both her races by significant margins and setting her up for some good racing on Sunday.
Louise Hart in the senior single also got off to a strong start, after having a row-over in the first round she then went on to win her second round and progress to Sundays racing.
Continuing the Nottingham sculling domination on Saturday, the quad raced Mortlake Anglian and Alpha in the heats and then Marlow in the quarterfinals, winning both comfortably and progressing to semi-finals on the Sunday.
The Junior 2x made up of Kyra Edwards and Olivia Kay, progressed from the time trial into racing and again progressed to the Sunday having gained some good race experience and confidence for the following day.
Lucy Mason was racing in the junior singles and despite this being her first ever race on the Henley course showed steely determination and conquered the nerves with a solid  win to progress to Sunday.
Finally Caitlin Boyland was part of an Academic coxed four who came up against, bravely battled and unfortunately lost out to the eventual winners from Exeter University.
The High Performance Squad finished Saturdays racing on a high after only two crews losing out and Sunday promised some much tougher racing and the chance of some silverware!

Sunday:

With 8 crews racing on the Sunday of the regatta, it was lining up to be a busy and exciting day (if a little nerve wracking for Dez).
Nikki met her previous doubles partner in the semi final, Lizzie Polgreen of Isle of Ely and despite a close contest and an impressive wind at the finish, was pipped to the post on this occasion.
The Junior double of Kyra Edwards and Olivia Kay came up against international crew Norske Studenters - Norway in their final. Despite a solid performance from our girls the junior double was out gunned to the finish line. The Norway crew have been selected for The Junior World Championships.
Lucy Mason took on the Junior singles in the semi finals racing Upper Thames, Lucy took on an epic wind with a late surge at the finish closing the gap from four to two lengths on the finish, a great performance for her first Henley experience.
Katie Bartlett was leading out the Under 23 8+ from the stroke seat. The eight raced Boston College in a straight final and finished the race with a convincing lead. 
Louise Hart raced the senior singles final against McCarthy of Walbrook rowing club. Louise led the race from start to finish, showing off her boat moving ability in the tricky conditions yet again versus other, much larger scullers.
Yasmin Marks raced the Senior lightweight singles final, she raced Johnston of Tideway Scullers and maintained her winning streak with a convincing win of 4 lengths over the tideway sculler.
The Senior quad met Molesey in the semi final, the crews having met previously at coronation regatta with a win for Nottingham, Molesey were keen to redress the balance.  Both crews went out hard with Molesey taking the lead off the island. The Nottingham crew were a length down with 500m to the finish when Lindsay called to wind for the finish (and then some!). Molesey made Nottingham work for every inch but were unable to hold off the onslaught and Nottingham won with a verdict of 2ft.
The senior quad then met Wallingford in the final, both crews closely matched from the semi final times. Nottingham committed off the start and had half a length off the end of the island. Wallingford suffered from some erratic steering through the middle of the race resulting in some clashing of blades, but Nottingham held their line and pushed on to the finish winning in a verdict of 1 and 2/3 length.
Pippa Whittaker took on Kris Johnson of Leeds, in the elite singles, both of whom train on Holme Pierrepont at Nottingham. After a brief reunion on the start line the racing began in earnest, with both crews going out hard, Kris took the lead pushing hard. Pippa wound early and pushed Kris all the way to the finish line, but unfortunately just missed out.

Nottingham therefore finished the day with a win in the senior singles, senior lightweight singles, senior quadruple sculls and as part of the winning composite U23 Elite 8+.

As a squad we would like to thank all the organisers, officials and fellow competitors for making this, the 26^th Henley Women’s Regatta as special as ever. Also a special thank you to Lauren Fisher for helping out with coaching duties over the weekend.