On Saturday 19th October, Walton and Weybridge Rowing Club hosted the annual Silver Sculls head race, a race that has been part of the River Thames for over 40 years. This year the race had 382 participants with 120 entries in each of the 4 divisions, with boats representing 36 Thames based clubs.
Heavy rainfull and powerful winds leading up to the event tested the competitors, as well as the organisers. Matt Beagly, Junior Rowing Coach for Weybridge Rowing Club said "The course was made even more challenging today by the tricky weather thrown at us, but everyone performed well and we secured some good results." The race started at Walton Rowing Club and finished 3.2km upstream at Elmbridge Canoe Club. The wide bends and the fast flowing current challenged all divisions, from J12 to Masters. In the last division the race was briefly disturbed when a large barge broke down in the middle of the course. This meant that the J15 boys in division 4 were interrupted and had to restart with already having rowed 1.5km. One member from J15 Weybridge Rowing Club was in a double when the barge had broken down, Alex said "It was the last race of the day and the wind was really strong, so we were extremely tired. It was so annoying having to restart, but we were pleased to come away with a win for Weybridge." Full results are available on the Silver Sculls website.
Katie Sumner
