Carrow Cup 2015 Results

Cold, wet and horrible were the conditions for the Carrow Cup event in Norwich on Saturday 12th December. Despite the weather 11 traditional boats mustered on the start line in the centre of Norwich  ready to compete in a 3200 metre race over a course which has been the scene of rowing competitions for more than 200 years.

Crews from Lower Thames RC, Southend RC, Blakeney CRA, King's Lynn CRC and Norfolk Skiff Club had answered the invitation of Norwich Rowing Club and brought a variety of boats to the River Wensum. Because of the diversity of boats and crews, the race for the Bicentenary Bowl is a handicapped event. Smaller boats getting a time advantage, but all must have fixed seats and no outriggers.

Once again Lower Thames swept the board, with the ladies in their new Celtic Longboat setting a blistering time, which could only be matched by the Lower Thames men in their Spirit Gig Dauntless. However, in this race, the ladies get a 10% time advantage, which was quite sufficient to give them a lead of more than a minute on corrected time.

In the St Ayles Skiff race, the Blakeney men overturned last year's victory by Blakeney ladies, who were beaten by just one second on corrected time by King's Lynn in Lynn Rewet. This was the first time that King's Lynn had attended this event, but their visit will be remembered for their traditional yellow oilskin rig and accompanying flock of seagulls.

After the race the crews enjoyed the hospitality of Norwich Rowing Club at their new Whitlingham headquarters. Jonathan Hooton, chairman of the Norwich Society, presented the Bicentenary Bowl to the Lower Thames ladies and an engraved plaque to the 2014 winning crew, also from Lower Thames. Jonathan explained that The Society's support for this event was part of a plan to breath new life into riverside Norwich. The city had turned its back on the river, which had been the reason for its existence and the centre of activity in earlier centuries.

Nigel Kippin, captain of Norwich Rowing Club, thanked all who had made the event such a success and invited everyone to return next year.

RESULTS

	Start	Cox	Club	Boat type	Boat Name		Elapsed	Corrected
	No.						Time	Time
1	28	Jackson-Smith	Lower Thames RC	Celtic longboat	Victory	F	00:21:34	00:18:14
2	26	Gaze	Lower Thames RC	Randan Skiff	Hornet	M	00:23:22	00:19:22
3	25	Alder	Lower Thames RC	Skiff	Leigh Ho	M	00:23:28	00:19:27
4	26	Chinnery	Lower Thames RC	Spirit gig	Dauntless	M	00:20:58	00:19:27
5	27		Southend CRC	Seax Gig	Rozinante	M	00:21:50	00:20:52
6	27	Budds	Lower Thames RC	Spirit gig	Spirit of Dunkirk	F	00:25:51	00:21:35
7	29	Combe	CRA Blakeney	St Ayles skiff	Bluejacket	M	00:25:02	00:21:51
8	30	Therrien	Lower Thames RC	Spirit gig	Spirit of Trafalgar	M	00:23:55	00:22:12
9	31	Hodge	Norfolk Skiff Club	Thames skiff 26'	Cherub	M	00:24:47	00:22:36
10	32		Kings Lynn CRC	St Ayles skiff	Lynn Rewet	M	00:27:07	00:23:40
11	24	Duffill	CRA Blakeney	St Ayles skiff	Hoi Larntan	F	00:30:08	00:23:41

Carrow Cup 2015

Unseasonably warm weather, but The Carrow Cup is here again. This year on 12th December. For the fifth year Norwich Rowing Club has invited traditional boats to the event and the traditional rowers now have their own division. The first boat will start from Pull's Ferry at 11.30, with the next boat 20 seconds later. The slower boats start first, so if the handicapper has done his sums right, all boats should converge as they approach the finishing line at Whitlingham.

Lower Thames Rowing Club will be attending in force in the hope of retaining the Carrow Cup Bi-centenary trophy, but there will be competition from an expanding fleet of St Ayles Skiffs from Blakeney and King's Lynn, together with local skiffs from Norfolk Skiff Club.

Follow the link for the provisional starting order: https://www.dropbox.com/s/g8axuryo9bjeoi5/Carrow%20Cup%202015%20Starting%20Order%20%28Provisional%29.xlsx?dl=0