Richard Kirkland salutes Cambridge 99 Rowing Club performance at Fours Head

First crews make good progress

Richard Kirkland is eagerly anticipating the forthcoming season for Cambridge 99 Rowing Club after an impressive performance at the annual Head of the River Fours.

A week after the men’s squad won most of their categories at the Norfolk Sculls, the first boat maintained the momentum.

Will Young, Nick Thorn, Karel Kabelik and Adam Wright completed the course in 19min 47sec to finish seventh – 28th overall – in a category that also included Leander and Oxford Brookes.

Nines had four other crews competing, and their respective times were 21.52.1, 21.55.6, 23.37.8 and 24.16.5.

The successful theme continued in the women’s squad as their first boat – the Lions – of Abbey Child, Linda Kitching, Laura Bowden, Guinevere Woolstenhulme and cox David Gubb finished in 24.13.9.

Cheetah cox Michael Foulkes managed to guide his crew despite broken steering as the Nines’ other boats finished in 24.14.8, 24.56.7 and 25.23.8.

Club captain Kirkland said: “This is the first of the major national events we will attend this season and with the strong base we have developed in the club, entering nine crews overall and a record 28th place finish for our fastest crew out of the near-500 crews entered, we look forward to the rest of the season with optimism.”