West Norfolk coxless quad sets new course record for class

The Great Ouse Marathon is currently the biggest annual racing event at West Norfolk Rowing Club.This British Rowing race is run by Isle of Ely Rowing Club, and the launch is hosted by WNRC.The first Sunday of September sees the river and banks at Denver Sluice teeming with rowing boats and rowers from all over the country, taking on the 22-kilometre timed head race from WNRC to Ely.There were competitors from as far afield as Glasgow, Devon, Newcastle, Kent and Shrewsbury.ome were in single sculls transported on their car, others were in doubles or crews of fours or eights and came with many of their club members and a trailer full of racing boats.This year there were over 140 boats entered, with more than 260 rowers competing.Many volunteers from WNRC were on hand from early morning to welcome and direct the arriving crews, and the area around Denver Sluice was busy with boat-rigging and pre-race preparations. Provision was also made for adaptive participation. With safety boats and BR umpires in place, the boats were set off one at a time to race towards Ely.The conditions were favourable, and existing records were there to be challenged.WNRC had four crews taking part. Claire Murphy and Liz Palmer set off in their singles in an early wave, racing in W. MasC.1x and W. MasF.1x categories respectively.This was Claire’s first race for WNRC, and she finished in 2hr 3 mins, matching her personal best time for this event, but with a much better experience. Palmer had intended to race in a double, but her crewmate was forced to withdraw late through injury, so she made the bold decision to race on her own.Her impressive time of 1 hour 54 minutes was a testament to her determination and fitness, with a second-place place finish, only just short of the previous W.MasF.1x course record. It is ten years since Palmer saw this event while walking at Denver Sluice and was inspired to take up rowing.Racing in a coxless quad for WNRC was the Open Masters E crew of Simon Prior, Ron Rusman, Andy Cockayne and Robert John.They had a good race, finishing with a great time of 1 hr 39 mins, but with Yare and IoERC men’s crews pushing them into third place this year.The WN Mixed Masters G coxless quad of Terry Mansfield, Catherine Coppinger, Angela Holford and Alistair Mackie found they had no direct category competition on the day. But they set a new course record for their class, taking an impressive 38 minutes off the previous Mx.MasG.4x- record set in 2019.The average age of a Masters G crew is between 65 and 70 years old.Coppinger also set a new category course record with a different crew at last year’s GOM, having only taken up rowing when she retired.As she said, “It’s never too late to try a new sport.”The day was a celebration of rowing, with WNRC new members helping out for the first time, and maybe tempted to take on the ‘GOM’ themselves next year.West Norfolk RC runs Learn to Row courses in the Spring, with information and a waiting list from wnrc.club@gmail.com