We had entered Senior 4 in the afternoon, but there was no opposition, so we took an available slot in Senior 2 instead. This was going to be difficult, but times in this event can be very similar to Senior 3 times, so it was worth having a go.

The first round was against Exeter, a crew that we had narrowly beaten at Coate. The crew did not know it, but Exeter had equipment problems at Coate, and were rather faster than their performance in that event had indicated.

There was a good crowd of supporters on the bridge for the race, and we were all perplexed when we saw Monkton start somewhere in the bushes, and go straight into the Exeter crew. There was a clash of blades, and Monkton came off very much the worse from the incident, never recovering. They came in about two lengths behind Exeter. An appeal from the Captain made correctly on the water was unheeded, so the crew came off the water having lost, with their appeal ignored.

The Captain was not going to put up with that! He went to the coordinating Umpire, and lodged a protest. The crew had been started when the cox's hand was still up; they were hardly on the course, crooked, and certainly not ready. The Coordinating Umpire tried to contact the Starter by radio, without success, so he took the very unusual step of allowing the appeal, and ordering a re-row. Meanwhile, the Exeter crew had been approached, and even they thought the start had been unfair. They willingly said they would re-row.

The position in the Monkton camp was not as simple! While the Captain had been making the appeal, the crew had started to take the boat apart for loading; one man had hurt his wrist in the clash of oars incident, and in general the crew had switched out of racing mood. Whilst most were happy to re-row, others were against it. The decision was left entirely to the Captain, with no helpful advice or directing by the coach. The Captain immediately agreed to the re-row, and the crew quickly put riggers back on for the second attempt. It was a long shot, and perhaps all realised it was, but the crew went out to have another go. The result was a loss by about one and a half lengths, but we rowed well against the strong Exeter crew. Several member of the Monkton crew thanked the Captain for taking the decision to re-row, somewhat against the wishes of the crew. It had been worth it.

We were supported throughout the day by parents and grand-parents, who provided food and encouragement which were much appreciated. It was a pity that we didn't come home with prizes. Hereford used to be a relatively easy place to win, but no more so.

The coach remembered taking his very first Monkton 1st VIII to Hereford in 1970, when they won Novice VIIIs. This occasion was a success in some ways, but caused the coach to promise himself that he would never enter a Monkton 1st VIII for a Novice event again. The 2004 VIII is a Novice VIII, but a Novice win would not be satisfying, even if it might sound like success. The 2004 crew will not be entered for Novices!

Coach : J M Bewick