Vesta Scullers Head

The Vesta Scullers’ Head is the largest single-division processional single sculls race in the world, and is held over the 4.25 mile championship course from Mortlake to Putney.  First sculled in 1954, this year’s race involved almost 450 scullers, attracting entries from all over the United Kingdom and the world, with standards ranging from internationals to novices, including Junior 18s.

Unusual water conditions affected the 2012 Vesta Scullers Head on Saturday 8th December, with stronger stream for later starters than that experienced by those started earlier, who are normally at an advantage.  The overall winner was 2012 Olympic bronze medal winner, Alan Campbell, with a substantial lead of 19 seconds over the next best sculler.

For those more used to training on the Cam, the sheer scale of the River Thames can be daunting in itself, let alone the complexities of steering a course to make the most of what stream is available!  Congratulations to all the Cantabs scullers who competed.

  • John Hale finished second in the Senior Lightweight category, and placed 65th overall
  • Susanna Holt was third in the Women’s Masters D category
  • Jimmy Adams was 16th out of 44 in the Novice category (which, given that 2nd, 3rd, 5th and 6th places OVERALL went to ‘novice’ scullers is no bad thing!) and proved that after only a couple of months sculling he is in the same region as many of Cambridge’s more established scullers.
  • John Broadbent and Callan Swanson raced the J18 category: Callan put in a pleasing performance to finish 10th (94th overall) and John took away a good deal of learning which will stand him in good stead for future races.

Full (provisional) results are available on the Vesta website.

 

 

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