Having only started back in training in September, October was the squad's first chance to race in some head races. First up was the Veteran double of Slavo and Keith, who following last summers wins at National and Henley Vets, were hoping to complete the treble by winning Veteran D doubles in the pairs head. Keith was keen to have a warm-up race so the double entered the Wallingford Long Distance Sculls the weekend before. Despite some adventurous steering, involving at least two bushes and a 5 second penalty for going the wrong side of a buoy, they recorded the first win of the new season in Vet D doubles. In the second division they both raced in singles and first blood for the year went to Slavo who was 6 seconds quicker.
The next day Tom Bloomfield went with the Junior squad to take on the twisty course at Maidstone. Tom starting in front of another good junior from Shoreham, kept the gap ahead of his rival and eventually beat him by one second to win the Junior singles event. (The fastest sculler overall was a junior from Maidstone, so he won the fastest single and was thus luckily ineligible for the junior title).
For the pairs head, with Alex and David unavailable, we entered Jon and Paul in senior 3 along with the Vet D double. The tideway in London was in a gentle mood and the race had flat conditions all the way, despite a bit of a headwind in the last 2 minutes. The senior 3 double had a steady race, with Jon steering very well around the long first bend and their time made them a respectable 70th out of the 213 doubles that raced. Further down the start order the veteran D doubles were led off with a clear course by our main rivals Poplar. Whilst Keith had to steer his way through three other doubles down the course. Both doubles looked good and with a large gap between them Mostyn could only predict that it would be close, but maybe he didnt expect it to be quite as close as it turned out. In the final results Ardingly had won Vet D doubles by just 0.7 seconds over a 14 minute course. Also their time was only 1 second slower than Jon and Paul's. Completing the Ardingly team were Tim and Oli who produced a good row to finish as the third fastest Veteran D coxless pair. 
So Keith and Slavo now hold the three major national titles that its possible to win in their age group; National Veteran Champions, Henley Veteran winners and The Pairs Head winners.
Nearly the whole squad raced on Saturday 21st at the 50th running of the Weybridge Silver Sculls, braving the strong stream, blustery headwind and heavy downpours. David Law and Alex were back to lead off the team and raced in senior 3 doubles in the first division. Going off third and surrounded by Walton doubles on their home stretch, Alex settled into a solid rhythm at 29. David was steering well but the Walton doubles, with their local knowledge were all tucked much closer under the bank. David then got Balcombe through the difficult inside arch of Walton Bridge and having rowed the first half more steadily than their opposition they were able to take distance off them all, in the second half of the course. Last year they had finished 14th in this race and Mostyn's target this year was to win Senior 3 and finish in the top three. The results were pretty quick in being published and they were the fastest double in division 1, so we then had to wait 3.5 more hours for the next doubles division. In the final results not only had they won Senior 3 doubles but they were the fastest double overall out of the 100 that finished. To actually win the doubles at a major Thames small boats head is a big step up for the club.
Also racing in the first division were two novice doubles, consisting of David Avery and Pete followed by Richard and Mark. Both were wide coming up to the bridge and thus had no choice but to take the middle arch. Following a good training session the previous weekend Pete's double were a bit disappointed with their row which eventually placed them 30th and 3rd in novice doubles, whilst Richard and Mark were just in the top half at 48th. The second division was for single scullers and it was a rather tired Alex and David who went back out again to fight the stream and headwind again in senior 3 singles. Joining them were Tom in senior 4 and Bob, in his first race for many years, racing as Veteran E. With the course taking so long all of them sculled steadily without ever really racing it. Alex was fastest and Tom was only 12 seconds behind David, and Bob was quite pleased with his performance and new levels of fitness.
The third division was back to doubles, with Jon and Paul racing senior 3, Keith and Slavo in Veteran and David Avery and Pete going round again, this time as Veteran Novice. The marshalling was held in a torrential downpour, with the headwind still blowing hard. David got his double through the inside arch this time (as did Keith) and they thought they had gone faster in their second row. The times showed otherwise, however the double in front of them, that they took about 15 seconds off were given a time 28 seconds faster than them, so one of those times is wrong. Jon and Paul lost to the two senior 3 doubles in front of them by 11 and 1 seconds, so only need a small improvement to be competitive at this level. Keith and Slavo had a very solid row and were very close in time to much younger doubles, if the organisers had combined the age groups this would have been our second win but they decided to save some money on prizes!
Finally the 4th division for single sculls, had Jon and David Phillips racing in Veteran B and Veteran novice. Jon using his new blades and having just raced in the double put in a solid (if low rating) performance. The wind had abated giving this division approximately 1 minutes advantage and Jon took his chance to finish as the fastest Ardingly sculler on the day. David Phillips had an epic adventure and packed more into his hour on the water than is normally considered possible, in the end he was only 36 seconds off winning his event.
With a large junior team racing and the overall win it was a very good day out on the Thames, despite the conditions.
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