Bedford and Star rowers enjoy success at World Masters
Rowers from Star Club and Bedford Rowing Club finished second overall at the World Rowing Masters Regatta earlier this month
It鈥檚 a long time since Bedford鈥檚 rowing clubs have produced world class masters crews. In March 2018, Star Club鈥檚 Kevan Armstrong kicked off a campaign to create the UK鈥檚 most powerful male masters鈥 squad. Eighteen months later, after moulding 28 athletes from and , the squad has returned from the FISA World Rowing Masters Regatta on Lake Velence in Hungary with a haul of gold medals from five event wins and second place in the overall Victor Ludorum to Ushakov Rowing from Moscow.
A total of 740 clubs from 52 countries 鈥 including over 80 from the UK聽鈥 made the journey to the course 50km from Budapest, competing over five days.
Bedford rowers won gold medals in the following categories: men鈥檚 C and F eights plus the F, G and H coxed fours with Lenny Robertson collecting four gold medals while Kevan Armstrong, Richard White and steersman Ben Cox returned home with three gold medals each.
Dom Hawes, Star Club Captain and gold-medal winner, said: 鈥淭his result shows how much strength in depth Kevan has created.
鈥淭he road to Budapest has been long but results like this make the hard yards worth it. Most of us put our lives on hold to commit to the training regime and we鈥檝e been lucky in the support we鈥檝e had from our families. Kevan has been a truly inspirational leader: he鈥檚 taken 30 ordinary people and turned us into world beaters.
鈥淭he atmosphere at the event was electric and it was good to catch up with so many rowing friends from around the world,鈥 added Dom. 鈥淭he event was organised superbly even if the lake was a little bit of a hike from the team hotel.鈥
Kevan has been a truly inspirational leader: he鈥檚 taken 30 ordinary people and turned us into world beaters
Bedford Star鈥檚 campaign began with two wins in the Veteran Fours Head and was followed up by two wins in the Vesta Veterans Head four months later. In June, the combined squad stormed the British Rowing Masters Championships in Strathclyde Park, securing the Victor Ludorum and went on to win three eights classes at Henley Masters. As Budapest beckoned, training consistency was hard to achieve.
Kevan said: 鈥淲e鈥檝e had an astonishing year beyond my wildest dreams. Getting back up and running after Henley Masters was hard, but we achieved it even though I think we lost a bit of form before the Worlds. Bedford and Star both supported my vision and I鈥檓 delighted that we delivered.鈥
The celebrations are about to begin 鈥 the squad is inviting the whole club to a Hungarian dinner at Star next week.
You can chart Bedford Star鈥檚 road to Budapest .
Read more about the Bedford rowers in the latest edition of Rowing & Regatta magazine.
