Gold! Peterborough Team wins International Regatta

Mike Davies just posted this great news in the Peterborough Examiner. (Quotes are from his article.)

A  local Peterborough Rowing Club crew bested 58 boats to win gold at one of the largest rowing regattas in the world.
Finishing 34 seconds ahead of a crew from Boston's Union Rowing Club; Mark Basterfield, Brent Holmes, Richard Love, Matt McCarthy and coxswain Candace Cook claimed the men's heavyweight four club championship at the Head of the Charles in Cambridge, Mass. See Full Results HERE.
The Head of the Charles  a 3.2 mile long course contains 6 bridges in total. Renowned for being challenging for crews to navigate without incident or penalty it  attracted 9,000 rowers from around the world this year.
Early on in the race, another crew trying to pass locked oars with them which cost them some time.  Then, in the first mile came the event which kept teams wondering if they had won till all times were posted.
"We had a collision in the first mile and we were pretty sure they were going to get the infraction because they did crash into us," Holmes said. "When you're passing you have the right of way, but we were worried about having a time penalty. The judgement was the other crew impeded us which was the right judgement."
"We were more afraid of losing than we were worried about winning," said Holmes.
After a seventh place finish in last year’s, higher calibre championship division, the crew decided to drop down to the club class.
McCarthy, admitted after this year’s win,  that the championship class was, probably, more their calibre. "It actually wasn't much of a race. We won by a fair bit. There were a lot of crews.”
Still, holding gold at an event of this size is nothing to be sloughed off.
"It's the first time a lot of us have won Head of the Charles, which is good," Holmes said, "but in terms of the calibre of competition it wasn't as significant.
Holmes, a former national under-22 team rower, Basterfield, Love and Cook all row for Trent University. McCarthy, 33, a former national B team rower, continues to row for the PRC.

References: Head of the Charles Regatta (Wikipedia)
Read Mike’s Article that inspired me HERE
Head of the Charles Official Site