Scotland’s Katherine Grainger led her GB squad crew into the semi-finals of the Princess Grace Cup for quadruple scullers at Henley Royal Regatta yesterday.
Racing as a Gloucester-Leander composite to comply with Henley’s peculiar rules, Grainger and her crew-mates of Annie Vernon, Beth Rodford and Anna Watkins were most generous in the way they achieved their comfortable two-and-a-quarter-length win over a composite from Belfast and Carrick-on-Shannon.
Clearly much stronger than their opponents from the Irish development squad, they established an immediate two-length lead off the start.
Then, at a low rating, they sat just ahead down the course rather than blast their way down and embarrass their opposition.
They sharpened their sculling for the last few strokes to win.
Glasgow-born Grainger and her crew now faces Western Rowing Club, from the Canadian squad, in today’s semi-final.
Western enjoyed a length-and-a-half win over the Italian national squad in their quarter-final.
In the same event, Clyde’s Imogen Walsh and her three London crew-mates, who are campaigning to be selected as the GB lightweight quad for this year’s world championship, almost pulled off a shock when they went down by just half a length to the Dutch heavyweight national squad.
The British crew had slipped to a one-length deficit by halfway, but gradually clawed that back.
With the finish line approaching, it could do no more than close the gap to a half-length.
However, this excellent performance will have done its selection prospects no harm at all.
After her race, Grainger reverted to her more formal role as Steward of the Royal Regatta to welcome a visit by the Princess Royal and host her for lunch.