City of Oxford hosted Isis Sculls, but it was their neighbours Falcon RC, who took the Head of the River title and stole much of the glory, writes John Wiggins.

Of the 200 boats racing upstream over an 1,850m stretch between the aptly named hostelries – the Isis Tavern at Iffley and the Head of the River pub on Folly Bridge – nearly half were on their home water from the two clubs straddling Donnington Bridge.

And the Falcon and City of Oxford entries got value for money, winning 29 of the 48 contested titles, with Falcon having the edge on the City scullers – seven to four – when in direct competition.

The Falcon J16 quad of Josh Simmons, Martin Benfeghoul, Rory Pearce and Joel Garden finished in 6mins 45secsto win the ‘head of the river’ title.

They finshed seven seconds ahead of the host club’s winning J17 double of Will Rogers and Robby Crowther.

Falcon’s Simmons was also successful in the J16 double with Benfeghoul, who had a third win in the J16 single while Crowther took a second title in the J17 single.

City’s hat-trick hero was Natalie Morgan who won the senior IM2 single, the J17 double, with Millie Beaver, and the IM2 double with Rosie Payton, herself a victor in the J18 single.

The club’s other wins were mostly in singles with Robin Voskuil (J18), Jamie Millington (J15) and Barnaby Walls (13).

For the girls, Elise Stretton took the J15, Hanako Takahashi-Johnson the J16 and Brona Ruiseal the J13 event to add to her win in Cambridge the week before.

While most of the City seniors were occupied running the event, the Falcon women’s squad contributed significantly to the tally, not least with the quad of Lil Cochrane, Naomi Sharma, Susie Smith and Alison Salvesen, who won both the IM3 and Masters D events.

Cochrane and Smith added the Masters D double to their tally, while Jane Burgoyne, Aria Johnston, Susie Prince and Jenny Griffiths just beat City of Oxford in the Masters A/B quad.

Falcon had further wins in the boys J15 quad, both boys and girls J15 doubles (Gabe Smith with Ed Sharp and Cicely LoBreglio with Emily Tadesse) as well as the novice double for Tom Hehir and Ben Sips-Avello.

St Edward’s Martyrs sculler Alex Simmonds won the IM3 category. This Teddies alumni club is re-emerging and might be seen a little more in the coming year.

Dragon School, Oxford, dominated the events for J11 and J12 boys, while Wallingford had a win in the Masters G (aged 65 to 70) double.

Abingdon’s Bev Ashton had wins in the Masters A single and, with Nikki Reeves, in the double.