What is harder than rock or softer than water? Yet hard rock is hollowed out by soft water. Only Persevere.  ~ Ovid.

 HTBS’s Greg Denieffe writes,

Overlooking the course at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham, is the above artistic structure consisting of eight crossed oars bound together with a winding river on which the above quotation appears.

Normally this is a metaphor for those of us who have witnessed the National Watersports Centre when the wind blows, which it does a lot, or so it seems, when the course plays host to some of the biggest regattas in the calendar. On Saturday, 27 July, the 51st Home International Regatta was held there in glorious sunshine, and what little breeze that did blow only served to cool the thirsty spectators who were left wondering if the bar would ever open!

As for the rowing, England dominated even more than they normally do, winning all four team events and 26 of the 34 races actually contested. Wales won four events with Scotland and Ireland sharing the remaining four. All the results are available here.

If Ovid could pick a single rower that encompasses all that the above quotation is, then that person would be Claire Connon. Selected for the England team in the WAS1x, she found that none of the other countries had entered and that she would have to row-over to claim victory. On Saturday morning her specially adapted car broke down and she had to take a taxi from her home in Cambridgeshire to Nottingham to compete. It was no surprise that she received the day’s warmest round of applause as she crossed the finish line in the last race before lunch.