Race partners reunite in Nottingham after over 50 years at the British Rowing Masters Championships 

Mark and John won a medal at Holme Pierrepont Country Park in 1973 – they reunited in 2025, with Mark racing and John volunteering at the Championships

“I was looking for the Tyne Amateur Rowing Club crews when ‘Exeter Alumni’ caught my eye on the crew list. I looked down and saw ‘M. Venn’ and thought, hang on, I know him!” John Martin Mulholland said on discovering that his university crewmate was racing at the Masters Championships in Nottingham.

Half a century after graduating, Mark Warren Venn was back racing in Exeter green this weekend. “I’m 73, pushing 74. Next year I’m going up to Masters I – this is my last attempt at H!”

“I’m 71, so much younger than Mark!” John added.

“It’s nice to represent the old university again. John and I met in 1972 – I went to Exeter in 1971 and John joined a year later. We raced in an Eight and a Four together in his first year. Our eight was very good, our Four was the second Four when the Eight split – it was reasonable. We won a medal here at the British University Championships in 1973.”

“We also had a very good performance in the Head of the River Race in 1973.” John remembers. “We placed 23rd – for a provincial university, that was really good. Our first Four were the beaten finalists in the Visitors’ at Henley Royal Regatta – we raced too, but didn’t do quite as well. We enjoyed it a lot – it was great fun.”

“We made a lot of good friends at university that have lasted over the years.”

“We also won Head of the Exeter Canal. About two thirds of the way through the course you have to go through a bridge which is too narrow to keep your oars out, so you have to ship oars. And it’s too low to sit up – so you have to duck too. We got it absolutely cleanly, but we heard Bryanston School thud along behind us. Bryanston now train on that stretch. They’ve definitely won one since then.”

Mark raced in the Open H Single Sculls, placing 5th. “I’ve raced at the British Masters before – in fact, my claim to fame is that I raced here whilst the course was still being built! Today my hope is just to get down the course.”

Gold went to ex-GB squad member Robert Milligan, who was part of the eight that reached the final and finished 5th at the 1977 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam.

“He generally beats me.” Mark remarked cheerfully before his race.

“He generally beats everyone.” John added. “He’s never stopped since he raced for GB. I raced him ten years ago and he beat me too!”

John isn’t currently rowing competitively, but he’s still deeply involved in the sport. “This weekend I’m umpiring and driving umpires. Usually, I’m coaching juniors at Tyne Amateur Rowing Club and I’m safety advisor for the region. I think I do more work now volunteering in rowing than I did when I was paid to work!”

The Exeter University Alumni group was formed by a contemporary of Mark two years ago. “We got together and thought – we ought to do some rowing together.” Since then it has grown, with alumni from before Mark and John’s time all the way down to recent graduates meeting up together at events like Henley Royal Regatta to swap stories. “They have a race where the alumni compete against the current eight. They haven’t invited me into the crew yet!”

“We all have children and grandchildren now,” John said.

Mark added: “We made a lot of good friends at university that have lasted over the years.”

Find full results and photos from the British Rowing Masters Championships here