Junior rowers make an impression at Regional Regatta

On Saturday six Shrewsbury crews travelled to Nottingham to take part in the Junior Inter Regional Regatta held at the National Watersports Centre.

The crews were selected to represent the West Midlands for this national event. The crews were racing in the J16 8+, WJ16 8+, WJ16 4-, J16 2-, J15 4+ and WJ15 4+. For several of our J15 rowers it was their first experience of multilane sprint racing.

The event saw twelve regions taking part in the age groups J14, J15 and J16. The crews all took part in a heat with the fastest six crews progressing to the A Final and the remaining crews to the B Final. In the J16 Eights event the boys produced a solid row in the heat to secure a place in the A final. In the final they rowed well and came home in fifth place. The WJ16 eights race saw our J15 girls making up the crew. The crew rowed well in the heat but were out gunned against their older opposition and went into the B final. In their final they made great progress from the heat and had a tremendous race against a crew from the Northern region to place third.

The WJ16 coxless four had an impressive row in their heat coming in second and securing a spot in the A final. They were competitive in the A final but pushed into fifth place in the closing stages.

The J16 pair struggled a little with the rough conditions at the start of their heat but settled into a good rhythm further down the course. They placed fourth in their heat and eighth on time to go into the B Final. They had a better row in the B final, placing third.

The J15 fours saw both the boys' and girls' crews produce a strong row in the heat to earn a place in the A final. It was a great result to make the final given their recent introduction to the sport. In the final the girls got off to a slow start in their race and struggled to close the gap and ended sixth place.

The J15 boys four also got off to a slow start but showed great maturity in finding their length and rhythm early despite trailing the pack. Their strong rhythm paid dividends as they clawed back on the field and stroke by stroke inched into the lead. With growing confidence, they kept relaxed and long to build a commanding lead over the field which they maintained in the closing stages to earn a very impressive first place.

Athol Hundermark

Master i/c Rowing