Superb girls smash course record

Posted on February 14, 2008 | Filed under Rowing

EVESHAM Rowing Club’s junior 14 girls coxed quad were in top form at the Wycliffe Head of the River race recently when they smashed the course record - knocking 38 seconds off the previous best time.
The crew of Laura Attwood, Julia Davies, Olivia Walklett and Natasha Bradley (coxed by Zoe Thomas) rowed the 4.5km course in 19.53 minutes, well ahead of their nearest rivals from Avon County who rowed the course in 20.34 minutes.
The junior 14 boys crew of Andre Roberts, Ed Surman, Lewis Giles and Robert Bonham (coxed by John Rowland) picked up a silver medal for their race as they rowed the course in 18.09 minutes, seven seconds behind a crew from Shrewsbury School.
In the junior 15 race a strong field of nine entrants gave the Evesham crew of Lawrence Sullivan, Jamie Sellick, Dominic Murphy and Henry House (cox Jack Lazenby) a tough row but the boys completed the course in 18.08 minutes which gave them fourth place.
Evesham’s juniors are in training for several national events and the club looks forward to a successful spring, after another flood in January set back training schedules for several weeks.
l Several Evesham RC crews tasted success at Northampton’s Head of the Nene meeting recently.
While the sun shone, conditions on the water were challenging with a strong headwind that proved tricky for steering over the 1,800m course.
There was success for the J13 boys quadruple sculls of Alex Russell, Ross McIlldowie, Wil Taylor and Jack Steele (cox Dan Barnes), who beat crews from Oundle and Northampton in a time of nine minutes, 20 seconds to claim their first ever pots.
The boys then split, for the J13 double sculls, with Ross and Wil winning, despite being given a good race by Alex and Jack.
The WJ14 double scullers Natasha Bradley and Zena Tredell won their event in some style despite the wind and strong flow, increasing their lead all the time to cross the finish line well ahead of the rest of the field in nine minutes, 14 seconds.
Unfortunately it was not the day for the girls’ quadruple scull. Despite a tidy row that bodes well for the future, the crew struggled to settle after a last minute substitution as one of the girls took an unplanned swim!
The J17 boys coxless quad comprising Dan Barnes, Huw Davies, Terry MacDonald and Tom Leighton rowing up at Senior 4 clocked the fastest time over the course, a credible 8:36, but were pipped to first place by a women’s crew from the home club, after a handicap had been added to the boys’ time for the mixed event.
At Senior 4 Paul Hoy claimed top spot, winning in a strong field of scullers, whilst doubles partner Dave Lynes did not fare quite so well in his Novice sculls event, choosing instead to take an unplanned dip in the chilly river Nene.
Abi Penrose won in good form, 45 seconds ahead of her nearest rival from Guildford, in the women’s combined Novice/Senior four event.
There was third place for Stacey Allen, just three seconds off second, despite racing her first singles race against three scullers a status above her.
These two then went against each other in the WJ18 event, Penrose chasing all the way down the course, before putting in a fantastic push with 350m to go to overtake, giving her the well deserved first place.
David Pollard and Tony Rowland rowed in good style, but had to be content with fourth place in the men’s veteran D/C double sculls.
David then teamed up with wife Pauline, for the Mixed Senior 3/ Veteran D doubles event, where they put up a fine sculling demonstration, clocking a time of 9:42, to come second in the event.

Comments are closed.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 14th, 2008 at 7:04 pm and is filed under Rowing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.