National trials success for Evesham’s junior boys

Posted on February 25, 2008 | Filed under Rowing

Evesham’s top junior rowers excelled at National Trials last week with two Evesham pairs coming in the top three.

National Trials, held in Boston, Lincolnshire, are the first step on the way to selection for this year’s Junior World Championships in Austria, or the Junior European Championships (the Coupe de la Jeunesse) to be held in Ireland. Junior hopefuls row in single sculls or pairs over a 5km course on the River Witham at Boston.

Four boys from Evesham achieved scores on the indoor rowing machines which qualified them to trial at Boston. The club sent two pairs consisting of Oli Staite and Rory Sullivan in one boat and Will Tew and Josh Pendry in the other. On the first day of trials Sullivan and Staite rowed the 5km course in 20.19 minutes and came within a whisker of first place, just 0.8 of a second behind the first placed crew from King’s College School, London. Tew and Pendry rowed a time of 20.24 minutes and came in third place. 

On the Sunday of trials all crews were swapped around, to allow selectors to assess different combinations of athletes. This time Staite was paired with Pendry and Sullivan with Tew. The boys have not trained in these combinations but still managed to notch up top 10 placings.

The four boys are part of the performance squad of nine boys who rowed for Great Britain at last year’s GB-France Match. The performance boys squad recently won Wychavon Sports Team of the Year and has gone through to the Herefordshire & Worcestershire Team of the Year Award, to be held next week. The whole squad is in training for the National Schools Head of the River Race on the Thames on 4th March, where they will be rowing an eight. Other Evesham junior crews will also be representing the club at the National Scullers Head of the River on 3rd March.

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