Another successful regatta for Shanklin Sandown Rowing Club

Alex shares this latest report from Shanklin Sandown Rowing Club. Ed

Shanklin Sandown Rowing Club enjoyed a successful day at Swanage Regatta at the weekend – the eighth regatta of the season.

Swanage Town regatta is run every year by the Hants & Dorset, being the only regatta not hosted by a club, it takes considerable organisation by Hants & Dorset volunteers, who once again pulled off a fantastic regatta.

Three length victory
The first race of the day saw Alex Robertson lining up in the Men’s Senior Sculls final. Alex had a strong start and quickly ran clear of the rest of the field along side Itchen’s Mark Wardell. A good buoy turn saw Alex take the race lead on the return leg and held this lead right through to the finish to take a three length victory and level the championship table with Wardell at three wins each.

Following Alex down the course was the J16 quad. The crew of Ethan Walters, Joe Robertson, Jamie Gamble, Emily Faithfull and cox Juliette Wrixon had a great row to take fourth place.

Joe Robertson and Jamie Gamble then both went on to row in the Men’s Novice Sculls heats. Joe had a good start in his race, but the race came back to him and he was unable to qualify for the final. Jamie, in heat two had a good row in his Novice Sculls debut, staying well in the race throughout, but he too was unable to qualify.

Junior rowers
Then came the turn of the club’s Junior fours, as both a Men’s and Ladies crew took the water in their respective events. In the Ladies race, Lisa Robertson, Hannah Cusworth, Juliette Wrixon, Anja Bennett and cox Ethan Walters continued on from their row in the previous week to once again put in a strong performance, but couldn’t quite qualify for the final.

In the Men’s event, Joe Robertson, Harry Hopper, Jaimey Wain, Jamie Gamble and cox Anja Bennett had a storming row in their heat, taking a very close second place to qualify for the final. In the final they had a great start and were second into the turns, but with three races in some of the crew’s legs and a lack of time in the boat together contributed to them slipping away on the return, taking fifth place eventually…a fantastic achievement for the scratch crew!

The club also had two pairs entered on the day. Juliette Wrixon and Hannah Cusworth went afloat for the Ladies Junior Pairs final. In an unfavourable lane they rowed well to stay in the race and eventually come home in a very respectable fourth place.

In the Men’s Senior Pair, Alex Robertson and Matt Miselbach went onto the water having not been together in a boat since last season. Nevertheless they had a good row and in a close finish with Lymington just missed out on a place in the final.

Junior scullers
Both of the club’s Junior scullers also raced at Swanage. Daisy Faithfull showed she’s starting to develop the nous for Junior sculls as she had a great start and turn to push Newport’s Anna Webb right to the line, beating BTC scullers in the process to take second place, her best result of the season.

Harry Miselbach then went afloat, hoping to avenge his heartbreaking result from the week before. With a strong start Harry quickly piled the pressure onto BTC and Ryde as all three scullers went into the buoys level. On the return it was BTC’s Adam Ratcliffe who started to move away from Harry and Dale Bucket of Ryde and eventually took a three length win, with Harry just being pipped to second by a canvas.

Final race of the day
Having won the first race of the day, the club went into the final race of the day hoping to be the book ends of the regatta programme!

The Mixed Four contained Emily Faithfull, Harry Miselbach, Alex Robertson, Daisy Faithfull and cox Anja Bennett. With a slow start, the crew found themselves down on many of the outside crews. However, the four started to slowly push through the Westover and Poole boats as they came into the turns. A fantastic turn from Anja and the crew saw Shanklin lead by three lengths out of the turn and they never looked back, sitting on their lead in a commanding display to the line!