Alex shares this latest report from Shanklin Sandown Rowing Club. Ed
Shanklin Sandown Rowing Club headed to Western Shore for the second time this season as BTC Rowing Club hosted the tenth Hants and Dorset Regatta of the season. With just one win needed to secure the club’s second championship of the season and some other very promising opportunities, hopes were high at the start of the day!
Men’s Novice Sculls
The club’s first races of the day featured Joe Robertson and Jamie Gamble in the Men’s Novice Sculls heats. Joe headed out onto the water for the first heat in what would prove to be the calmest water of the day.
Joe had his typically fast start to put him into the race lead – however, unlike in previous races Joe sat on his lead excellently and controlled his lead from start to finish earning a place in the final comfortably.
Jamie quickly hopped in the boat for his race and he too had a great start that saw him secure his qualifying spot by the half way point in the race, easing home in fourth place.
The boys would be unlucky with the scheduling of the regatta however as their final was straight after the Men’s Junior Fours final. Despite this, Joe saw himself challenging for the race win at the buoy turns, with only a length separating the Shanklin sculler and the leader from Itchen.
Jamie at this point had slipped towards the back of the race, struggling in the very choppy conditions. Joe too struggled towards the end of the race as the race went away from him in the final few hundred metres and he had to settle for second.
Men’s Senior Pair
The Men’s Senior Pair would also have an early heat. As conditions began to get choppy very early on in the day, the Shanklin crew had a strong race to earn a heat victory with plenty left in the tank.
In the final, the conditions were significantly worse and the Shanklin duo of Alex Robertson and Joe Evans Murray struggled to stay in touch with leaders Itchen on the row towards the turn.
Despite being three lengths down out of the turn, the Shanklin boat rowed the Southampton-based crew down on the return leg, but ran out of room before being able to challenge the championship winners, missing out by two lengths.
The pair was quickly back afloat as Daisy and Emily Faithfull looked to secure their Hants and Dorset title with a win on the course where they had secured their fourth only a few weeks prior.
In a somewhat chaotic race, the sisters did well to stay out of the crashes and once again rowed themselves into an early race lead. Not letting their foot off the gas they navigated their turn successfully and rowed the return leg in dominant fashion to secure a deserved win and their championship winning point!
Daisy was out on the water shortly afterwards in the Ladies Junior Sculls final and was joined by Anja Bennett on the start line. Daisy had the better start of the two and clearly had the bit between her teeth having missed out on the win for the first time this season at Southsea.
Rowing in a commanding fashion Daisy came home to take another win with Anja having a good race in her first single sculling race this season.
Men’s Senior Sculls
Sculling was also on the cards this week for Alex Robertson and Joe Evans Murray as they lined up for the Men’s Senior Sculls final. Both scullers got off well and moved into the leading pack of scullers.
As the race headed in to the turn Alex had eased out in to the race lead in the choppy conditions, with Joe not far behind. A poor turn however and difficult row back saw Alex slip into third place, with Joe coming home in eighth.
Ladies Junior Four
The Ladies Junior Four faced a long wait for their straight final as they went afloat in the early afternoon. After some promising weeks of training the crew of Mia Phelan, Lisa Robertson, Stella Gamble, Anja Bennett and cox Ethan Walters had a fantastic start that saw them move into a strong third place in the race.
As the race wore on the crew slipped away from the top of the race but rowed exceptionally well in the tough, choppy waters to take sixth place.
Men’s Junior Four
The Men’s Junior Four this week featured Joe Robertson, Jamie Gamble, Matt Miselbach, Harry Miselbach and cox Ethan Walters. A comfortable performance in the heat saw them qualify for the final in second place.
In the final, they faced their usual opposition of Itchen and Bournemouth at the top of the race. The championship winners Itchen proved once again to be too fast for the rest of the race, with Shanklin this time missing out to Bournemouth by just a length, taking third place.
J16 Mixed Four
The final race of the day for the club was the J16 Mixed Four. Mia Phelan, Sophie Atkin, Ethan Walters, Emily Faithfull and cox Anja Bennett had been due to row at the start of the day but due to unforeseen circumstances a member of the crew wasn’t at the regatta in time for the race.
BTC very kindly moved the race and the crew found themselves on the start line in one of the final races of the regatta. Despite rowing out in to the lead, the crew were unable to capitalise on this strong start as strong rows from Ryde and Christchurch saw them move through the Shanklin boat over the 1000 metre course, with the rowers in blue coming home third.
The club would like to thank BTC for hosting another excellent regatta and being very accommodating in moving races to ensure we were able to put all of our entries afloat.
Image: Main pic: Daisy and Emily Faithfull, Ladies Junior Pair Winners / Single Sculler Joe Robertson / Single sculler Daisy Faithfull
