Thanks to Alex for this week’s report from the Shanklin Sandown Rowing Club. Ed
Fours Regatta:
Shanklin Sandown Rowing Club attended the first of the two day event, with four crews for the Fours Regatta with the hope of turning out some promising, if not winning performances.
The club achieved just that on Saturday in the Ladies Novice Fours. The debutant crew of Lisa Robertson, Emma Blowers, Sandy Ciccognani, Amber Pierce and cox Anja Bennett rowed extremely well under the pressure of their first race to win their heat. In the final, they performed equally well, coming away with a third place finish!
In the Men’s Novice Fours category there was another first time race for many of Shanklin’s crew. Richard Pitman, Tom Leaver, Will Allsop, Sam Mabey and cox Rebecca Nigh lined up in their first ever novice fours race. Racing crews twice their age in most cases, they did extremely well to take third place whilst finishing close to the field.
In the Men’s Junior category, Shanklin had two fours entered. The regular A crew of Joe Robertson, Matt Miselbach, Harry Hopper, Harry Miselbach and cox Jamiey Wain faced a tough race, going head to head with Newport A, previous event winners. Despite the tough opposition, the Shanklin crew were holding their own up the course, and it was only in the latter stages of the race that Newport extended to a two length lead to take the victory. The Shanklin boat having done extremely well to come so close to the eventual event winner.
The B crew was a scratch four of Alex Robertson, Henry Gove, Sam Miselbach, Joe Murray and cox Anja Bennett, they controlled their heat from start to finish beating BTC by four lengths, before finishing a close second in their semi final. An excellent result from a crew that has had little time on the water this year.
Small Boats and Junior Regatta:
The return on the Sunday saw the opportunity for Shanklin to take home both of their championships in one day. The close proximity of the races however meant doing so would be tough for Alex Robertson and Joe Murray, who both raced four times in just over an hour.
In the Men’s Junior sculls, Alex Robertson qualified for his final, where his championship rivals proved too good on the flat waters of the River Medina. He will now have to attempt to win at least one of the next four notoriously rough regattas guarantee his championship.
Joe Murray was also single sculling in the Men’s Novice event. Here he took a close heat victory, to put him into the final. In the final he rowed well, and when he was just one length off Newport A in the final two hundred metres, a big push saw him just fall short of the win.
The two then joined forces in the pair, although the championship was all but won as their rivals Southampton weren’t racing, the duo wanted to finish on a high. A heat victory over Newport set the pair up to do just that.
In the final, they led from the start and were looking like firm favourites. A big push from a Poole and some poor rowing from the Shanklin pair lead to a very close finish, but Shanklin were triumphant and with their seventh win of the season, they secured their Hants and Dorset Championship, joining Ryde’s Junior Senior Four as Island champions this year.
Shanklin’s Junior squad had a superb day too. Harry Miselbachs J16 single sculls win was the pick of the bunch. After having victory snatched from him in the last one hundred metres last weekend, Harry made sure that against the same opposition he would not let the win at Newport slip from his grasp, taking a three length victory over BTC.
The Men’s J14 quad raced for the first time at Newport. Andrew Swallow, Lewis Jenkins, Jamie Gamble and Henry Mudge were coxed by Sophie Wrixon. The crew took time to find a rhythm off the start, but soon were rowing well and were very close to chasing down the second placed Poole crew. An excellent effort!
The Ladies J16 scullers Rebecca Nigh and Hannah Cusworth both faced tough opponents in their races. Rebecca raced well to take a convincing second place finish in her race, whilst Hannah Cusworth (who had been made to wait at the top of the course for over an hour) managed to achieve the same result.
In the Men’s J16 Quad race Sam Mabey, Will Allsop, Joe Robertson, Jamiey Wain and cox Sophie Wrixon raced well to take second place in their heat. They raced so well in fact that they took the fastest looser spot to make the final. In the final they raced well from the start, but faded in the latter stages, to take a well earned third place.
In the Ladies J16 Quad Juliette Wrixon, Sophie Swallow, Hannah Cusworth, Amber de Landro and cox Sophie Wrixon raced extremely well in their heat to take third place, only two lengths off the eventual winners Itchen Imperial. Sophie went on to cox that Itchen crew in the final in Shanklins quad, and therefore took home a winners medal!
The regattas were an all round success for the club, with one of two championships now won and the Sunday providing a fantastic opportunity, as it did a year ago, to introduce under 16s to competitive rowing.
The next regatta is on the 19th in Southsea.
