ISLE of Wight rowing clubs competed in the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships (NJIRC) in London and the Head of Stour in Dorset at the weekend.
The NJIRC was held at The Copper Box Arena on Friday (March 3), followed by the Head of Stour on Sunday, which featured a two-mile time trial-style race.
Shanklin-Sandown Rowing Club had two junior debutants return home from the NJIRC with medals — and new personal best times.
Ella Haydon took home gold in the Year 8 girl’s event, while there was a bronze medal finish for Fred Giemza-Pipe, competing in the Year 12 boy’s race.
There were also top ten finishes for Louis Sheasby and Carter Horrix, who came fourth and seventh respectively in the Year 10 boy’s race, and for Frances and Beth Katirewa in their events.
In Dorset, Sheasby and Horrix won the J16 double sculls race, recording the fastest time of any double sculls crew of any status competing on the day.
Meanwhile, the Katirewa sisters secured the runners-up spot in the ladies’ pairs, with the club’s new J14 quad of Annabelle Steward, Immy Burfitt, Layla Katirewa and Ella Haydon having a solid row.
Ryde Rowing Club also travelled to Dorset to compete, with its coastal junior pair, Will Hall and Paddy Kearney, comfortably winning their section.
The club also had a men’s novice four in Division One, comprising Matthew and Lars Goothius, Isaac Gibson and Charlie Watts, with Mai McKay coxing, who also won their event.
Bradley Whiting and Dan Sanderson finished fifth and sixth in their Coastal Notice single scullers section.
In Division Two, Ryde’s coastal junior four of Matt Chalmers, Bradley Whiting, Will Hall and Paddy Kearney, with McKay coxing again, finished third.
Finishing second in the men's coastal novice four was Sanderson, Gibson, Watts and Theo Williams, making his competitive debut for Ryde, coxing.
Newport Rowing Club juniors, Connor Garner and Boris Hare, represented their school, Christ the King College, at the NJIRC.
Garner finished fourth with a personal best in the 2,000m, and Hare, competing at the event for the first time, finished a respectable 49th in a field of 128.
Both juniors were back in action on Sunday for the Head of Stour, along with William Loveday-Powell and Atur Rozvodovski, with Marianna Hare coxing, who missed out on first place in the J16 quad by less than a second.
It was a brilliant result for Atur, who has been rowing for just two months since leaving Ukraine.
In the second division, Hare, Loveday-Powell and Garner were joined by masters rower Chris Clarke in the men’s novice event, finishing fourth.
Newport fielded a Masters women’s crew for the first time in its history, with Julie Clarke, Julia Coulson, Jo Hand and Fran Ladd, coxed by Nick Salter, rowing in the coastal quad, also finishing fourth.
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