A full weekend of racing on the Medina last weekend brought the Hants & Dorset season to a close.
Newport Rowing Club
A shortened season due to Covid meant crews were still fighting for championships points, which brought a bumper entry into the draw. 250 competitors for the Fours racing on Saturday, and another 150 for juniors and small boats on Sunday.
Success came to the home club on Saturday as Newport’s Junior Men’s Four of Matt Swiss, Toby Batchelor, Ollie Coulson and Luke Knight coxed by Emily Faithfull won their event.
Despite the disadvantage of having to qualify through an extra round of heats and racing the 1500m course 3 times in under 3 hours they had the strength to see off an equally powerful crew from BTC, winning an exciting race by a canvas.
Matt Swiss brought home the Men’s Senior scull for Newport on Sunday with a strong performance to also beat BTC. However, BTC got their own back in the Men’s Junior Pairs event where the home crew and hot favourites of Ollie Coulson and Toby Batchelor came up short at the finish by half a length.
The Newport crew were looking to make a clean sweep of this event on their home course, having won all 6 races in the season so far. A close race all the way down the course saw BTC and Newport vying for the lead. Despite giving everything they had, Newport couldn’t pull back the half a length BTC had over them on the line.
Shanklin Rowing Club
Shanklin Sandown rowing club also had a great finish to the regular season with 3 wins at the 2-day Newport regatta.
The Junior-senior men’s crew compete for the first time this season at a H&D regatta due the crew’s college & university commitments. The crew of Jonjo Findlay, Jamie Gamble, Riley Horrix, Ethan Walters & Yas Wright (Cox) lead from the front to secure a 3-length victory, this after the first race was stopped following a clash.
The Masters 50 crew finished in second behind Christchurch for the second successive regatta, whilst the Novice Ladies four of Roxy Browne, Frances Katewira, Fauve Hooper-Phelps, Damia Robert & Jane Bailey (Cox) and the Men’s Novice crew of Noah Jones, Ashton Shuttleworth, Ollie Hatch & Paul Gamble both had second place finishes in their heats, with the ladies crew competing for the first time in a sweep event.
The small boats and junior event on Sunday produced another 2 wins for the club. Kayleigh Batchelor went into the regatta knowing victory would secure the Ladies Junior sculls championship, and another convincing victory made sure the club ended the season with three H&D championships – Batchelor led from the start and finished 2lengths ahead of her championship rival.
Yasmin Wright finished third in the Ladies Novice sculls final and the regatta also saw the first outings of the season in the single for Jamie Gamble & Rachael Debenham, who both finished in the runners up spot in their respective heats.
The club’s third win came in the mixed J16 quad, with Shanklin also taking the runners up spot. The winning crew of Esme Walters, Alannah Denness, Carter Horrix, Louis Sheasby & Yas Wright (Cox), had a slow start but came through the field to win by two lengths from the club’s second crew.
Ryde Rowing Club
Wightlink-sponsored Ryde Rowing Club were well represented on both days.
On Saturday the Clubs Novice Four A Crew of Paddy Kearney, Callum Hyde, Harry Jones, and Frankie Leftley and coxed by Camon Adams comfortably won their heat but could only manage 3rd place in the final which would have been a disappointment for them. Both the Novice B Crew of Gulley Rhogan, Will Hall, Elliott O’Sullivan and Tom Kerver with Mai MacKay coxing and the C Crew of Yogi Ashworth, Bradley Whiting, Seb McKeown and Dan Sanderson with Otis Ripley coxing finished 2nd in their respective heats failing to make the final.
The Men’s Junior Senior Four of Ben Sanderson, Joel and Austin Smith – both recently recovered from Covid – and with Dale Buckett making a welcome return to competitive rowing with the Club following a Henley Royal regatta outing with his river Club – and with Niamh Murphy coxing – rowed well to finish in 2nd place in their final after a restart.
The ladies Senior Four of Ayesha Russell, Lisa Murphy, Catherine Oatley and Emily Faithfull with Mick Jenner coxing also rowed well but were narrowly defeated in their heat finishing in 2nd place and failing to make the final.
The Ladies Junior Four – off Beth Walpole, Julie Clark – on loan for the season from Newport – Niamh Murphy & Emma Nichols with Camon Adams coxing rowed well but could only finish 3rd in their heat in what was their first competitive outing since promotion to this status.
The Club had more success on the Sunday in the small boat events – with the Ladies Novice Sculler – Ella Nichols winning her heat and the final before going on to race in the Ladies Senior Pairs final with Emily Faithfull which they also won in a very close contest. The Club’s second Ladies Novice Sculler – Niamh Murphy – finished 3rd in her heat.
In the Men’s Novice Sculls there was disappointment for all four of the Ryde Scullers – Austin Smith, Ben Sanderson, Harry Jones and Paddy Kearney who could all only manage 2nd in their respective heats all failing to make the final. There was a better performance for the Clubs Coastal Junior Sculler – Joel Smith – who comfortably won his heat but could only manage 2nd in the final and Senior Sculler Dale Buckett – who had not raced in a scull for two years could only finish 2nd in his heat and a Coastal Junior Pair of Ben Sanderson and Callum Hyde finished 3rd in their heat.
In the J16 event the Clubs Boys J16 Coxed Four of Elliott O’Sullivan, Bradley Whiting, Frankie Leftley and Dan Sanderson with Camon Adams coxing once again won their final reasonably comfortably. This was a particularly impressive performance from Dan Sanderson as he had only just won his J16 Single Sculls heat – and had to compete in the final directly afterwards where it was hardly surprising, he finished in 3rd place.
