ISLAND ROWERS COME TOGETHER FOR AUTUMN TIME TRIAL SERIES

With the rowing season effectively cancelled this year and any mainland competition unlikely for the foreseeable future, rowers from across the Island took part in the first Autumn time trials series on the River Medina on Saturday.

A joint venture between Newport, Ryde and Shanklin Rowing Clubs, this COVID-friendly event saw 20 crews competing across 2 divisions over a 1,000 metre course, racing a variety of river and coastal boats, in a range of combinations and age.

The fastest crews of the day were the Ryde J15 Coastal crew of David Baer, Freddie Giezma-Pipe, Frankie Leftley, Dan Sanderson and Caymen Adams (Cox), closely followed by Shanklin’s Masters Double Scull crew of Gary Burch and Kev Faithfull and Newport’s Novice Sculler Matt Whishaw.

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For many crews, it was their first taste of competitive racing. However, with a range of boat types and classes, the main concept of the event is to provide all crews with benchmark times from which they can improve throughout the racing series.