Shanklin Sandown Rowing Club attended the final regatta of the Hants and Dorset ARA season in Southampton at the weekend.
The regatta, hosted by BTC Rowing Club was due to be held at Western Shore as it usually is, however a last minute location change due to the weather forecast saw the racing take place at Coalporters Rowing Club with all single sculls and pairs races removed from the programme to ensure the regatta was completed on time.
The racing began with the only surviving single sculls event of the day. The regatta organisers agreed that Alex Robertson’s Mens Senior Sculls event would take place given that the overall championship was still undecided. Alex faced his championship rival Mark Wardell in a must win heat to keep his championship hopes alive, with his competitor leading the standings 5-4 going into the final race. Despite a strong start, poor steering and seemingly tired legs saw Alex miss out the race win, thus failing to win the championship and ensured Shanklin’s wait for a first ever male senior champion continues.
Not 2 races later, the Ladies’ Junior Four took to the water in a tough heat against home club BTC. The crew featured Stella Gamble, Hannah Cusworth, Emily Andre, Daisy Faithfull and cox Ethan Walters. A good start saw a close race towards the buoy turn with BTC, however the Southampton based crew pushed on throughout their return leg and took a 3 length victory over Shanklin.
There was a bit more luck for the Men’s Junior Four in their heat – Joe Robertson, Henry Mudge, Jamie Gamble, Harry Miselbach and cox Alex Robertson also faced BTC in their heat, with a crew from Coalporters taking the final spot. The crew took their time to get into the race and sat in third place for much of the first half of the race, before powering on through the buoy turn and return leg to take a strong, perfectly executed victory along with a place in the final. In the final, the crew had an excellent start and were well in the race that also featured Poole and Deal. A poor turn however put them on the back foot for the return leg and despite closing the gap to race winners Poole, it wasn’t enough to overhaul the lead, as they finished second.
The club had entered the second largest contingent of any club on the day, however many of the club’s entries fell foul to the reduced programme, thus leaving only 3 events on the day for the club. Shanklin now look forward to the season finale at the South Coast Rowing Championships at Herne Bay in 2 weeks time.
Featured photo: Men’s Junior Four
