Shanklin Sandown Rowing Club had a successful regatta on Saturday on the River Itchen, despite losing the overall lead in their remaining championship event.
The day saw a large entry for the club, with all rowers performing well and leaving extremely pleased with their performances.
The first races of the day were for the men’s and women’s Double Sculls. Shanklin had entries in both with Matt Miselbach and Alex Robertson in the men’s event, whilst Daisy Faithfull and Anja Bennett went afloat in the women’s. Both crews rowed to comfortable heat victories to qualify for their respective finals.
In the women’s final, Anja and Daisy had a close race all the way down the course, with there never being more than a boat length in it, they however just missed out on the win by a quarter of a length in an agonising finish. There was more luck for Matt and Alex however as a close race with BTC to the buoy turn quickly unravelled to a comfortable return leg for the duo who took a 4 length victory.
Shanklin had an abundance of Novice scullers rowing on the day, who all performed superbly in their heat stages. In the women’s event both Hannah Cusworth and Rebecca Nigh had close races, with both having to really dig deep, and unfortunately both were wrong side of these close finishes with neither able to qualify for their semi finals. In the men’s events Joe Robertson and Jamie Gamble had some tough opposition in their heats and combined with their efforts in their J16 events, they were unable to challenge for qualification to the semi finals. They did however have more luck in the J16 events, with Joe rowing to a comfortable heat victory to qualify for the final. Jamie had a close race, missing out by just 2 lengths. In the final, Joe had a strong start, however equipment failure put to bed his challenege early on and he finished second.
Shanklin had both a Ladies Junior Four and Ladies Junior Pair entered on the day. In the Ladies Junior Pair, Hannah Cusworth and Daisy Faithfull teamed up in a scratch combination that performed well, but were unable to beat the championship winners who were in their heat to qualify for the final. Both girls then jumped into the Ladies Junior Four as they were joined by Stella Gamble, Emily Andre and cox Ethan Walters to race Ryde in their heat. In a close race the Shanklin crew that had never been training in this combination put up a good fight, but were unable to beat Ryde, losing by around two lengths.
Shanklin are still in with a chance of winning an overall championship this year, and Alex Robertson went into his Senior Sculls bout level on 4 points each with his rival from the home club Itchen. In the heat, Alex dispatched of his opposition to qualify for a head to head race with his championship rival. In the final a furious start from his Itchen rival Wardell put Alex into an immeidiate two length deficit, something he didn’t recover from on the short 1000 metre course. Alex now has just one regatta to salvage his championship challenge.
Shanklin’s best result of the day came in their final race of the day, as Harry Miselbach put his demons to bed in the Mens Junior Sculls final. Harry has been searching for a win all season, with him nailed on winner at Newport earlier in the year before he hit a buoy and capsized on the line. However, Harry lined up against dominant championship winner Adam Ratcliffe knowing the course suited him. He quickly showed his, with an electric start and powerful row towards the bouy turn that saw him dead level with the champion. A great buoy turn and ruthless return leg put Harry well clear and he sculled to take a more than deserved victory.
The Advanced Automotive-sponsored Shanklin Sandown Rowing Club now looking to next week, as the final regatta of the 2016 season takes place in Southampton, at Western Shore.
Featured photo: Harry Miselbach – Photo: Jane Maxwell/BTC Rowing Club
