The Ryde Men’s Junior Senior Crew of Andy Hicks, Adam Edwards, Ollie Gove and James Cleary with Coach Mick Jenner coxing continued their impressive start to the 2014 Hants & Dorset ARA Championship Regatta season winning their third straight race last Saturday.
The crew made their usual steady start and had a slight lead at the turn before pulling away on the return leg to win comfortably, to establish a good lead in the race for the Championship. The result was particularly pleasing for squad member Andy Hicks for whom this was a first J/S win promoting him to Senior status for next season. However the race may have taken a little more out of him than anticipated as he finished 4th in the Men’s Novice Sculls event where the condition had also deteriorated resulting in three scullers capsizing.
There was a another for victory for the Ryde Club – from their Ladies Junior Coxless Pair of Jodie Cocker and Steph Kissick in a close race and they also had to survive a protest before being declared the race winners.
This year was always going to be a steep learning curve for the young Ryde Men’s Novice Crews who have an average age of just fifteen and were racing against much older and more experienced opposition – a real case of boys against men – however both crews produced encouraging performance but failed to make the final. These two crew also competed in the Boys J16 event – where they fared better finishing 3rd and 5th – while still racing against older opposition. The line-up of the two crews was – Ben Toms, Jacob Redstone, Dom Douglas and Joe Groves in one bot and Tom Kearney, Joel Smith, Matt Jeacock and Steven Soal in the other with Austin Smith and coach Andy Hicks sharing the coxing roles.
Masters sculler Mick Jenner proved there is life in the old dog yet – finishing 3rd in the Men’s Senior Sculls.
Photographed L-R: Jodie Cocker, Steph Kissick, Andy Hicks, Adam Edwards, Ollie Gove and James Cleary
