Ryde Rowing Club maintained their strong record of regional representation when five of their Junior oarsman were selected to represent the Wessex Region and compete in the National Junior Inter-Regional’s Regatta at the National Water sports Centre, Nottingham, on Saturday.
The Championships is contested between the 11 British Rowing Regions, with the Thames region split into two (Thames Upper and Thames Lower) to make 12 teams in total. All events are raced over 1500-meters with the heats timed and the fastest 6 crews going through to the Grande or “A” finale with the others into the Petite – “B” Final. A points system is applied determined by the results to establish which region are the national champions. The standard of racing is very high with a number of Junior Internationals and crews from the top public schools competing.
The Ryde athletes and support team travelled to Nottingham late on Friday afternoon staying locally before gathering at the National Water Sports Centre at 07:30 on the Saturday morning.
Ryde crew of Joel Smith, Dom Douglas Jacob Redstone and Joe Groves with Austin Smith coxing had reluctantly accepted the boys J15 sweep slot – which the Wessex selectors had been unable to fill – over their preferred quad scull event – in support of the team
Unfortunate enough to be drawn in the unfavourable 6th lane in the heat, where their was a clear advantage to an inside draw the crew struggled in the blustery conditions finishing in 5th to claim a place in the B final. Here they produced a much improved performance finishing in third place, and 9th overall contributing to the Wessex Teams seventy-one points total, which will be regarded as disappointing if not unexpected from the depleted team.
