Ryde Rowing Club will host the 4th Hants & Dorset Amateur Rowing Association Championship (ARA) Regatta of the season this Saturday (20th May).
Shanklin’s Championship Regatta takes place the following day (Sunday, 21st May).
This year’s Regatta marks the 44th Anniversary of a Hants and Dorset ARA Championships Regatta being held off Appley Beach, at Ryde. The first was held in June 1977 – as part of the club’s Centenary Celebrations and following the successful introduction of a Hants & Dorset Championship Regatta, organized jointly by Shanklin and Ryde Rowing Clubs which was 1st held at Yaverland, near Sandown in 1972.
The joint organizing committee and the Hants & Dorset ARA agreed to stage the 1977 Regatta at Ryde in what was expected to be a one-off change of venue in recognition of the club’s centenary. But such was the success of the event, that these 2 Island Rowing Clubs and the Association agreed that the Island should host 2 Championship Regatta each year – 1 at Ryde and 1 at Shanklin – and so the Isle of Wight Rowing Weekend was established with both Clubs staging their own regattas since 1978, which have both proved to be very popular. This led to the introduction on the 3rd Hants & Dorset ARA Regatta on the Island run by Newport Rowing Club.
The Ryde Regatta has received 95 crews and scullers – slightly up on last year. The Regatta will require a packed programme of 19 races to be completed in just over 4-and-a-half hours, over an 1820m course from Appley Beach, near to the Ryde R. C. Headquarters in Appley Park – towards Ryde Pier and return after a buoy turn.
Races are taking place for Senior, Junior and Novice men in coxed fours, Senior and junior men in coxless pairs, and Senior, Junior, and Novice Men in Single Sculls. For Ladies, there are Senior, Junior and Novice coxed 4s, Senior and Junior Ladies Pairs and Ladies Senior, Junior, and Novice sculling events. There is also a Masters – formally known as Veteran – Fours event for mixed 40+ and Ladies, and 1 for Masters’ 50 crews.
The Regatta is scheduled to start at 10:15 – due to the tides – with a race every 10 to 15 minutes and the prizegiving by the Club President at the Clubhouse, in Appley Park, at around 15:00.
Some very close racing is expected, and the general public is most welcome to view this free event – the best vantage point being from the sea wall by the Canoe Lake.
Wightlink-sponsored Ryde Rowing Club competed at Christchurch Regatta, on the river Stour, on Saturday (13th May 2023).
The 2-boat racing format of this regatta meant that crews had to fight their way through several rounds of competition and with it limited to coxed 4s only – with no small boats – so the Ryde entry was restricted to just their two Mens Coastal Junior Crews.
The newly promoted Ryde B Crew of Dan Sanderson, Isaac Gibson, Charlie Watts and Lars Groothuis, coxed by Joe Bird, held a slight lead over their 1st-round opponents at the turn, but the crew had an issue at the turn and fell behind and were not able to recover their lead before the race finished on this short course.
The A Crew of Matt Chalmers, Ben Sanderson, Will Hall and Paddy Kearney, coxed by Mai Mackay, faced a much larger problem – while warming up for their semi-final they unfortunately collided with a Christchurch Ladies Junior Coastal Four, causing the Christchurch boat to capsize and causing injuries in boat boats, although there was no damage to the Ryde boat. However, the Ryde bowman suffered from bruised ribs, forcing the crew’s withdrawal from the event.
Newport Rowing Club also took part in the Christchurch Regatta.
The Men’s Novice crew of Boris Hare, Connor Garner, Chris Clarke, in his 1st race, Atur Rozvodovski, and coxed by Marianna Hare, made it through their heat, despite Clarke having to row the whole race without a sliding seat. Their semi-final was neck and neck until the turn, where they lost distance against their opponents Poole, which they couldn’t make up.
The Women’s Masters crew was made up of Julie Clarke, Julia Coulson, Stella Gamble, who joined the crew from Shanklin Sandown RC for the event, Fran Ladd, and coxed by Nick Salter. They came up against eventual finalists Coalporters in their heat. Newport came to the turn just a length down but weren’t able to pull that distance back in the 2nd half of the race.
