Beach Sprints Rowing is becoming the fastest-growing discipline of the sport across the country, with several Shanklin club rowers already competing at a national level.
Inspiring the next generation, Shanklin rowing club staged their own Intra Club Beach Sprint Regatta at the club last week. This was the only racing some members have seen in recent weeks as the weather has taken its toll on recent regattas with last 3 regattas falling victim to the weather.
The racing saw several combinations of crews from juniors to masters in singles, quads and fours. The event involved a sprint along the beach, into the boat, racing out to a buoy before turning back, jumping out the boat and then finishing with a 80m sprint to the line.
The singles and fours were raced side by side whilst the quad race took the form of a time trial.
The closest race of the evening saw Simon Nevitt beat Kev Faithfull in the master’s single scull with Simon overtaking Kev on the sprint to the line.
Louis Sheasby won the J18 single scull from Kayleigh Batchelor with Ollie Hatch in 3rd place.
The mixed Quad event saw the crew of Poppy Lawrence, Kayleigh Batchelor, Louis Sheasby & Kev Faithfull record the fastest time whilst the winning Coxed Four were Arlo Adds, Sam Travis, Simon Nevitt, and Em Faithfull. Both crews were coxed by Daisy Faithfull.
The following weekend club athletes Daisy and Emily Faithfull with Bas Andre, now competing for Moseley, competed at the British Beach Sprints Championships at Exmouth in Devon. Mishaps on the Saturday meant that only Emily was able to qualify for the final, where she finished in the top 10.
