Inverness Juniors & Veterans race well at Strathclyde Park Regatta
posted by Roy Sinclair - 7 May 2013, 10:31 a.m.
Seventeen novice juniors from Inverness Rowing Club raced in their first
multi-lane regatta at Strathclyde Park at the end of April. This proved to be
a very tough challenge. In addition to racing on an 8-laned course with a
strictly enforced traffic pattern and stake-boat starting blocks, the
persistent strong crosswind and rain made it even tougher.
On Sunday the middle of the 2000m course was worst affected by the wind and
rough water, so officials decided to move the 1000m course up to the 2000m
start, where the first 500m was somewhat calmer. But novices and juniors
still had to reach the 2000m start through choppy water and gusty headwind as
well as row through the second 1000m after their race was over.
The first impressive performance came from Ellie Kenton and Indigo
Philip-McDade in the Novice Women's Double whose strong 2nd place finish
qualified them for the Semi-final where they finished 5th. This crew had only
rowed together twice prior to the race-!
Top performer on Saturday was Joseph Wright who won the J12 Single by almost 3
lengths over scullers from St Andrew BC and George Watson's College BC.
In the J14 Singles event Euan Trommino and Abel Ellis finished 5th and 4th in
their respective heats. Racing a single in windy rough water is no easy
matter, so all three boys performed well considering that the Caledonian Canal
where they train is almost always flat water.
The Inverness Novice Junior Women's eight, racing mainly against
university crews, did extremely well to finish 3rd in their heat ahead of
Glasgow University. In the final, the IRC juniors (Stroke Maya Doughty, Shona
Gilmour, Holly Barnard, Rachael Irvine, Hannah Campbell, Bethany Irvine,
Indigo Philip-McDade, Bronya Johnson and Cox Susanne Standish-Hunter) fought
neck and neck down the course with Aberdeen BC but were pipped into 5th place
by less than a second.
Racing in Women's J15 Coxed Quad, Stroke Hannah Campbell, Holly Barnard,
Shona Gilmour, Maya Doughty and Cox Pippa Blackwood held off strong challenges
from Clydesdale ARC and George Heriots School BC to claim 4th place, but
missed a qualifying spot for the final.
The Inverness Junior 14 Boys' Quad (Stroke Euan Trommino, Abel Ellis,
Joseph Wright, Angus Thomson and Cox Indigo Philip-McDade) had a slow start
which allowed their opposition to pull well ahead. However they fought back
through the rough water to pass Aberdeen Schools and claim 5th place.
The strongest performance on Sunday came from the Inverness Novice
Women's Coxed Quad (Stroke Holly Barnard, Rachael Irvine, Bethany Irvine,
Ellie Kenton and Cox Susanne Standish-Hunter) who qualified for the final with
a strong second place over Kelvinside Academy, St Andrew BC and Strathclyde
University BC. In the final this crew flew out of the starting blocks tied
for second place, then despite a determined battle all the way down the
course, were narrowly beaten into 4th by Strathclyde Park RC but still well up
on Clyde ARC and Stirling University BC.
The other Inverness Novice Women's Coxed Quad crew of Sasha Angus, Rosie
Arthur, Anna Nordahl, Indigo Philip-McDade and Cox Pippa Blackwood had to deal
with a series of disasters which included pulling their stakeboat holder off
the starting platform, experiencing numerous crabs in the waves, one of which
broke the bow's blade (!) and they completed the race with half the
broken blade dragging under the boat. Not for the faint-hearted!
Also racing at Strathclyde Park were two Inverness veteran single scullers.
Tom Baker won his veteran E/F event whilst Roy Sinclair just missed out on
third place in his veteran G/H event.
Inverness Junior Results
Saturday
Women's Nov 2X (Indigo Philip-McDade, Ellie Kenton) 2nd in Heat, 5th in
Semi-Final
Open J14 1X (Euan Trommino) 5th in Heat
Open J14 1X (Abel Ellis) 4th in Heat
Open J13 1X (Joseph Wright) 3rd in Final
Open J12 1X (Joseph Wright) 1st in Final
Women's J13 2X (Rhiannon Hopcroft, Ishana Graham) 4th in Final
Sunday
Women's Nov 8+ (Maya Doughty, Shona Gilmour, Holly Barnard, Rachael
Irvine. Hannah Campbell, Bethany Irvine, Indigo Philip-McDade, Bronya Johnson,
Cox Susanne Standish-Hunter)
3rd in Heat, 5th in Final
Women's J15 4X+ (Hannah Campbell, Holly Barnard, Shona Gilmour, Maya
Doughty, Cox Pippa Blackwood) 4th in Heat
Open J14 4X+ (Euan Trommino, Abel Ellis, Joseph Wright, Angus Thomson, Indigo
Philip-McDade) 5th in Heat
Open J13 2X (Angus Thomson, Bronya Johnson) 3rd in Final
Women's Nov 4X+ (Holly Barnard, Rachael Irvine, Bethany Irvine, Ellie
Kenton, Cox Susanne Standish-Hunter) 2nd in Heat, 4th in Final
Women's Nov 4X+ (Sasha Angus, Rosie Arthur, Anna Nordahl, Indigo
Philip-McDade, Pippa Blackwood) 6th in Heat
Report prepared by Susanne Standish-Hunter