GB International Selection
We are very proud to announce that both Joseph Adamson and Eve Larsen are currently training in their crews for both the European and World Junior Championships. As a coaching team and a club, we are both pleased and proud in equal measure as it seems both athletes have gone beyond what anyone would have expected at the start of the season. The long and complicated process began in October with ergo assessments as the pressure build throughout the year from different training camps to it seeming like everyone in the North East asking how they have done in each assessment. News from Cork and Czechoslovakia will filter through this week and next weekend but, again, sounding like a broken record, this achievement will probably never be matched again in relation to such a small club producing two athletes in the most difficult discilpine to be selected in (sculling) is testament to what a great club ethos we have.
Lauren Irwin also raced at the under 23 world championships in Poznan narrowly missing a medal by 0.2 of a second in the women’s eight – the third successive year she has represented GB!
Junior British Championship Success in Nottingham
It seems that all of the excellent work can be summarised by coaches in reference to our club over what proved to be our most successful championships of all time. A well-respected and experienced Bill Parker from Durham refered to us as the best club in the North and the Tideway Sculler Head Coach also added a similar compliment. Seeing the name of the club on the results board high above the bank for all to see being proudly perched above clubs like, Henley, Walton, Leander and Nottingham RC is nothing short of amazing.
There were some brilliant performances like having two j15 singles in the A final, two excellent displays by Alex Farley and Sarah Holmes that complimented the Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. Amy Hall and Eve Wilkinson finished strongly coming third in the B final, Eve then finished a very respectable 16th in her single, Dean Slater placed 16th in his time trial suggesting his promise over the coming GB tests, Antonia and Sophie placed 20th in their wj152x and then with Charlotte and Kate finishing 30th in their quad, Molly Dowson placed 16th in her wj161x and Ellie Hall in the same event managed to finish seventh in her trial just missing out on the A final. The boys j15 finished a strong 20th in their 2x Dan and Max, with Dan Coleman just missing out on the AB semis with a 14th place in their trial. Leah Teagle won a bronze medal in her wj184x with Maidenhead also.
The race of the weekend involved the final of the mens four, with Max Wilson, Samuel Graham, Aidan Roberts, Tyler O’Donnell coxed by Amy Snook, as they fended off huge pressure being the 1st place in the time trial and holding off Walton RC who represented GB at the recent France match. They raced a final the way it should be raced, taken on, from the off leading by clear water at the half way point, at this point I started to believe, but I found out the boys had believed half an hour before the team talk. British Champions in a borrowed boat with an average crew weight far below the boys they beat but one thing in their favour, something that had been commented on from the bank, they row very well together – probably the best as a crew that I have coached.
Roman Bowery won the timetrial by two seconds again, over an athlete who had represented GB two weeks previously. As the final progressed and indeed over the past few months everyone wanted to beat Roman an in a way the fact that he raced very hard and screamed as he sacrificed the lead at 200m to go, is testament to the amount of effort they put in. One thing that Roman will take from this is that he now has someone to beat.
Caitlin Warren’s impressive bronze again as she beat the athlete who beat her to silver at JIRR two months ago, was a very exciting race to the line at all three medals were within a length of each other. Our stock as a club has risen because of this weekend but I have learned one thing, and I thing the region has too, that we have world class athletes racing for us, but looking at what happened in Nottingham, we will have for years to come.
Family Afternoon Regatta
The planned event above was cancelled due the the weather but will take place over the next few weeks, probably after Windermere which takes place a week on Monday. Please email Chris Telford if you are interested. It is as it says on the tin, anyone can take part even if you haven’t rowed before.
September Regatta
As we lost our April regatta due to the rain, which seems a long time ago now, our resheduled event takes place in the first weekend of September. If you are offering to help in any way, please attend a meeting on Wednesday 1st August at 7pm in the boathouse where Brian Webb is organising the regatta.
Coaching Departures
The news that I had been dreading for some time has finally been confirmed. Arran Lewcock, who has been a faithful servant to the club as a coach and rower from the age of 14, moves to Germany to take up an exciting job at Amazon. We will certainly miss his cheery demeanour but mainly his ability to make boats go very fast. From a personal point of view I would like to thank him as well as being someone to bounce ideas off from a coaching perspective, we have rarely been apart at events over the last few years and he will be the biggest miss from a coaching perspective that the club has had to endure. We wish him well and thank him for all he has done in his role as club captain and ushering through our first GB athlete for 15 years.
New Season Squad and Coach Coordinator Changes
Thanks to those parents who attended the meeting last week and just to summarise for those who couldn’t attend, we spoke about communication and time. Both are important and from a communictaion perspective, we all need to be mindful of the time (yes I realise this email has been sent at 11 pm but it was drafted on a plane at 3pm) and amount we contact coaches and club officials. By all means socialable hours are fine, but please consider the nature of the contact, but please also make sure you feel you can contact us about any issue. We have two launches now in operation to provide extra safety cover and to have more coaches voices on the water. The squad coordinators are as follows:
- J10-14 boys and girls – Chris Telford and Steve Holmes
- J16 girls and boys – Holly Young and Callum Clark
- J17-18 boys and girls – Steven Thompson
Gordon Clark will coach crews but won’t be a coordinator as he has in previous years. Callum Clark and Steve Holmes are working towards their level two coaching qualifications and Chris Telford is now a level two qualified coach.
The role of the coordinator is to organise the squad in relation to races and focus for the season. The coaches (who is everyone) make the improvements and instruct on the water in sessions.
We are looking for more parents to volunteer their time to coach as the more we have the better the quality of session we can provide. Please let me know if you are interested.
TeamApp
We are currently trialing a new app which may help streamline our communication and centralise the way you receive information. We need to agree at committee level but following that we will try to replace Facebook as a means of communicating.
Club Closure
The club will close for three days following Windermere and will resume on the 7pm session of Hermitage to allow for boat maintenance etc. That’s the 11th, 12th and 13th of August.
Have a good week.