AFTER several weeks off the river due to fast flowing water and extremely low temperatures, eight of Stratford-upon-Avon Boat Club’s rowers competed at the Worcester Indoor Rowing Competition at King’s School.
The event marked the athletes’ first taste of competitive rowing and they more than rose to the occasion to produce five individual personal best times and come away with a handful of medals.
In the individual races, Annie Silvers took silver and Hannah Shilvock bronze in the Year 9 girls’ event whilst Ellis Bishop came away with silver in the Year 10 boys’ race.
And Stratford enjoyed further success in the relays, as the Year 9 girls’ crew of Annie, Hannah, Amelia Welton and Estelle Littleford produced an outstanding performance to take silver, just missing out on gold, as they smashed their personal best time.
In the last race of the day, Ellis Bishop, Emma Francioni, Kate Currow and Ila Lane competed in the Year 11 mixed relay and secured bronze despite three of the rowers only being in Year 10.
J16 Participation Coach, Ralph Johnson, said: “The crew were understandably very pleased with their morning’s work and look forward to more events.”
Amd joining Stratford Boat Club at Worcester was Stratford’s sister club, King Edward The Sixth School Boat Club headed with a squad of twenty one athletes from Year’s 8 to 13.
First up were E. Appleton and J. Greenwood in the Year 8 four-minute race as two strong rowers pulled clear of the field before the latter eventually clinched bronze just ahead of his teammate.
And the two rowers competed again in the Year 8 one-minute race as Ed pipped James to silver with the latter taking his second bronze medal.
Elsewhere, S. Vondrak placed fifth in the Year 10 500m race and was then joined S. McMahon, O. Rowlands and C. Thompson for the Year 10 relay as the boys won their heat and placed fourth overall.
In the Year 11 to 13 races, T. Beard took on nine other rowers and won the Sixth Form Boys’ 500m race with a very impressive row.
And the Year 11 relay team of W. Dalrymple-Baker, M. Cullimore, H. Hoare and O. Rowlands clinched bronze with a strong row.
There were two Sixth Form mixed relay teams who won gold and silver in a thrilling race as T. Beard, M. Hall, K. Richardson and D. Shilvock just pipped H. Noyes, E. Rose, T. Wilcock and A. Richardson to the line.
Lastly, the girls’ crew of H. Noyes, A. Richardson, K. Richardson and H. Hoare won gold in the girls’ relay before the boys’ crew of E. Rose, T. Wilcock, T. Beard and D. Shilvock just missed out on a medal in the boys’ relay with the crew of J. Nash, J. Kirby, F. Groves and H. Hoare in fifth.
