Wessex Indoor Rowing 2008

During the winter months schools and clubs from across the Wessex
rowing region have been training hard on the indoor rowing machines
with many participants hoping to compete in one of the
Region’s indoor rowing competitions.

The first event, the Dorset Indoor Schools Championships held at
Canford School, kicked off on Friday the 8th February.
The medals were kindly sponsored by the local rowing clubs of
Christchurch, Poole and Westover and the top overall school trophy
was sponsored by Bournemouth Universities ‘Aiming Higher’ scheme.

This year saw 34 participants from Portchester, Uplands and
Canford battle it out for medals. The scores were
calculated using the ARA Olympic Gold Medal Standards.
Taking home gold medals were :

• Yr 7 Boys: Nicholas Hunt (Portchester) 533 m
• Yr 7 Girls: Emily Condie (Uplands) 445 m
• Yr 8 Boys: Ashley Bodman (Portchester) 783 m
• Yr 9 Boys: Karl Bushby (Portchester) 1128 m
• Yr 9 Girls: Joanna Tonge (Uplands) 822 m

Portchester School pictured above also took home the overall
trophy for the best school within Dorset.

On Thursday 14th February it was the turn of the Hampshire and IOW
schools to battle it out on the rowing machines in the County
Championships held at Bellemoor School, Southampton. Over 100
children raced for medals from eight schools across the
county.

Taking home Gold medals were:

• Yr 7 Boys: Joe Keane (Bellemoor) 500 m
• Yr 7 Girls: Katie Hall (St Annes) 464 m
• Yr 8 Boys: Jack Stacey (Grove Park) 805 m
• Yr 8 Girls: Chloe Fagon (Sholing) 692 m
• Yr 9 Boys: Robert Waters ( Grove Park) 1039 m
• Yr 9 Girls: Emily Comerford (Sholing) 972 m

The overall Hampshire and IOW County trophy for the best school
performance went to Bellemoor School Southampton. Southampton
Solent University sponsored the trophy and it was presented to
Bellemoor schools pupils by Phil Simmons, ex GB Olympic
Rower.

Following a great day’s racing on the 14th, Friday saw all the boys
at Bellemoor school compete in an inter-house match involving
pupils in years 7 to 10. The last day of indoor racing in the
Wessex Region in February was on Saturday 16th. The
Southern Indoor open event was held at the Southampton Solent
University. This welcomed people from around the country to
compete in events ranging from junior to veteran. Look out for
a full report coming soon from the organisers.

Click here for the overall Wessex Region junior
results spreadsheet (comprising of the Dorset schools, Hampshire
schools, Bellemoor day and Southern indoors junior events)and the
results from the southern Indoor Rowing Championships.

Rachael
Wooldridge
ARA Regional Team Leader