January 16, 2008 News British Rowing NewsBritish Rowing EventsRowing CommunityGB Rowing TeamIndoor RowingRowing & RegattaPartners#YourStoriesArchive Wessex Indoor Rowing 2008 Indoor Rowing 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. ADVERT 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 ADVERT