Western Region well represented at the NJIRC

Tuesday 17th March saw a strong contingent from the West Region travel up to Battersea in London for the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships. A total of 89 pupils, split over two coach loads made the trip up from the region, supported through funding from the West Regional Rowing Council, Cornwall County Sports Partnership and London Youth Rowing.

One coach load of pupils travelled from Cornwall, made up of competitors from Fowey, Looe and Penrice schools, in a trip organised by ARA HSCT Coach Rhiannon Halliday. The other group, organised by Kevin Sellar, Plymouth Rowing Forum Community Sports Coach, was made up of pupils from the Plymstock School Sports Partnership,

Both coaches have been working hard over the previous weeks developing indoor rowing within schools and clubs in their respective areas, and many of the pupils attending were medal winners at the county and regional indoor rowing events in the lead up to NJIRC.

The pupils, arrived early on Tuesday morning to the Battersea Evolution Centre to compete against 1800 school pupils from around the country. Almost without exception, all the rowers scored personal bests in their races with some excellent performances. Top results of the day came from Alex Rowe of DHSG, who won Gold in the Year 9 Male event, equalling the championship record in the process. There were also a series of silver medals from Jessica Fennell (PHSG, Year 11), Jacob Dawson (Plymstock, Year 10), Alex Welland (Poltair, Year 12). In addition there were a number of top ten finishes, and overall a series of very impressive results at what is the largest indoor rowing event for juniors in the country.

Rhiannon Halliday, HSCT Coach based in Cornwall, commented that this was "by far the largest entry of Cornish competitors the NJIRC has seen, and the rowers did the county proud. Indoor rowing has really taken off in the county with a surge in numbers competing".

Kevin Sellar, Plymouth Rowing Forum CSC, said: "congratulations to all who took part showing that Plymstock SSP is a force to be reckoned with".

Tom Pattichis – Coaching And Development Officer, Western Region