A race between the two Looe crews

July 30, 2009

The 2009 under 14 county championships, held at Hayle Pool proved to be a successful day, especially for the clubs involved in the HSCT scheme in Cornwall. 27 crews from Devon and Cornwall took part on the day. A total of 7 crews were fielded from the 3 clubs HSCT coach Rhiannon Halliday has been working with.

Charlestown Gig Club put out a crew, featuring 3 under 14 rowers from the club, and came home with wins in both their races. Unfortunately, due to 3 members being over age the club had to declare as a ‘composite’ crew. Well done to Leah Rowe, Lauren Bailey and Jack Durston who represented the club along with Joe Bailey, Hannah Rowe of Charlestown, and Emma Cross of Fowey who helped to make up the crew.

Fowey Gig Club fielded two crews at the event, coxed by coach Jeremy Crapp. The B crew, made up of younger rowers, featured several who had just completed the ‘learn to row’ course at the club, only having been rowing for a matter of weeks. The A crew looked strong throughout and finished the day with good results. After a close race with Looe in the semi final, the crew finished in 4th position, narrowly missing out on a place in the final.

Looe Gig Club entered 3 full crews, and a composite crew in the event, the largest club entry of the day. The C crew had two good races, reaching the second round. Although a good result was expected, Looe B crew exceeded expectations to reach the final, performing well in all races, even beating their A crew on time in the semi finals. The crew was made up of several young rowers who were introduced to rowing through indoor rowing sessions run in the winter at Looe School and Looe-Liskeard Rugby Club. They finished overall in third place, an excellent result. Looe A crew were one of the hot favourites for the title following good results all season. The crew rowed strongly in all races to finish in 2nd place overall, pipped by winners Padstow by a couple of boat lengths.

Well done to Padstow who rowed consistently throughout to finish the day as county champions.

This group of impressive results is testament to all the hard work put in by all coaches and is very promising for the future of the sport in these clubs.

Forthcoming rowing events include:

The final of 3 ‘Tribute’ events will be held at Cawsand, Rame on Saturday 1st August
The under 16 county championships is held in Newquay on 13th September.

Report from Rhiannon Halliday