West Success at Junior Inter-Regional Regatta and GB Trials

April 28, 2010

A team representing the West Region, made up of juniors from
clubs from across Devon and Cornwall, recently attended the national Junior
Inter-Regional Regatta (JIRR), which took place in Nottingham on April 25^th2010. The event saw the West team compete against juniors from British
Rowing’s eleven other regions.

This year saw the West come away with some of its best ever
results, and the highest overall placing the region has ever achieved. Being
the smallest of the region’s taking part, reaching an ‘A’ final (for crews
ranked in the top six from the first round heats) is considered a very good
result. A medal is an outstanding achievement, and something a West crew has
only achieved once before.

Stand out result of the day therefore came in the J15 2x
event, where Rowe and Kerswell-Jensen of Dart Totnes outlined their potential by
winning Gold with a dominant performance in the A final. Kerswell-Jensen also
came close to a medal in the J15 1x, placing 4^th in the ‘A’ final
with less than a second separating 2^nd to 4^th.

It was a good day all round for Dart Totnes with a further
three of their crews (J14 4x+, WJ14 4x+ and WJ16 4x) reaching ‘A’ finals. The
region’s other standout performer was Alice Jackson of Kingsley School, who
qualified for the A final of the WJ16 1x, finishing a creditable 5^th.

The regional also had some success in ‘B’ finals, with the
Plymouth J16 4x and the Exeter WJ15 4x+ winning the ‘B’ finals of those events,
finishing 7^th overall, and scoring valuable points for the region.

Overall the region finished 9^th, a very
creditable result for what is a comparatively small region in terms of numbers
of clubs and juniors.

Also representing the region well were Marcus Bowyer of
Exeter RC and Jacob Dawson of Plymouth ARC, both of whom took part in the GB
Junior Small Boats Trial at Dorney Lake, which also took place on April 25^th.
Dawson, who is in only his second year of sculling, was attending the trial to
gain experience of the GB Junior Trials system. He placed a close second in the
E final, 26^th overall. Bowyer, who is hoping to gain selection for
the GB Junior team this summer, put in a solid performance with a 2^nd
place in the B Final, 8^th overall. Based on that result he is
hopeful of being invited to the final set of trials in July, where the final
selections will be made for this year’s GB Junior teams.