Paralympic champion drops in on CSW School Games

Young rowers from Coventry, Solihull and Warwickshire (CSW) took part in their School Games Indoor Rowing Finals in March, with London 2012 gold medallist James Roe on hand to cheer on the competitors.

Held at Coventry Sports Centre on Monday 11th March, the CSW Finals saw indoor rowers from Years 9 and 10 going head to head – whittled down from preliminary qualifying competitions across the regions earlier in the year.

Individual races for both age groups were held over four and five minutes (for Years 9 and 10 respectively) followed by four and six-minute relay races. The winning schools would then be determined by the total metres rowed within the time limit.

Each of the teams was enthusiastically supported throughout a fantastic day of racing, which encouraged some outstanding performances from the young rowers.

Eastern Warwickshire (represented by Lawrence Sheriff School) won the Year 9 boys’ event with a total of 7063m – one of their rowers, Matt, exceeding the British Rowing Gold Medal Standard with an impressive 1133m.

King Edward VI School, Stratford, dominated the Year 10 boys’ event for Southern Warwickshire – rowing a total of 8503m and claiming the top three biggest individual scores.

Stratford Grammar School for Girls completed a fine day’s work for the Southern Warwickshire contingent, leading the way in both the Year 9 and 10 girls’ competitions.

Their Year 9 team rowed a total of 6360m, with the Year 10s reaching 7479m. Imogen North was the star performer for the Year 10 team, exceeding the Gold Medal Standard for her age group with 1298m in her individual 5min race.

Hot on the heels of the CSW School Games Finals came another rowing event for the region’s youngsters, this time for Special School pupils.

Held at the Alan Higgs Centre on the following Wednesday, events were split into Primary and Secondary school categories for teams of two boys and two girls.

Team relays took the same format as the CSW School Games Finals, with individual races reduced to one and a half minute and three minute races.

A total of 11 schools took part in the secondary school events, with Round Oak School taking the honours ahead of Stevens School and Forest Oak.

The primary school event saw Ridgeway A taking the top spot, with Ridgeway B in second and Forest Oak third.