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Guildford Rowing News

End of Season for Junior Beginners

Molesey winning J12 crew

Cameron Cashen   George Guest   Henry Chadwick (cox)   Charlie Hall   Lucas Hanin

It is suddenly the end of the summer term and our junior beginner squad have completed their last regatta. The Club thank the coaches and helpers who work to make it all happen.  Many have already gone on holiday and the rest will follow soon. Sadly this means it is the end of the official rowing season for the beginner squad and the new season kicks off in September as follows:

The current J13s and WJ13s move up an age group and will join the main Junior squad. There is a meeting for juniors and your parents at the club at 10.00 on Sunday 3rd September.

The current J12s and WJ12s become J13s and WJ13s on 1 September. The first training session will be at 9.00 on Sunday 3rd September.

The new beginner course starts on Saturday 9th September at 14.00 and will run for 6 Saturday afternoons. It would be appreciated if the current J12s and WJ12s would help with the course whenever they are able to do so.

Between now and September most of the coaches will be on holiday but we can offer the following holiday sessions:

Wed 2 Aug    16.00 – 18.00

Sun 6 Aug    9.00 – 10.30

Sun 13 Aug    9.00 – 10.30

Wed 16 Aug    16.00 – 18.00

Sun 20 Aug    9.00 – 10.30

Wed 23 Aug    16.00 – 18.00

Wed 30 Aug    16.00 – 18.00

Please email or text Danny to let him know if you wish to attend any of these sessions. Some parental help would be welcome.

It has been a fantastic year and on behalf of all the coaches and helpers we would like to thank you and congratulate you on achieving so much and with such great enthusiasm, humour and commitment. We hope you have enjoyed it as much as we have and we look forward to seeing you progress in your rowing careers wherever you may pursue them.

With very best wishes for a great Summer,

The Junior Coaches

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5 Junior Wins at Kingston

Guildford Juniors win 5 at Kingston:

        

Saturday

Win:  J16 4x- of Henry, William, James and Nathan

Win:  J16 1x of Lucy Stevenson rowing up a year as WJ16

Sunday

Win:  J14 4x+ of Zac, Richard, Joe, Josh and Reece (cox)

Win:  J14 2x of  Joe and Josh

Win:  WJ12 4x+ of  Darcie, Ella, Imogen, Ellie and Silvia (cox)

Final: J14 2x of Ben and Zac

Final:  J12 4x+ of Ben, Benjy, Charlie, Lucas and Adelaide (cox)

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GRC Juniors are Eagle Radio Team of the Week

Four of our youngsters featured on Eagle Radio as ‘team of the week’ here is the recording that was aired:  We also feature in he latest edition of Rowing & Regatta magazine.

 

Thames Valley Park Regatta (TVP)

2 wins at TVP and lots of finals.

Win:  J16 4x+ of Henry Miguda, William, James Reckord, Adam and Reece (cox) beat Magdalen College in the first round and then Reading Bluecoat and Whitgift schools in the final.

Win:  J142x of Josh Ingham and Joe beat Eton Excelsior and Kingston Grammar School in the first round and then Henley Rowing Club and another Kingston Grammar School crew in the final.

Final:  J16 2x of James Reckord and William

Final:  J14 2x’s of Emily Wolfendon/Jess and Emily/Ella

Final:  J13 4x+ of

Final:  J15 2x of James Casemore and Peter Denton

Egham Regatta

At most regattas quads and singles are in the same division so we rarely get the opportunity to compete in singles.  We entered only small boats at Egham and the number of race wins we got demonstrated our strength in this area.  All the categories were fully subscribed with a possible total of 4 races in each.  A number of us also doubled-up which proved to be quite tiring!

Win:  After 4 rounds it was an all Guildford final in the J14 2x event with Joe Bryant/Josh Ingham beating Richard Loch/Eddie Vaughan.  Richard Loch suffered an injury so it was another win for Joe and Josh.  This was a tough event with 16 crews entered.

Final:  Emily Wolfendon/Jess Bebbington.  Beat Surbiton High School in the first round, Staines in the 2nd round, Langley Academy in the 3rd and narrowly lost to Reading in the final.

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GOLD AND SILVER MEDALS AT NATIONAL MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS

A small squad of 7 Guildford rowers competed at National Masters on 10th June at Nottingham.  With the conditions worsening as the day progressed, Guildford enjoyed success, winning Gold in WMas A/B 4x.  The crew comprised of Annika Gleichmann, Lenka Higley, Emma Pinchbeck and Jackie Johnson.  Lenka, in her first competition of this calibre,  came 3rd in WMas A 1x.  Annika and Jackie faced tough competition in WMas B 2x and fought through to gain Silver.  Well done to Helen Gray and Aimee Marshall who competed for the first time at WMas A 2x and gained valuable experience, and to Rob Hall who competed with Jeff Watling in Mas H 2x.

Huge thank you’s to Peter Scott for all his coaching and support, Eton Excelsior for towing to Nottingham, Richard Coldrick, Rob Hall and Paul Woowat for helping with organising and towing.

Jackie Johnson

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Young Juniors share Victor Ludorum prize at Maidenhead Junior Regatta

GRC sent 8 crews to Maidenhead Junior Regatta on Sunday 14th May. This regatta is specially structured for those new to rowing – ‘A’ events for those in their first 2 years and ‘B’ events for those in the first year. The regatta also operates a repechage system which gives the losers of first rounds a chance to race again in the second round. All the crews made it through the first 2 rounds of racing in the morning and in to the afternoon session. This proved a challenge with just 4 boats and the coxswains didn’t get much of a break. By the end of the day the Guildford crews had competed in 28 races – including 2 re-rows after dead heats, reached 4 finals and emerged the winners of 3 events. This earned us joint first place in the Victor Ludorum competition with Henley Rowing Club.

The winning crews were:

J14 4x+    Guy Tregear, Josh Ingham, Joe Bryant, Zac Harrison cox: Fay Dodd

J12 4x+    Lucas Hanin, Charlie Hall, Ben Isherwood, Benjy Kingerlee cox: Hannah Kingerlee

WJ12 4x+    Darcie Moss-Brown, Ella Curtis, Imogen Wells, Ellie Young cox: Sofia Palau

All of the other crews raced really well and were only narrowly defeated. Many thanks to Richard Mattos for towing both ways, to the coaches and helpers, and to the supporters who easily won the prize for loudest cheering effort. A great day out and lots of happy juniors after their first regatta.

The Junior Coaches

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2 Medals at Shrewsbury

The vet men traveled to Shrewsbury Regatta again this year.  A small contingent again this year but an event the Club has attended continually for the past 17 years.

This year it was medals not pots for straight final winners that masters events tend to become, but victory still sweet.

On the saturday Bill & Paul won their first event in the pair with the four losing to Nottingham.

On sunday Bill Paul Steve & Richard formed a composite eight with Pengwern, taking victory against the Stourport crew we raced last year – losing last time by 2 feet but ahead by half a length this year. –  so now one each with a re-match promised for next year.  The four raced well against a strong Derby crew that certainly deserved the honours

Paul Woowat

 

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Juniors win Gold at JIRR 2017

Thames London Junior Rowing Team

Guildford Rowing Club Juniors have taken Gold at a national rowing event .

The J14 coxed quad of Eddie Vaughan, Richard Loch, Joe Bryant, Josh Ingram and Conrad Wells (cox) were at Nottingham Holme Pierrepont for the 2017 Junior Inter-Regional Regatta on Saturday, April 22nd.

 They had seen off strong competition at Hampton on April 2nd to be selected to represent Thames London region.

 Conditions on the day were perfect, with little wind and blue skies. The boys, wearing Thames London’s purple instead of GRC’s customary green and yellow, took a commanding lead in their heat and qualified for the ‘A’ Final, with the best time of all eleven competing crews.

 In the ‘A’ Final the six fastest teams competed in a side-by-side race. Guildford found themselves up against particularly strong crews from Trentham and  City of Bristol, who had beaten them to Gold and Silver at the Oarsport Sculling head in March. There was no room for complacency.

The very close and exciting race saw Guildford and Bristol lead from the start. It was neck and neck for the full length of the 1500m course. In a nail-biting finish the GRC crew gave it everything they had and won by a canvas, shaving nearly 10 seconds off their previous best time.

 Thames London went on to win Victor Ludorum as the most successful region of the competition.

 Head Junior Coach Richard Turpin said “This was a big moment for Guildford Rowing Club. Not only did they win a gold medal in a prestigious national event, but they were part of a regional team that won the over-all gold for most successful region.”

Club Captain Rachel Spruce said ” I couldn’t be prouder of what our Juniors and their dedicated coaching team have accomplished. To not only qualify for this national event for the first time in the club’s history, but to then go on and win it is an incredible achievement for all involved.”

Emma Dodd

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Abingdon – five out of six!

Abingdon Head was hot on Sunday. The weather was more like summer than spring, with endless sunshine, a light stream and a tail wind which brought out the best for Guildford with five wins from six entries.

The event lacks some of the usual Junior numbers due to Easter Holidays but there was a good turn out of club crews from across the country. With up to 90 crews in each of four divisions racing over 2000 metres, a good warm up for the Regatta season ahead.

There were particularly good results for the women: the Senior Quad of Annika, Jackie, Jaime and Lenka set off at a brisk 33 to win their category in a time 17 seconds faster than the next women’s quad and placed them 24th overall, close to the fastest women’s crew of the day, an 8+ from Worcester.

Jackie and Lenka had planned to double up as a Masters B 2x but Lenka pulled a muscle in the closing stretch of the Quad race. When Jackie went to race control to scratch, she found Helen “in office” helping out her old club with the organisation; a quick substitution, some borrowed kit and the “scratch” pairing won with a comfortable margin of 28 seconds in the fastest Senior women’s 2x time of the day. Further testimony to the benefits of rowing as a squad and good reward for perseverance with common technique on the water and training in the gym.

The Men’s squad were not to be outdone. Rob Hall partnered with Jeff Watling of Southsea to record another Masters G/H 2x win, this time by just 1 second over their Southampton rivals BTC; while Mark and Richard made it another win for ‘Roger’ in Masters D 2x. The Quad of Dominic, Jake, Chris and Colin have only been on the water once together but they rowed together well and took ‘Helene’ to a win in their Men’s 4x category.

Well done all, next event for the Seniors: Marlow Spring on May 1st when we look forward to a good all-club day.
Peter Scott

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Juniors Qualify for JIRR Finals in Nottingham

Guildford Rowing Club’s junior squad have hit a new high this week. Their J14 coxed quad, Eddie Vaughan, Richard Loch, Joe Bryant, Josh Ingham and cox, Conrad Wells, took part in the JIRR regional trials at Millennium Boathouse, Hampton yesterday. The boys beat Walton Rowing Club in a timed trial cover 1500m but an impressive 8.5 seconds and have qualified to represent Thames London region at the Junior Inter-Regional Finals in Nottingham on April 22nd.
Junior Head Coach, Richard Turpin, said “This is a tremendous result for Guildford Rowing Club as a whole. The boys rowed superbly. We need to bear in mind that all the clubs we row against train on the Thames, which make our achievement even more impressive. This is a testament to the extraordinary level of commitment given to the junior club by all the coaches and young people, who train on both land and the river. ”
The boys were entered for the JIRR trials after winning bronze at the Oarsport Junior Head at Dorney Lake on March 25th, where they competed against 63 teams from all over the UK.
Club Captain Rachel Spruce said “We are so proud of our J14’s. All their hard work and training, and that of their coaches, has really paid off.”
In Nottingham the crew will be competing against boys from 11 other regions of Britain.
Guildford Rowing Club, whose members include Paralympian Gold winner Rachel Morris, is currently raising funds for an exciting re-development which will make the club more accessible for adaptive rowers and enhance the club’s central ethos of making rowing available to all.

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