Tag Archives: J17/18 coach

Glorious Weekend for Stratford’s Juniors!

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The Bank Holiday Weekend saw the 2023 edition of the UK’s premier rowing event for junior athletes. Held on the Olympic Lake at Eton Dorney, the National Schools’ Regatta attracts the highest quality crews from schools and clubs from across the country.  Day One of the three day regatta saw Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s J14 and J15 crews competing over a 1000m distance. First to go were the WJ14 coxed quadruple scull crew of Maeve Dunn, Becca Smith, Martha Baines, Sophie Franklin and Josephine Cooper (coxswain) who stormed the time trial to record the sixth fastest time of the fifty three crews entered. Later in the day the girls lined up in the A Final to come home sixth after a nip and tuck race with Molesey Boat Club. Next to go was the WJ15 coxed quadruple scull crew of Alice Jones, Alexandra Francis, Poppy Baines, Sophie Evans and Lucy Yang (coxswain) who delivered a solid time trial performance to earn themselves a place in the C Final. The girls delivered another great row to come out fourth in their final. Last down the 1000m course was the OpJ15 coxed quadruple scull crew of Ollie Rowlands, Seth Vondrak, Xavier Sissins-Roffey, Lily Warren and Meg Nuttall (coxswain). The crew scored the twenty eighth fastest time against tough opposition.

 The final day saw of National Schools ‘Regatta saw Stratford Boat Club enter both the first and second WJ16 quad events. These were run as separate events for schools and clubs fortunate enough to have strength in depth to enter two competitive boats in the same category. The first quad crew with Esme Elfwood at stroke, Molly Vondrak, Scarlett Richardson and Aimee Appleton at bow came through the time trial to secure a place in the B final eventually finishing in twelfth position after a close contest all the way to the line against a crew from Yarm School in North Yorkshire. The second quad crew with Jessica Long at stroke, Lucy Sartain, Nancy Davis and Harriet Froom in the bow seat qualified third fastest in their time trial and rose to the occasion in their A final to produce a clean row and maintain third place, securing a bronze medal for Stratford. In doing so they recorded a very impressive time to finish within five seconds of the boat in silver medal position and ensure that Stratford Boat Club returned home with two WJ16 quads in the fastest fifteen boats at this premier national event.

On Saturday, Stratford entered Junior 17 Uchenna Nwachukwu in the Championship single scull event. Finishing thirty fifth out of forty nine in the time trial, Uche went on to the repechage where she won a place in the E final, but unfortunately had to pull out with a shoulder injury.

The Women’s Junior 17 coxed 4 of Amalia Richardson, Maddie Hall, Harriet Noyes, Kate Richardson and cox Imogen Hill entered the Championship event coming fourth out of twenty two in the time trial. They stuck to the race plan in their semi final finishing second to gain a favourable lane for the eight lane A final. Stratford made an excellent start holding third place at the 500 metre marker, by 1500m Shrewsbury School had pulled out one length when Stratford increased the pressure. By 250m to go, Stratford had reduced the deficit to half a length, then they went up another gear increasing the rate to draw level with Shrewsbury. In the last few strokes, the crews swapped the lead with each stroke, but Shrewsbury took the Bronze medal by the tightest of margins.

J17/18 Coach Sam Hill said, “Our target was to reach the A final at the National Schools’ Regatta this year, so to finish within half a second of a medal is a great achievement. We will be back next year!”

The J18 squad was represented on Sunday by Lucy Browne and Freya Watts in the Women’s Championship Double Sculls event. A lively time trial and placing of twenty second saw the duo qualify for the C final in the early afternoon. Despite the sunshine and moderate temperature, a strong northerly crosswind created harsh conditions for the double’s last ever national event as juniors. Nevertheless, Browne and Watts powered through the 2km course, with support from coach Abi Terry cycling alongside, to secure a strong sixth place, losing to the fifth placed crew by only a second.

Abi Terry, J17/18 Coach added “It was a great way for Lucy and Freya to finish their last National Schools Regatta, moving up on where they had placed in the time trial.”

For media coverage, please see Stratford Herald page forty five and Stratford Observer online https://www.stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/rowing-boat-club-juniors-win-bronze-at-national-schools-regatta and back sports page https://www.stratfordobserver.co.uk/editions/view/?/Stratford/2023/06/02&pages=024

No Slacking for Stratford in the City of Dreaming Spires!

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Stratford upon Avon Boat Club started the weekend on Saturday travelling the comparatively short way to Oxford to compete in the Oxford City Royal Regatta hosted by City of Oxford Rowing Cub: the regatta has been running consistently on the Isis River in Oxford since 1841 with only occasional breaks due to war.

Stratford’s WJ17/18 athletes Martha Usselmann and Hannah Broome in the Women’s Double Sculls event had a close race off the start against City of Cambridge who then pulled away and beat Stratford to the final. Said Helen Smith, J17/18 Coach, “Martha and Hannah were happy with their race, as they hadn’t previously raced a double together and kept a strong effort against the more experienced crew.”

On Sunday, Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s adaptive squad followed up its recent highly successful trip to Maidenhead with another day of great results at the Oxford Sprint Regatta. The crews competed in four events on the day and won them all!

All the singles races took place in the morning: adaptive athlete Lee Cairns competed in two events for wheelchair users. His first final was against his club mate Rob Pedley: Rob’s larger physique and somewhat better technique on this occasion took the honours with Rob winning by three lengths over his plucky rival.

Lee’s second event saw him race Luke Payne from Sudbury in the final. The pair had had an epic encounter at Marlow earlier in the summer with Lee beating Luke by half a length. This latest meeting reflected Lee’s fast development over the last few months with Lee leading from start, finishing with a comfortable win over his opponent from Suffolk.

In the afternoon, the adaptive pairs final was another all Stratford affair between Gillian Middleton and Dan Godefroy with Gillian and her support rower overcoming Dan and his support rower Joe Moore by about a length. Gillian’s ‘never say die’ attitude perhaps proving the critical factor in this well matched struggle!

This left Ian Ward and his mother Paola to try to complete the clean sweep against another mixed crew from Marlow in the final of the adaptive doubles. The race proved close but the Stratford family crew kept their nose in front most of the way and better steering in the latter half of the race gave them a win by a couple of lengths.

Head Adaptive Coach Mark Dewdney commented, “This regatta looks like the end of the season for us: sadly no one wants to race us at the Bank Holiday weekend Gloucester Regatta! That is disappointing but we are going out on a high! Stratford’s adaptive section have been invited to compete in Italy in October so we have plenty to look forward to! As always, a big thank you to the adaptive support crew, helpers and buddy rowers from other clubs: we were also honoured to have our President Paul Stanton and Vice President Colin Upchurch visit and support us during the regatta: their encouragement means a lot!”

For media coverage see Stratford Herald online https://www.stratford-herald.com/sport/sprint-regatta-glory-for-adaptive-athletes-9270535 and page fifty one and Stratford Observer online https://www.stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/rowing-stratfords-adaptive-squad-continue-fine-season-with-clean-sweep-at-oxford-sprint-regatta and back sports page https://www.stratfordobserver.co.uk/editions/view/?/Stratford/2022/08/26&pages=024

Stratford Juniors Do Themselves Proud at Wallingford

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The J17/18 performance squad fielded a strong entry at Wallingford Long Distance Sculls  at the weekend. In the first division, Stratford upon Avon Boat Club had three crews, two girls’ quads and a boys’ double. The first girls’ quad consisted of Freya Watts, Ruby Howells, Amelie Sartain and Fleur Griffiths. Griffiths steered the perfect line and the crew raced a good race to finish in third place, behind two crews from Lady Eleanor Holles School, some of which were fresh from their win at Henley Royal Regatta, a great start to the season. The second quad of Honour Keil, Bella Chappelhow, Grace Beason (racing up an age group) and Lucy Browne had been hit by illness and a late substitution, didn’t provide them with the perfect build up to the race, however the girls finished in seventh place. The boys’ double of Tomi Wilcock and Will Beattie also finished in third place behind two strong doubles from Pangbourne College and Westminster School respectively.

In the second division, Stratford Boat Club had a girls’ double and three boys’ singles. The girls’ double saw Watts and Griffiths team up again. The morning’s quad, although the previous race had taken the energy out of their legs, still put in a very respectable performance to finish in fifth place.

The boys’ singles of Beattie, Wilcock and Toby Sartain all raced hard in the J17 category. Beattie was top of the bunch finishing in second place, after a tussle with Wilcock coming into the finish. Wilcock finished in third and Sartain seventeenth out of a large field. Said Abi Terry, J17/18 coach, “It was a good test for them all against strong opposition from the best schools and clubs around the country.”

Charles Happel was the first J16 to race in his single scull in the morning division. Facing local opposition from Wallingford and a strong squad from Guildford Rowing Club, Charles sculled with great skill to dominate the race winning by thirty seven seconds, his first winner’s medal of the head racing season.

In the afternoon division, Amalia Richardson and Kate Richardson competed against fellow squad members Harriet Noyes and Maddie Hall in the Women’s Junior 16 double sculls event. After nineteen minutes of top class sculling, Kate and Amalia finished second beating Harriet and Maddie by just 3.6 seconds! Commenting, Sam Hill, J16 coach said, “A very successful day for the J16 squad beating so many competitors from top Thames rowing clubs.”

For media coverage, see Stratford Herald page seventy five and online https://www.stratford-herald.com/sport/happel-savours-first-winners-medal-of-season-9219318 and also Stratford Observer back sports page https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/editions/view/?/Stratford/2021/10/08&pages=024 and https://stratfordobserver.co.uk/sport/charles-takes-first-win-as-stratford-youngsters-star