Junior Rowing crews battle windy conditions at the Inter-Regional Regatta

After weather and covid cancellations dating back to 2018, it was fantastic to have crews racing at the Junior Inter-Regional Regatta again on Saturday.

The very strong tail wind conditions provided quite a significant challenge for the J15 & J16 boys and girls, all of who were racing in their first ever regatta. The race format was altered to make use of the best rowable water in the top half of the course and saw the crews complete one run over the one-thousand-meter course.

The Boat Club had six crews representing the West Midlands in this national event and it was great to have an even split of boys’ and girls’ representation. The event is contested by twelve teams based on the British Rowing regions.

After a very late call up for the WJ15 single event Sophie S (M, IV) took to the water in the challenging conditions. She put in a tremendous effort despite very little opportunity to prepare for the event to come eleventh. The Girls J15 coxed four were in a tight battle with three other boats in their heat and came ninth.

The boys J15 coxed four came second in their heat and ended up in fifth overall. The J16 coxed four also placed fifth overall in their event.

The final two events of the day saw the J16 Girls eight place second in their heat and fifth overall on times. In the boy’s event the crew made an impressive start to be leading the field, unfortunately the conditions got the better of them causing a slight shipwreck for the crew who dropped back into third place.

It would have been easy for the rowers to be unsettled by the conditions, but they all had a blast and embraced the challenge. In twenty odd years of coaching it was the worst conditions that I have seen a regatta successfully take place and I was hugely impressed by all the crews and the organisers for pulling it off.

Athol Hundermark
Master i/c Rowing