Warrington Regatta 28July 2012

There was another rowing event taking place further north of the Olympic Rowing lake at Eaton Dorney. Namely Warrington Regatta!

Northwich RC entered 11 crews at Warrington Regatta on the River Mersey on Sat 28 July all very keen to race having been deprived of competition over several months with many Regattas being cancelled by the adverse summer weather.

The club was pleased to return 4 wins, encouragingly with all crews reaching the finals.

Women’s Intermediate 3 “Invitation” coxed Eight, Open Intermediate 3 coxed Four, Junior 15 Single scull and Junior 13 Double sculls. (see crew names below)

The weather provided perfect conditions in the morning turning volatile in the afternoon; brilliant sunshine one minute followed by monsoon downpours the next.

Sunshine encouraged the early competitors namely Harry Blake in the J15 Single scull starting racing at 9:30 in the largest entry of 16 scullers. Harry had a total of four races over the 700 m course within an hour to win overall. He won his first three races comfortably, meeting Runcorn RC in the final. Harry had a fast start, pulling away over the first 20 strokes, settling into his rhythm and dominating the race. The Runcorn sculler pushed for the finish but Harry went over the line ¾ of a length up.

The junior girls entered the Women’s IM3 Invitation coxed Eight racing against older competitors in this category. The crew had a hard fought race against Athlunkard BC, visitors from Ireland, winning by a canvas. Victory was sweet for the girls when they raced Agecroft RC in a thrilling final, winning by one and a half lengths.

The Mens Intermediate 3 coxed Four were pushed all the way to victory in their heats meeting Mersey RC in the opening race. Mersey RC lead the race having a better start with the Northwich crew gaining on them as they approached the finish pushing hard for the last five strokes to win by a canvas. They were determined to stamp their authority in the next heat, which they did by having a flying start against Warrington RC maintaining their lead, winning by a length and a half. Their confidence now boosted it was all or nothing with a winning pot in their sights. They were not daunted by the opposition, Agecoft RC in the final race, having a quick start and pulling away. They maintained their lead to the halfway marker when Northwich lifted the rating to cross the finish by a length. Paul Parish, the coxswain, in his first Regatta season being a graduate of the NRC Learn to Row initiative, was thrilled to steer and encourage his crew to victory!  

 The winning combination of Greg Murphy and Lawrence Williams continues with their success in J13 Double sculls. The boys raced confidently during the afternoon meeting Runcorn RC in the final. It was a hard fought race with Northwich powering over the finish line with such enthusiasm they crashed into the bank! No damage to crew or boat, thankfully.

Women’s Intermediate 3 Invitation coxed Eight

Sam Over, Libby Welman, Poppy Burgess, Daisy Dell, Olivia Oakes, Kate Meehan,

Becky Jones, Alex Walton (stroke), cox Craig Milne

Open Intermediate 3 coxed Four

Sam Coverley, Phil Hewett, David Zimmer, Liam Bromley (stroke),cox Paul Parish

J15 single scull

Harry Blake

J13 double scull

Greg Murphy, Lawrence Williams

Winners Open IM3 coxed Four

(l-r) Liam Bromley, David Zimmer, Paul Parish (cox), Phil Hewett, Sam Coverley