Shrewsbury Regatta 2012 Cancelled!

May 12 & 13 2012

Shrewsbury Regatta is remembered for warm weather and sunshine, heralding the summer.
However, not this year!
The organising committee after extensive discussion and analysis of predicted river levels for the weekend were forced to cancel this popular Regatta due to flooding and potential dangerous water conditions.

There had been unexpected heavy rainfall in upper river catchment.
Their concern was for the safety on and off the water of competitors and they decided that given the peak of 2.3 m due to come through on Friday and a predicted level one metre above normal racing levels, the organisers would not be able to put the necessary safety in place to ensure safe racing on Saturday.

In addition the trailer parking area and car park was waterlogged. Not much fun for campers either!

The club had entered a number of crews who were looking forward to the competition from outside our region. Namely, the junior boys and girls Eights who were fired up, following the disappointment of not being able to race at the Junior Inter Regional Regatta a few weeks ago, again due to the adverse weather conditions.

Northwich RC is now preparing for our own Regatta and look forward to welcoming many clubs.          Northwich Sprint Regatta Sun 27 May 2012


Good water, spectator viewing options and catering make this a popular event for Senior, Novice, Junior and Masters crews.

This year we have added the following events to the usual full list:  J16.8+, W.J16 8+,  Nov.4x+ and W.Nov.4x+.
The latter two events may be of particular interest for some 'learn-to-row' crews !

NRC very proud to be represented in three venues! Home and Away!

      May 5 & 6 2012

• Merseyside Regatta
Northwich Rowing Club was well represented at Merseyside Regatta on Sat 5th May by the junior squad entering 17 junior crews ranging in age from 13 to 16 years girls and boys racing in sculling and sweep oar boats. This event is hosted by Liverpool Victoria RC at the West Float, Wallesay, racing over a regatta distance of 750 meters.
This venue has completely different water conditions to our river as it is a floating dock and the weather conditions can be challenging for the younger athletes in this open water with few markers to aid steering in coxless boats. Fortunately, Saturday turned out to be a pleasant day for rowers and supporters.
The club returned with 2 wins however that doesn’t reflect the extent of racing achieved by many of the crews particularly the Women’s Junior 14 girl’s squad who raced in doubles in the morning and quads in the afternoon competing in numerous heats coming second and third in their final races.

Womens Novice coxed quad, The junior 16 girls showing their sculling skills with a decisive and comfortable win against Stoke RC.
      Crew: Ash Hudson, Victoria Scott, Alex Walton, Olivia Oakes Cox Jacob Copac

   

Junior 13 coxed quad, this squad of young boys are gaining confidence and ability having worked hard  through winter training , with this crew displaying their technical skills to beat Royal Chester RC by 5 lengths. This will encourage them all for the coming Regatta season.

  Crew: Greg Murphy, Lawrence Williams, George Crouchley, Sam Platt, cox Jack Hudson
The crew was awarded the “Jeremy Jones Roberts Claret Jug” honouring the best rower Liverpool Victoria RC have had. This is presented to encourage young crews to keep motivated and in recognition for their great performance on the day. (Greg Murphy was the only remaining crew member at the venue to receive this lovely trophy, see photo)










Junior coaches Mike Palfreyman, Jed Barlow, Simon Crouchley, Tim Preece and Graham Law were delighted with the standard of racing from all the crews with many reaching the finals.
The club travels to Shrewsbury Regatta on 12/13th May.



• Munich Junior International Regatta 2012 5/6 May 
 Lucy Burgess was delighted to have been selected to represent GB at this event which is the largest and most prestigious junior event other than the Junior World Championships.

Racing on Sat 5th in the heats when first and second places progress to the final sadly Lucy finished third in a very respectable time. She showed her strength of character and technical sculling skills putting up a good fight against a very strong German sculler who took the lead from the start.

This event followed her success the previous weekend winning the junior women’s sculling event at the GB Junior Squad Regatta on Dorney Lake on Sun 29 Apr.

She is dedicated to the sport and has the ambition to represent GB in the single scull at this year's Junior Worlds in Plovdiv - Bulgaria in August thus emulating Matt Langridge's representation. She is on track with this ambition having been the best girl sculler at all the trials so far this year.  After that, selection for Junior Worlds in the single will depend on going fast enough at final trials to convince the selectors that she is a potential finalist.  Whatever happens there, she is virtually certain to be on the team in some crew or other.


• GB Squad World Cup 2012, Belgrade 5/6 May (quoted from British Rowing)

First World Cup of the season with all 12 GB Rowing Team crews that started in the finals at the World Cup in Belgrade finished their journey on the podium as Britain won four golds, six silver and two bronze medals to add to their international-class gold and silver of last night.
Men’s coxed Eight winning silver having had a crew change with Matt Langridge, moving from 7 seat to Stroke the Eight. He explained after the race, “It was great to get out ahead of the Germans in the first half of the race but when we get out in front we need to learn how to stay out there and build on it”.

Britain and Germany were expected to go head to head in this race as World silver and gold medalists respectively. The green of Germany’s bow showed ahead of the yellow of the British boat in the opening 100m.

Britain was not prepared, though, to let them get away. At the first timing point, the GB crew had a margin – but a small one. Scything stroke for stroke down the course the bow-balls surged and dropped, surged and dropped with the power of the crews.

At halfway there was still nothing much to choose between them but GB still had the edge, forcing the Germans to put on more power – unaccustomed as they have become in recent years to being led in any race.
At 1500m the roles were reversed. Britain was four tenths down and you could almost see the confidence surge through their opposition.

Was it all over? With 40 strokes still to come, the Germans picked up their speed and pulled away again. The fast-finishing Dutch came up in a sprint to challenge the British who held on for silver.

The GB crew, whilst disappointed, will take confidence and lessons from this performance.

Spring Head of River Race 1 April 2012

Northwich Rowing Club hosted their annual Spring Head of the River Race on Sunday 1st April. The club welcomed local crews from The Grange School and Sir John Deane’s College with visiting crews from across the country and attracting clubs from within the North West region. The entry was the largest for a Spring Head with a record breaking 269 boats entered to race over 3 divisions through the day from 9.45 to 3pm.

This is a very popular event for all ages and abilities as the course is a short 2,600 meters on the River Weaver. This year the rowers, scullers and spectators were bathed in spring sunshine throughout the day with perfect racing conditions resulting in some very fast times. Northwich entered 23 crews with nine wins overall.

Congratulations to York City RC who had a very successful visit entering 23 crews and finishing the day as top winners with 13 wins overall.

Racing commenced with the single scullers division in which 89 boats took to the water with the ages of competitors ranging from 13 to 60 years. Northwich Rowing Club’s rising star Ed Grisedale won the division in Elite single category in 8:57.1 nine seconds ahead of Agecroft RC.

The 2nd and 3rd divisions included Eights, Fours, coxed and coxless Quads and Doubles.

The 2nd division had 78 boats racing, 9 of which were Eights. NRC had 5 wins.
IM3 coxed Four’s beating Salford University by 2 seconds. The crew comprising of older junior boys were very satisfied with their win building into their preparations for the forthcoming Inter Regional Regatta later in the month. Northwich RC / Royal Chester composite Pair had a decisive win against their opposition from Mersey RC. The Women’s Novice coxed Four comprising of junior girls raced extremely well to beat their opposition from neighboring local clubs. The Women’s squad won 2 Masters categories, Women’s Masters D coxed Four beating Pengwern RC for Shrewsbury by 4 seconds and Women’s Masters B/C double sculls delighted with this success which will encourage them in their training programme for future events.

Royal Chester RC won the 3rd Division in a very fast time 7:40.8. The crew was delighted to be presented with the “Walter Benyon Trophy” for the fastest boat of the day by his widow Susan Benyon. 73 boats raced and Northwich RC had 3 wins; IM3 coxed Eight comprised of older junior boys continued their run of success over the winter months narrowly winning against NRC Senior men. Masters C double sculls finishing 27 seconds ahead of their opposition from Grosvenor & Bradford. Women’s Novice coxed Eight, the crew was represented by the WJ16 girls and raced well beating a visiting Murray Edwards College crew from Cambridge by 10 seconds. The girls will be in the final stages of their training programme in preparation for the Inter Regional Regatta when they will represent the North West Region with their fellow junior boys members.

The next event to be held at the club will be the Northwich Regatta on Sunday 27th May. Racing takes place all day starting at 10am. Admission is free with catering and refreshments available. Spectators are very welcome!

Names of winning crews:
Division 1:
Elite single 08:57.01
Ed Grisedale

Division 2:
IM3 coxed Four 09:01.73
Zak Triggs, Fynn Lawton, Tom Astiradias, Alex Murphy cox Craig Milne
Pair – Matt Jump (NRC) Richard Hawkins (Royal Chester RC)
Women’s Novice coxed Four 10:05.51
Sam Over, Ashlene Hudson, Beth Chaplin, Katy Meehan cox Chloe Weston
Women’s Masters D coxed Four 10:57.92
Clare Holt, Carolyn MacRitchie, Carole Riddell, Elaine Young cox Jonty Moore
Women’s Masters B/C double sculls 10:53.87 (rec’d 12 sec handicap)
Clare Briegal, Melanie Benson

Division 3:
IM3 coxed Eight 08:27.3
Joe Renolds, Fynn Lawton, Nathan Jump, Rian Gamble, Zak Trigg
Tom Astirades, Liam Adamson, Alex Murphy, cox Craig Milne
Masters C double sculls 09:18.5
Simon Crouchley, Andy Malins
Women’s Novice coxed Eight 09:31.4
Libby Weltman, Olivia Oakes, Sam Over, Ashlene Husdon, Kristian Purchas,
Issie Philps, Beth Chaplin, Kate Meehan cox Chloe Weston.




Spring Sunshine at the Start








Finish - A Good Days Racing!