Newport Regatta Weekend

In the Fours event on Saturday, the junior men and women’s crews both showed significant progress within this status, gaining second places in their semi -finals, whilst the newly-formed Novice women’s crew of Mel Cockayne, Hayley Broadhead, Evie Selway, Annabelle Steward with Jane Bailey coxing impressively qualified for a place in the final, where they finished third, a place also achieved by the masters women’s crew.

Returning on Sunday for the Junior and Small boats regatta, SSRC fielded an impressive 13 crews. The club enjoyed two fine wins and demonstrated huge potential in other crew performances. Esme Walters and Anna Scott, having now secured the Hants and Dorset championship, enjoyed a convincing semi-final win and a set up to an excellent finale to their season with rivals BTC.

Leading from the start, the Shanklin pair dominated the race, even when pushed hard over the last 200metres by BTC to win by two lengths and claim their fifth victory of the season.

A similar margin was achieved by the J16 girl’s quad of Evie Selway, Annabelle, Steward, Rose Collier, Lottie Pettit and Stella Gamble (cox) who stormed the race from the first stroke and never looked back crossing the line well clear of the chasing pack.

The club had two boys’ quads competing in the J14 and J16 events, with Evan Back making a fine debut in the bow seat of the J14 crew.

 Both crews finished close seconds in their finals, the results of which were invaluable as the club secured the Junior Aggregate trophy.

In the Novice sculls event, despite a solid row in the heats and semis, Arlo Adds, Esme Walters and Melody Cockayne did not progress to the finals.

However, teammate Simon Nevitt won his heat and pushed Ryde hard in the semi to just miss out on a final slot, and with several youngers scullers gaining valuable experience against much older competitors in the J16 Single sculls event Digby Ridgwell, Josh Batchelor, Connie Batley-Smith and Lottie Pettitt put in some excellent performances, with Layla Katirewa making a welcome return to secure a third place in the final.

With the final regatta of the season at Coalporters on Saturday the club will field a large junior squad and novice scullers, before final preparations get underway for the South Coast championships at Plymouth in September.