This year, we took three open crews and one championship crew to the South Coast Championships in Netley. This is where three organisations come together to race at the end of each of their respective seasons.
It was a cold start to the day for our Junior men crew, who battled hard in their heat in flat water conditions.
Our Junior Women then headed out in the third heat to fight for a place in their final against crews much better prepared for the flat-water conditions. A close finish at the end of the 1800m course saw the crew of Tabitha McConnell, Andrea Faulkner, Jade Needham and Mia Webb narrowly miss out on a spot in the final, coming in a respectable third place against some tough competition.
The morning became busy with our newly formed novice men’s crew launching closely followed by our Championship Masters40 crew. The crew of Jon Osborn, Gary Hammond, Trevor Back & Lewis Bacon had worked hard this season to consistently make the top three, putting them a close second place in the CARA league and therefore eligible for selection for the Championship statue race. Coxed by Tabitha McConnell, the crew had a challenging start when the race was paused and restarted after just 200m. The crew remained focused and fought hard to achieve third place on the flat water, putting them the first CARA crew over the finish line.
The first of many SCC for our Novice Men with all our rowers already excited and planning for next season!
We now move into winter training to prepare for the 2025 season!
