Junior Totnes rowers enjoyed first, second and third place success when they travelled to Dorney Lake for the Ball Cup Regatta. Louise Hawkyard started her rowing career off as she means to go on by winning her first ever race in the junior 12 single sculls event with a blistering performance. This is the first win a Dart Totnes based junior has had in the Ball Cup. Louise is the daughter of Totnes Rowing Club veterans

and coaches Will and Maggie Hawkyard and comes from a long line of rowers in the club with grandmother Jennie Full rowing occasionally at Totnes.

 

This Regatta combines 2 events; the Ball Cup for schools with smaller boat clubs or schools that have links to local clubs, and the Championship events for J11s to J13s. The Championship events are, in effect, the unofficial national championships at these age groups.

 

James Lovering was the only Totnes rower in a championship event and took an excellent second place in the J13 single sculls. Ember Lagden completed the day by coming third out of eleven juniors in the J14 singles. This was a well organised competition and excellent weather made for a great day. One that will be repeated with Totnes junior rowers in the future.

 

On Sunday 14^th May the West Region’s junior rowing squad competed at the national Junior Inter-Regional Championships in Nottingham. The team, selected at a regional time trial in March, was made up of juniors from 8 clubs from across Devon and Cornwall. With coaches and supporters accompanying the juniors, a total team of 90 people made the trip to Nottingham.

 

The event saw the West compete against 11 other regions from across the country. After heats, the fastest 6 crews went through to the ‘A’ final, with the other 6 competing in the ‘B’ final. Standout performances of the day came from the Grenville College RC J16 coxless pair, and the Bideford Reds RC J14 coxed quad, both of whom made the ‘A’ final, narrowly missing out on medals. Also performing well were the WJ14 single sculler from Exeter RC, the WJ15 double scull from Bideford Reds RC, and the J14 double scull of Ember Lagden and James Lovering from Dart Totnes RC, all of whom had won their ‘B’ final.

 

Also competing from DTARC were Stuart Cock and Lewis Van Diggle (J15 double scull), Claire Gardner and Christie Rhys-Brown (WJ14 double scull), Tim Whittet (J15 single), Rose Willoughby (WJ16 single), Catherine Wiseman and Sophie Glenn-Cox (WJ16 double). The event provided valuable experience to all the juniors involved, and all crews can take credit for holding their own against high quality national level competition.

 

Clubs will now turn their attention to the local regatta season, and competing for West of England championships, the first of which is Totnes and Bridgetown Royal Regatta on Saturday June 3rd. Starting at 9:30 in the morning it caters for all the championship categories, veteran, junior and the usual spectacular eights races. Totnes rowing club enjoys some of the best facilities for spectators to watch these events on the 1000 metre course finishing just up river from the club with it's balconies and riverside views just a few feet away from refreshments and the bar inside the recently opened clubhouse. The club hopes for good weather and lots of Totnesians cheering on the home crews. This year local entry numbers are huge and Totnes looks like dominating the opposition through sheer weight of numbers.

 

 

Alan Langmaid, vice chairman and PR for Dart-Totnes ARC