The British Junior and Senior Rowing Championships featured the biggest entry -15 athletes – at a UK national adaptive competition:
- AR3 1x 4 entries
- AR2/1 1x 1 entry
- W AR3 1x 5 entries
- W AR2/1 1x 3 entries
- OJ AR3 1x 2 entries
The event was a real testimony to the growth of adaptive/pararowing in the UK and the support from premier events like Brit Champs.
Stratford-upon-Avon Adaptive/Para coach Mark Dewdney and Marlow PR3 rower Ella Holloway provided a summary of the racing:
- O AR3 (Mark) – Colin Wallace, Deeside Scullers, is a class act. Has rowed in Silver Goblets at HRR, and now suffers with MS. He uses a wheelchair but can stand. The Time Trial told the others that the competition was for Silver and Bronze. SUA’s Andy Morris was good value for Silver. Sean Bailey of Runcorn and Chris Boys of Guildford had a real fight for Bronze with Sean coming out on top by a couple of lengths.
- AR2/1 (Mark) – Sadly Curtis Dickens was the only entrant revealing the dearth of talent in these categories. However, we were pleased with how it went. It was essentially a bit of hard practice for the Home internationals
- W AR3 (Ella) – It was a great race and I had some tough competition from Tara from Borlougne in France who was rowing in a Thames boat. It was great to race the men (AR3 women and men were in the same race). It was great fun and to be included with the seniors and juniors as Brit champs is very important. I think racing over 1k is great as the gap isn’t so wide (as it might be over 2k) it seemed less daunting and a bit more accessible too (I had my friend helping me).
- W AR2/1 (Mark) – Like Colin in the men’s category. Georgia Carmichael of Maidenhead was the class of the field. Coming in well ahead of her opponents. Sophie Brown of Sudbury rowed well for her silver. Guildford’s Bradshaw coming in a plucky third
- Jun O AR3 (Mark) – What looked like a close competition on paper proved not to be, This was partly due to the squall that happened around the time of the race. With gusts up to 25mph. This did not help Stratford’s 14yo Isaac Clarkson who has to row square bladed. However, Jack Donaghy, reversing the result at the JIRR was a well-deserved winner by some distance. A friendly rivalry that will see many future battles on the water.
- Overall (Mark) – I was truck by the mutual approach of adaptive competitive coaches/athletes. Long may it be so.
Congratulations to the winners and medalist) in this highly competitive field…
- Open AR ½ 1x – Curtis Dickens, Stratford-upon-Avon
- W AR1/2 1x – Sophie Brown, Sudbury
- Open AR3 1x – C Wallace, Deeside Scullers
- W AR3 1x – Ella Holloway, Marlow
To watch British Rowing coverage of the event, see minutes 9:58 through 10:13 in the video below.
