Stratford storm to medal success in South of England champs

ROWING

STRATFORD-upon-Avon Boat Club’s junior squad and their parents braved Storm Ciara on Sunday to attend the annual South of England Indoor Rowing Championships in Abingdon run by Hinksey Sculling School.

The championship started with the individual events with the J15 girls five minutes category first.

Ruby Howells and Fleur Griffiths finished with exactly the same distance gaining themselves the silver medals. Bella Chappelhow finished just one metre behind them to take the bronze, with Freya Watts finishing in a very respectable seventh place.

In the J15 boys’ five minutes race. Tomi Wilcock took the silver nine metres behind gold with Will Beattie in sixth and Toby Sartain in twelfth place.

Will Clarke was the only J16 taking part and despite suffering from a virus, he finished in a very good eighth place.

The day culminated with the relays over 3,000m and medals for the Stratford quartets.

The open team of Wilcock, Beattie, Sartain and Lucy Browne in a brilliant third place to secure the bronze medal while the girls’ team of Howells, Chappelhow, Griffiths and Watts won the title for the second consecutive year picking up the gold medals.

For more, see this week's Herald.