Lymington rowers are the hosts with the most as medals rack up

LYMINGTON ARC hosted their home regatta and the first of the Hants and Dorset season last Saturday. The club managed to win four of the races and gaining a further eleven podiums.

The first success of the day came from the juniors as two races consisted of the J16 rowing quads and fours, Lymington managed a second and third finish in both J16 races.

Up next was the new combination of Kirsty Melin and Jane Wild in the Ladies Junior Pair. After a good start, the crew broke away from the pack to finish a resounding second place.

The Ladies Master 40s crew of Emma Butcher, Amanda Llewelyn, Rebecca Mayman, Juliet Memery, Terry Woolford (Cox) followed and gained fourth spot.

With the conditions still relatively calm for Milford, it was time for the sculling events, first up was Kenny Chalk in a tough field of senior men. Chalk crossed the line in fifth in his race.

First winner

The first Lymington win of the day came in the Men’s junior race. Richard Wadsworth managed to pull away at the turns and continued extending his lead for the return leg of the course.

Behind him was Alex Barnes who was in a close battle for second place against Christchurch. After pushing hard, Barnes pushed to get ahead of Christchurch just before the line, giving Lymington a first and second finish.

Club Captain Livvi Bull was first across the line in the Ladies Junior. While, Ellie Potter was the last sculler of the day to earn a podium spot. After a collision off the start with Itchen’s sculler, the race was restarted. Potter kept her cool to gain second in the Ladies Novice.

The 2018 Men’s Masters over 40s Championship winning crew of Marc Tremain, Mike Leyland, Hugo Mills, Pete Lock and Evie Kite (Cox) followed Potter’s good performance and after a strong start which put them out in front, the masters held onto their lead, bringing home another first-place finish to keep the winning streak going.

Rougher conditions

The Ladies’ novice four of Anna Melin, Ellie Potter, Lena Mills, Eliza Butcher and Tim Bull (Cox), won their heat and managed to place second in the final despite rougher conditions on the water. The Women’s junior crew also battled the conditions and claimed third place.

Another new combination of Samuel Botting and Richard Wadsworth in Men’s senior pair managed a sixth place against a strong field. Botting and Wadsworth then jumped into a scratch crew along with Brian Goodall and Alex Barnes, to race men’s Junior/Senior fours where they finished a couple of lengths down in second after a strong row.

With a very successful day of racing and many podiums meant that Lymington had won the overall most amount of points taking home the Victor Ludorums Trophy. Evie Kite also picked up Cox of the day having coxed the Masters to first place.

Lymington ARC would like to thank everyone who was involved in running and organisation of the regatta.