Christchurch Rowing Club strong showing in winter time-trial
CHRISTCHURCH Rowing Club took a strong contingent to the West Country for their first winter time-trial at the Avon Autumn Head of the River hosted by Avon County Rowing Club.
The first crew on was the men’s coxless four of Sam Erwin, James McKenna, Ned Clarke and Gian-Luc Angilioni. Despite the impediment of another crew, Christchurch put in a strong performance to beat Minerva Bath on their home water by less than a second, recording a time which proved to be the fastest of the day among the four-oared boats.
The women’s masters squad, looking to build on a strong coastal season this year, chose to focus on improvement rather than the result and the squad was mixed across four boat classes in the day’s two racing divisions.
The women’s masters eight of Julie Eddicot, Sara Glen, Tara Myring-McCullach, Julia Fabrizzi, Laura Campbell, Emma Fairclough, Faye Standley, Rachael Williams with Vicky Robinson (cox), piled down the course beating the only other women’s eight in their division but, more importantly, in a time that was faster than the five crews in the later division. A masters class win but also the fastest women’s eight of the day.
The remainder of the squad formed a coxed four to race in the women’s open competition. Jayne Caudwell, Emma Moran, Lucy Hart, Alli Fortt with Jess Myring-McCullach (cox) stuck to their guns in their race.
They remain calm under pressure from City of Bristol crew early on, holding their pace to row away from them over the second half of the course. It was not quite enough on the day as Bristol’s time was a second faster across the line.
Division four saw a reshuffle of the eight with Caudwell, Eddicott, Myring-McCullach, Glen, Campbell, Moran, Fortt, Hart with Robinson (cox) in the women’s open event. The crew set a lively tempo across the 3.25km course.
It was not fast enough to beat their colleagues from the earlier division, but it was strong enough to win the Open event.
The coxed four combination of Standley, Fairclough, Fabrizzi, Williams with Myring-McCullach (cox) were unopposed in the masters class, so there was no medal. But it was a strong performance nonetheless in a time comparable with the coxed fours in the other classes.
