Lymington Rowing Club victorious on the Solent earlier this month

LYMINGTON Amateur Rowing Club put in a good performance on the River Itchen earlier this month after their main event, the Women’s Eights Head of the River Race (weHORR) was cancelled due to bad weather.

The ladies’ eight ladies crew have trained throughout the winter months with an end goal to race at the event, which is the largest women’s rowing race in the world held on the tideway. It hosts more than 2500 rowers over a gruelling 6.8 km course.

All planned preparations were cancelled one by one due to flooded rivers and poor conditions, and the final blow came when weHORR itself was called off due to the River Thames being on Red Board, so the opportunity was out of reach yet again.

However, a BTC Head race gave just four of the eight weHORR crew a chance to test out their winter fitness and race with a four-mile time-trial course on the River Itchen.

The LARC ladies put out a strong and composed race, overtaking one rival at the midway point then pressed on to beat the favourites and win the senior ladies race, with the fastest ladies time of the day.

Other strong performances came from Kenny Chalk who won the Veterans’ men’s skull and Sam Botting who crossed the line first in the Novice men’s skull. There were also positive outings from Ellie Porter and the U16 boys’ squad.