ROWING - Stratford-upon-Avon Boat Club enjoy success at British Rowing Indoor Championships and Wycliffe Small Boats Head - The Stratford Observer

ROWING - Stratford-upon-Avon Boat Club enjoy success at British Rowing Indoor Championships and Wycliffe Small Boats Head

Stratford Editorial 7th Dec, 2021   0

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON Boat Club won gold at the British Rowing Indoor Championships and also claimed 11 medals at the annual Wycliffe Small Boats Head.

 

Cara Berisford-Murray dominated the Year Eight girls 500 metre sprint event to win the gold medal having earlier claimed silver in the three-minute race – finishing 1.5 lengths behind the eventual winner.

 




And the club also enjoyed success at the Wycliffe Small Boats Head competition – claiming a total of 11 medals consisting of six silver and five bronze – on the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal.

 


Junior Co-ordinator and J13 coach Steve Wellstead was elated with Cara’s performance in just her first year of rowing.

 

Wellstead said: “A truly magnificent start to her rowing career and results of which she can be proud!”

 

This year’s British Rowing Indoor Championships took place in a fully virtual format with athletes competing from their living rooms, conservatories, garden sheds and garages across the globe.

 

And Cara’s victory came on the same weekend Stratford claimed an impressive medal haul in the Wycliffe Small Boats Head.

 

The club began the day with bronze in the WJ14 coxed quadruple scull as Lucy Yang (cox), Poppy Baines, Alexandra Francis, Meg Nuttall and Lily Warren came home in third in Division 1.

 

And Stratford then took silver in the J14 coxed quadruple scull with James Albrighton (cox), Seth Vondrak, Ollie Rowlands, Sophie Evans and Alice Jones producing a commanding performance in Division 3.

 

The club’s J15 athletes also impressed with Lucy Sartain taking silver in the WJ15 1x category, Will Dalrymple-Baker claiming bronze in the OJ15 1x in a time of 11 minutes 58.9 seconds and Will and Jamie Wilcock collecting bronze in the OJ15 2x, in a time of 10mins 37.9secs.

 

Charles Happel was the only J16 competing in the OJ16 1x event and set a silver medal winning time of 11mins 11.6secs to finish ahead of strong opposition from Queens Park High and Hereford Cathedral.

 

Stratford’s J17/18 Performance Squad won bronze in the open doubles event courtesy of Toby Sartain and Will Beattie with both Freya Watts (WJ17) and Amelie Sartain (WJ18) placing second overall in their respective singles races in Division 1.

 

And in Division 2 Watts and Sartain raced alongside Fleur Griffiths and Lucy Browne in the WJ18 quad event – competing against teammates Ruby Howells, Harriet Holmes, Martha Usselmann and Elisabeth Edwards – as the two teams finished eleventh and twelfth respectively in a strong field.

 

Tomi Wilcock and Will Beattie also raced in Division 2 and achieved fifth place in the open J18 doubles event.

 

Lastly, in Division 3, Usselmann stepped into the WJ18 doubles event to replace an injured teammate alongside Holmes to finish fourth ahead of clubmates Griffiths and Howells in fifth.

 

And Stratford rounded off the day in style in the open J17 singles event as T. Wilcock came home in second with T. Sartain third whilst Christine Goodwin and Gina Fusco of Stratford Masters squad also competed in the doubles event.

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