Eastbourne & Worthing Report

Bexhill Rowers stretched their lead following mixed results from Eastbourne Regatta and Dover Regatta held over the last two weekends. These were the 5th & 6th regattas is the series marking the half-way point of the season. Whilst the club leads the way in the CARA League Championship with 494pts from Deal with 395pts there is still much work to be done claw back some points in the Individual championships.
The 2015 season is tuning into one of the most competitive for some time with lots of different clubs winning races and no one club dominating as we have seen in previous years. This provides some excellent races for spectators and shows Bexhill RC are going to have to work hard to retain the League Title.
In the first race of the day at Eastbourne, the ladies U16 quad of Millie Jones, Charlie Copper, Abbie Little and Laura Quinn produced their best result of the season to take 2nd behind Shoreham.
Early Success in the regatta came from Kieran Cahill winning the Mens Senior Sculls, with Phil McCorry 5th and Doug Holdway 6th. Kieran however could only manage 2nd at Dover and now trails the championship 4-2. The only other win of the day at Eastbourne came in the Mens Senior Pairs with Doug Holdaway and Matt Hellier securing the 5th win of the season for the club, with only two wins now needed to retain the championship for Bexhill. Matt Hellier teamed up with Kieran at Dover taking the 6th win of season, so can now secure the championship at Southsea and retain the championship for he club.
In the other pairs events at Dover the ladies Senior Pair of Claire Cahill and Katie Skelton scored vital points in by coming home in 3rd, a position repeated by the Junior mens pair of Will Knapp and Martyn Matt. Improvements in steering meant the Junior B pair of Lewis Sealy and Adam secured their best finish of the season by coming 4th at Dover with the newly formed ladies junior pair of Maya Coussens and Jess Plail also came 4th.
Good points were obtained in other events with the Mens Junior Four of Martyn Matt, Adam Baker, Will Knapp and Lewis Sealy producing their best row of the season pushing Deal all the way to come home in second, but dropping to 3rd at Dover. The Senior Ladies scratch crew of Abbie Little, Georgia Pepper, Maisie Hill and Katie Skelton rowed the conditions well to obtain 2nd place and some vital points for the club, but with change in crew for Dover they came a creditable 3rd. Moving on the Vets 40’s Bexhill came home in 3rd place with the crew consisting of Andy Strevens, Chris Doswell, Warren HM and Rambo Picard rowing the choppy conditions well.
In the novice events the Mens crew of Tim, Toby, Tom and Kieran came home in 3rd on both days despite suffering some damage to the rigger at the turns at Eastbourne. The Novice Ladies A crew continue to score well coming home in 4th place with the B crew just outside of the points. The highlight of Dover regatta was the ladies novice crew (pictured) of Jess Plail, Maya Coussens, Jany Blatcher and Haz Purcell winning in style against a tough field. This was the crews 2nd win and so they are now promoted to Junior Status.
In the mens Novice Sculls, Martyn Matt came home in a solid second at both regattas, still chasing that win with Josh Green edging out club mate Will Knapp at Eastbourne to pick up his first point in the event by finishing 6th.