Dartmouth Rowing Club were up representing WEARA at the 61st South Coast Championships at Dorney Lake in Eton, the venue for the rowing in the London 2012 Olympics earleir this month.

The South Coast Championships brings together the three rowing associations on the south coast; West of England, Hants and Dorset and Coastal; Dartmouth took several junior crews and their senior ladies crew were invited to represent the region in the pinnacle women’s event, the Ladies Senior Championship. With pristine racing conditions and the sun out, DARC were ready to make an impression on other crews.

First out was the ladies’ J16 quad of Alice Middleton, Ellie Langman, Maddie Luck, Nadine Smith and cox Jenny Pichowski. After qualifying through their heat the girls fought it out with fellow WEARA crew Castledore the whole way down the course, crossing the line in fourth. This was soon followed by the men’s J14 quad, sponsored by Childrens Hospice South West. Crew Torin Peel, Eva Baumback of Dart Totnes, James Wilson, Josh Pichowski and cox Tess Preston pulled away to an amazing first 500m and crossed the line in an amazing second place out of seven crews; a spectacular effort.

Next up was the men’s J16 double of Olly Smith and Lewis Sharam, who had an easy qualification through their heat but had a slightly harder time in their final, winning at the second time of asking after a dead heat in the first run.

Pinnacle race of the day for the juniors was the men’s J16 coxed quads.

With a full start line, the Dartmouth crew of Torin Peel, Olly Smith, Lewis Sharam, Josh Pichowski and cox Tess Preston sat just a few lanes over from WEARA rivals Bideford Blues, not knowing what any of the other crews were going to be like at all.

Giving it everything off the start line the boys found themselves a length clear by the 500m mark and held the lead to be declared winners of the South Coast Championships!

The second half of the day was for senior racing crews and after a long wait, the ladies’ senior crew of Emma Rees, Tess Preston, Anna Lloyd, Joe Langmead and cox Jenny Pichowski had a tough 2km race, double the distance they are used to.

With Southampton Coalporters out in first place, the DARC girls battled to an amazing third place.

All crews would like to thank their sponsors, the MJ14 sponsor Childrens Hospice South West and the WJ14 sponsor of Cafe Alf Rescos.

In addition, the club is now welcoming any new recruits for the coming season - now is the time to join! Please contact Tess Preston at tess.preston@hot

mail.co.uk