Itchen Imperial once again stamped their authority on the Senior Fours Championship with a comfortable win over Coalporters and Ryde at their home regatta on Saturday. Itchen Imperial’s Senior Four W Harrison, A Bator, M Wardell, T Foad (Stk) with Robyn McGregor- Ritchie (Cox) returning after their mid season break had it sown up at the turning buoys and had the luxury of a three lengths lead as they came in sight of the finish.
On this sprint course from Cross House to Ocean Village and back, covering just 800 metres, crews have little time to find boat run and only the fittest claimed the glory. In the Junior Senior Fours Poole looked certain of the point after disposing of both the Championship Leaders Westover and Southampton in their semi final but Newport, with A Wood, R Kettlety, O Hayward, J Daish (Stk) l Crook (Cox) after their 2 1/2 length win over BTC in their semi had enough in the tank to hold the Championship contenders throughout the race, getting their final stroke in first to win by 2 foot.
In the mens junior fours Westover took the steam out of BTC A and B in the early rounds and had 1 1/2 lengths to spare over Christchurch B in the final to almost certainly secure them their place in the South Coast Championships. In the Ladies racing Christchurch got back on terms with BTC to make it five wins each with just two regattas remaining, whilst Itchen Imperial continued to dominate both the Ladies Senior and Junior racing. Southampton with Sonia Buss, Katy Wood, Hazel Atkins, Jess Walbridge and Olivia Hitchens (Cox) gained Junior Status with their second Novice Ladies win of the season, maintaining control from the start, finishing 5 lengths clear of a Newport / Itchen Imperial composite crew who had impressed in the first round.
A growing entry in the J16 Events looks promising for the future with seven of the Association’s affiliated clubs boating crews, with J Smith of Ryde and L Gooch of BTC showing great promise in winning the Single Sculls events, whilst the winning Fours Crews from Itchen (Girls) and Southsea (Boys) are already testing their burgeoning skills in the Mens and Ladies Novice races. Events in the Coastal Double Sculls is also increasing in popularity with BTC winning the Mens event and Newport the Ladies but at most Coastal Regatta timing and tides are a restricting factor.
This coming Saturday Clubs return to Southampton’s Weston Shore for the BTC Regatta Scheduled to start at 10.35am.
Results
Mens
Senior Fours 1 Itchen Imperial A, 2 Coalporters A, 3 Ryde A
Masters +40 Fours 1 Itchen Imperial A, 2 BTC A.
Junior Seniors Fours 1 Newport A, 2 Poole A.
Junior Fours 1 Westover A, Christchurch B.
Novice Fours 1 Southsea A, 2 Southampton / Westover Composite. 3 Christchurch A.
Senior Pairs 1 BTC B, 2 BTC A.
Junior Pairs 1 Westover A, 2 Westover B.
Senior Sculls 1 Itchen (Foad), 2 = BTC (R Hume), Itchen (Riceman)
Junior Sculls 1 Coalporters (Williams), 2 Shanklin (Murray).
Novice Sculls 1 BTC (Ratcliffe), 2 Westover (Kay).
Double Sculls 1 BTC A, 2 Poole A.
Boys J16 Fours 1 Ryde A, 2 Southsea A, 3 BTC A.
Boys J16 Sculls 1 Itchen (Newbold), 2 Ryde (Smith).
Ladies
Senior Fours 1 Itchen Imperial A, 2 Coalporters A.
Masters +40 Fours 1 Christchurch A, 2 BTC A, 3 Poole A.
Junior Fours 1 Itchen Imperial A, 2 Westover A, 3 Poole B.
Novice Fours 1 Southampton A, 2 Newport / Itchen Composite.
Senior Pairs 1 Itchen Imperial A, 2 Itchen Imperial B.
Junior Pairs 1 Lymington A, 2 BTC A.
Senior Sculls 1 Itchen (Bull), 2 Itchen (K McGregor-Ritchie), 3 Itchen (Wardell)
Junior Sculls 1 BTC (Green), 2, Poole ( Hill).
Novice Sculls 1 Itchen (Daniels) 2 Southampton (Florence)
Double Sculls 1 Newport A, 2 BTC A.
Girls J16 Fours 1 Itchen Imperial A, 2 BTC A.
Girls J16 Sculls 1 BTC (Gooch), 2 Poole (Hill)
John Bailey