Dover Rowing Club made their second visit this year to the Itchen river in Southampton, in the BTC Head Race 2025. Club Captain Will Coleman and Jasper Mallet joined together to race in the River and Coastal Pairs races over the 5km course.

The Men’s River Open Pairs race saw Dover’s crew pitted against a pair from the University of Portsmouth. Both crews got a strong start as they raced with the tide and by the midpoint Coleman and Mallet had pushed out to a significant lead. Dover’s crew successfully navigated the bridges and passed four other boats. Kicking on to the finish Coleman and Mallet crossed the line with a clear win in a time of 19 minutes 08 seconds. Their opponents finished in a time of 20 minutes 17 seconds.

In the second division race against the tide, Dover faced a host BTC crew in the Senior Pairs Coastal boats. Dover’s pair set off in pursuit of BTC and were maintaining close contact until, at the second bridge, they got caught behind a Woman’s Quad crew who they could only pass once they cleared the bridge. Now behind and chasing, the Dover crew started to feel the fatigue of the earlier race. At the line Coleman and Mallet finished second in a time of 21 minutes 08 seconds. BTC finished in 20 minutes 26 seconds.

Dover Rowing Club’s Junior squad competed in the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships. The Championship was run virtually for the first time leading to 7834 entries overall. The competition pitched clubs, state and private schools against each other.
DRC Captain Will Coleman was very impressed with the performance of the young rowers who competed across various age categories. Dover’s 15 competitors submitted 18 entries resulting in an initial racking of 80th and narrowly beating local rivals Folkestone. When the rankings were examined they had been skewed by strong individual entries taking the higher places when compared to club and school team entries. Removing the single rowers from the list, and looking only at the team / club entries in the competition, Dover’s squad ranked 54th nationally.

The Dover squad consisted of:
Year 7: Riley Danko
Year 8: Hollie Castree, Holly Dunham, Erin Sanders, Oliver White
Year 9: Holly Young, Jess Clements
Year 10: Rhiannon Castree, Henry Cox
Year 11: Jack Castree, Sonny Varnes-Stone, Orla Sanders, Ella Cook
Year 13: Evie Holland, Alex Sutherland
There were some stand out performances with Henry Cox finishing 14th in a field of 548. He completed 1434m in 5 minutes, with an excellent 250m split of 01:44.5. Ella Cook was 19th out of 190 after completing 1519m in 6 minutes, with a split of 01:58.5. Jack Castree was 37th recording 1671m in 6 minutes, with a split of 01:47.7 and Sonny Varnes-Stone 56th with 1575m and a split of 01:54.3 out of 238.
The Club would like to thank Jacky Silk for completing all the admin for the competitors.

Dover Rowing Club had a successful start to the 2025 season competing in the Southampton Coastal Head of the River Race and the Adur Head.
At Southampton, Senior Pair Jasper Mallet and Will Coleman, started well chasing down the two BTC crews setting off before them in time trial format. Rowing a good course, Dover’s crew were progressing well when they caught a Junior Pair from Worthing already on the course. Poor steering from Worthing led to a collision which held Dover’s crew up, leaving them to come home fourth in a time of 19 min 32 sec. At the Adur Head the Dover pair had a storming race, determined to make up for the disappointment in Southampton. Racing with the tide in their favour, they rapidly closed down the Bexhill crew in front of them and started picking off the Men’s Double crews released earlier in the time trial. Eating through the doubles, the Dover crew crossed the line in second, after being released in seventh, easily securing the first place result in the Senior Pairs in a time of 14 min 29 sec.

Tom Stothart competed in the Senior Sculls events both days. Stothart had been battling illness leading into the events and had to work hard to fulfil his potential. This paid off with a strong second place in Southampton, finishing in 18 min 54 sec. On the Adur, Stothart was looking good for the win as he powered down the course. Misfortune set in at the start of the final 750m straight when his fixed shoes separated from their footplate. Despite this challenge, Stothart managed hold on for second place in a time of 14 min 37 sec.
Dover had two crews in the Woman’s Double Sculls, Emily Harvey and Janice Bradford racing against Holly Hannington and Alex Henchy in her first ever race. Competing against crews with better knowledge of the course, the new combinations acquitted themselves well, with Harvey / Bradford coming home in fifth in 23 min 42 sec and Hannington and Henchy in sixth in 24 min 55 sec. Hannington and Harvey combined for the Double Sculls on the Adur. Their race was against the tide and saw them face strong cross winds. A determined performance saw them home in second place behind a strong Shoreham crew in a time of 20 min 27 sec.
Nikki Leggatt made her debut in a sculls race on the Adur after working hard in the off season to prepare for the challenge. Despite the strong cross winds, Leggatt performed well placing third behind two Shoreham scullers on their home course, in a time of 21 min 55 sec.
A late seat change saw the Woman’s Novice Crew having to race in the Junior category. The crew of Bradford, Leggatt, Henchy, Harvey coxed by Hannington, performed well with a strong start and a hard driving finish where they secured an excellent third place in a time of 16 min 42 seconds.