Dover Rowing Club had a successful weekend at Herne Bay and Folkestone Regattas where DRC secured 4 wins and one CARA Championship. The first win saw Ella Cook, Holly Hannington, Nikki Leggatt, Emily Harvey coxed by Vanessa Ware compete against a second Dover crew of Lily Stafford-Edwards, Zara White, Rhiannon Castree, Janice Bradford coxed by Lee Stampton in the Woman’s Junior four. Ware’s crew got a fantastic start and were able to move ahead of the field. An excellent turn further enhanced their lead which stretched to a commanding multi length as the crew took the easy win. Stampton’s crew of novice rowers acquitted themselves well at the higher level just missing out on points in eighth place. At Folkestone, Dover entered one boat and Bradford replaced E Cook in Ware’s crew. They came home in third place.
Jasper Mallet competed in the Open Junior Sculls at both regattas. Drawn in an unfavoured outside lane at Herne Bay, he started well and worked hard to overcome the disadvantage. Through the turn Mallet was in third but quickly moved into second and started to close on the leading sculler. Sprinting hard he came up short by a couple of inches. Folkestone was a different story, Mallet flew off the line and was in control from the off. He navigated the turn and comfortably held off the Eastbourne Sculler to take his third win of the season. The result secured DRC the CARA Junior Sculls Championship when combined with teammate Chris Hall’s two previous wins.

Open Novice Four saw Sonny Varnes-Stone, Jack Castree, Oliver White, Paul Scoles coxed by Nick Bailey have a steady start into the middle of the field going to the turns. They would eventually come home fifth. At Folkestone Henry Cox replaced Scoles and Ware coxed the crew, which consisted of the Open J16 crew that had finished second in the earlier Quad Sculls event. The young crew charged off the start in the Novice race and were immediately ahead of their rivals, dominating the race they led through the turns. On the return leg the crew continued to extend their lead resulting in a comfortable multi length win. A second Dover crew of Alex Henchy, Steve Bradford, Paul Scoles and Alex Sutherland coxed by Stampton came home seventh. Varnes-Stone, J Castree, O White were joined by E Cook in the Open Junior Four coxed by Bailey finishing eighth.
Woman’s Novice Four saw two crews compete at Herne Bay; Stafford-Edwards, Z White, R Castree, Henchy coxed by Ware and J Bradford, Lucy Castree, Antya Markin, Debbie Thomas coxed by Stampton. Both crews performed well with Ware’s crew finishing fourth and Stampton’s coming home in ninth. At Folkestone J Bradford replaced Stafford-Edwards in Ware’s crew whilst Stampton coxed a crew of Jo Matcham, Thomas, L Castree, Louise Fitzsimmons. Ware’s crew started well and slowly moved into the lead. A sharp turn saw them pull clear of the chasing crews and they drove hard all the way to the line taking the win. Stampton’s crew would finish ninth after a steady performance.
The Novice wins were family affairs as mother and son combination of Z White and O White were joined by siblings J Castree and R Castree in taking the top spots.
Leggatt continued her improvement in the Woman’s Novice Sculls. In the Herne Bay event she had a good start and was well placed. Safely navigating her turn Leggatt was pushing the Herne Bay Sculler over the last 200m but was unable to take the win finishing a close second. The pattern was repeated at Folkestone where Leggatt was chasing down a Shoreham sculler only to miss out on the win by less than a canvas at the finish.
Mallet was joined by Will Coleman in the Open Senior Pairs. Starting well Dover’s pair found themselves chasing the Deal crew. Through the turn Dover’s pair couldn’t close the gap, only beginning to catch Deal in the later stage of the race. They ran out of water coming home second. At Folkestone there was a three way battle for the lead but over the course the Dover pair couldn’t overcome their opponents finishing third.
In the Open Senior Fours in Herne Bay Jon Cook, Coleman, Mallet, Tom Stothart coxed by Ware started well but couldn’t hold onto the two lead crews from Herne Bay and Deal. Despite a good turn, Ware’s crew remained comfortably in third, unable to reel in the leading crews at the line. At Folkestone the venerable Bailey, who at 70 is mixing with top tier coastal rowing, replaced Cook. The crew had a good start but again found themselves dropping to third as they came out of their turn. Closing on the second place Shoreham crew they were not able to come through again finishing in third place.
J16 Woman’s crew of R Castree, E Cook, Hollie Castree, Holly Young coxed by Stampton finished third at Herne Bay, with H Castree securing second in the J14 with Shoreham only missing out on the win at the line. In Folkestone Holly Dunham replaced E Cook in a crew coxed by Ware and they finished fourth. In Folkestone H Castree, Young, Dunham with Alex from Herne Bay coxed by Stampton finished third. Open J16 had H Castree, O White, J Castree, Varnes-Stone coxed by Stampton finish third in their race at Herne Bay.
Stothart competed in the Open Senior Sculls finishing fourth at Herne Bay and third at Folkestone.
Woman’s 40+ had J Bradford, Debbie Thomas, Z White, Leggatt coxed by Stampton finish in a strong fourth place, a performance they would repeat at Folkestone. In the Open 40+ at Herne Bay, S Bradford, Scoles, Markin, J Cook where coxed by Mallet to fifth place.
Leggatt and Hannington competed in the Woman’s Junior Pairs at Herne Bay and Folkestone finishing fifth and sixth respectively.
Stothart and Varnes-Stone finished fourth at Herne Bay and Stothart would repeat the performance with J Castree at Folkestone. Varnes-Stone joined Cox at Folkestone finishing ninth in a promising row from young pairing.
The Woman’s Double Scull races Harvey and Young finished sixth at both regattas, with Z White and R Castree finishing seventh and fifth with Leggatt and H Castree coming home eight at Folkestone.