Dover Rowing Club were in action in the 68th South Coast Championship held this year at Arnold’s Point, Plymouth over a straight 1500m course. This annual season finale sees the Coast Amateur Rowing Association, Hants and Dorset, and West of England associations come together with the top two crews from each division qualifying for the Championship races. Dover’s successful season has resulted in two crews qualifying for Championship races in the Mens Senior Four and the Womens Junior Four. Anticipating difficult conditions river boats were switched for coastal boats across the event.

Dover’s Mens Senior Four crew comprised of Jasper Mallet, Will Coleman, Chris Hall, Tom Stothart coxed by Vanessa Ware, qualified with four wins, tying with Deal. The race crew were assisted in gaining qualification points by Senior Squad members Jon Cook, Nick Bailey and Alex Nash. Drawn in lane 2, Dover’s top men’s squad got a great start and were leading through first 500m with BTC in close order. As the race moved into the middle phase BTC slowly moved into the lead with Dover still pushing hard. As the crews passed the Plymouth club house there was still overlap between the two boats. The final stage of the race strongly favoured lane 6 which saw Deal enter the equation, closing fast. All three boats overlapped at the line with BTC winning and Dover settling for third in a hard fought race. Third constituted Dover’s highest finishing position in a bid to win the much desired Bideford Bowl, in the Men’s Blue Ribbon event.
Dover’s Womens Junior Four featuring Alex Henchy, Holly Hannington, Nikki Leggatt, Rosie Crosbie coxed by Nick Bailey, qualified second behind Shoreham from CARA. The following Junior Squad members contributed key points to qualifying for the championship: Emily Harvey, Ella Cook, Janice Bradford. It was going to be a tough challenge for Dover’s crew given the dominant performances of Shoreham’s first choice squad this season. A solid start saw Dover’s crew fighting in the middle of the pack with Ryde taking an early lead. At the half way point Dover were in the mix for third. The course saw Shoreham in lane 6 finish rapidly narrowly beating Ryde on the line with Dover coming fifth in a tight race for the minor places.
Dover had one entry in the open competitions, available for non-Championship crews, in the Open Masters 50+. The Masters crew was Janice Bradford, Nick Bailey, Paul Scrivener, Adam Bates (Shoreham’s CARA President) coxed by Jamie Mill (Shoreham). With no Championship race for this category the Open event becomes the defacto championship race. Dover’s crew were able to quickly gap Plymouth off the line but could not hang with two lead crews. Pushing hard Dover moved into a comfortable third place but couldn’t close down the two Hants and Dorset crews ahead of the them. Following a good row the club veterans came through the line securing third.
Dover Captain Will Coleman said, after a great season for Dover Rowing Club, ‘I genuinely appreciate you all (club members and officials) and you should all be proud of your accomplishments this year’. The club would like to thank Jacky Silk, the long running Club Secretary, for all the work she does in the background to support them.
Dover Rowing Club would also like to thank Vesta Rowing Club for offering a river boat and supporting Dover’s rowers practising on the Tideway in preparation for this event.