Dover Rowing Club’s Maria West-Burrows and Jo Johnston were in action in the double sculls at the British Rowing Offshore Championship held at Exmouth over a 6km course containing six turns. West-Burrows and Johnston are veterans of 3 previous world championships and were aiming to improve on their previous 4th place at the last two British Championships.

Conditions were a little too calm for the coastal crew, their preference being for rougher sea conditions. A poor start saw the experienced crew trapped behind a queue at the first buoy turn. Chasing the crews ahead through turns two and three, Dover’s crew moved past Birmingham and Thames RC crews moving up to 5th. It was clear from turn four that the leading crews had too much advantage so Dover set about securing their 5th place through to the finish.

5th place was sufficient to qualify West-Burrows and Johnston for the World Championship in Portugal in October 2021.

Dual Dover and Eastbourne RC member Tony Burrows secured a surprise 3rd place in an Eastbourne men’s double scull with Jon Osborn.

It was a winning return to competition for Dover Rowing Club as they took two wins in the first CARA regatta of the season, held at Folkestone. The Men’s Novice Four of Sebastian Steele, Sam Pile, James Hale, Jasper Mallet coxed by Emma Oliver got a great start and established a good early lead. After the buoy turn, the lead had grown to over 100m and the crew would continue to pull away as the charged to the line for a comfortable win. The second Novice crew of Kevin and Brendon Ulyatt, Eddie Briggs and Adrian Calland coxed by Cameron Mackintosh were swamped at the turn and were unable to finish.

Steele, Hale and Mallet were joined by Bo Corby in the J16 Men’s Quad with Oliver at Cox. In the shorter 1km race the young crew ground out a lead over the first half of the race to see them go over the line in first place. In the J14 Men’s Quad B Corby was joined by Josh Everington-Nee, Beau Grassby and Alex McArdle coxed by Oliver. They worked hard to chase down their rival crew in the straight 1km race and came home in second.

The Men’s Junior Fours saw Cameron Mackintosh, Matt Barnett, Eddie Briggs, Jon Cook coxed by Tony Burrows, recovering from a bad start to move into a clear second at the turn. On the run home they were unable to close down the leading crew coming in second. The Ladies Junior Fours of Maria West-Burrows, Canelle Ulyatt, Heather Corby, Krista Davis coxed by Oliver would be up against it as the crew three of the crew were novices in their first race. The crew got off to a good start and were moving well. By the turns the stronger opponents had moved clear leaving Dover’s crew still in the points coming home in sixth.
In the Ladies Novice Fours race new rowers H. Corby, C. Ulyatt, Emeline McArdle and K. Davis coxed by Chris Price worked hard as they gained vital experience. The crew pushed hard and were able to secure a point coming home sixth.

In the Veteran races K. Ulyatt, M. Barnett, E. Briggs, J. Cook coxed by Oliver raced in the Vet 40 plus. A bad start left them in a hole chasing the field working hard to close the gap. The veterans turned in 5th and were unable to improve their place when they crossed the line. Nick Bailey came home 4th in the Veteran 50 plus whilst racing in a scratch crew made up of 4 different clubs.

In the Novice Sculls C. Mackintosh toiled in vain trying to take points for the club coming home in 8th place.

The first Dover Rowing Club crews completed their 5th virtual race, rowing in crews of 4 from Papua New Guinea to Christmas Island, a distance of 4665 km. Unlike the previous races in which the whole club worked together to row, run, walk and cycle (for which only half the distance counts towards the total) across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the fifth leg was a challenging effort for the small crew. Dover rowers were joined in their endeavours by three Eastbourne rowers.

37 Coast Amateur Rowing Association crews set off for Christmas Island with Dover A Veteran 40+ crew of Tony Burrows, David Newman, Jon Osborn (ERC) and Colin Guppy (ERC) moving into third overall as the first two crews pulled clear of the pack. The all-female Dover B Veteran 40+ of Maria West-Burrows, Jo Johnston, Chrissy Purvis and Marie Cockerell were pushing hard to catch the Dover A crew, and Dover Mens Junior A squad of Adrian Callard, Matt Barnett, Cameron Mackintosh and Jon Cook were close behind. Other crews were battling out for leads within their divisions.

At the half way point the Burrows crew was holding onto third overall as Shoreham’s Senior men began to make their move whilst Dover’s Juniors, Shoreham Vets and Folkestone lead crews were also close by. With Shoreham pulling clear by mid-January the Burrows crew were being pushed hard. As the 4000 km mark was passed, Callard’s crew started to close and the crews moved into the last 600 km within a few days of each other. With Newman leading ergo distance (850 km) and sitting 2nd overall (1721 km) and Osborn leading on the bike (1338km) the Burrow’s crew held off the Callard crew, though Callard build up a massive individual overall total of 2835km. The Dover Vet A finished 4th and Mens Junior A came home in 5th two days later, taking 1st place in the Men’s Junior and Junior Senior division.

The Dover B Veteran crew lie in 8th and 2nd amongst all female crews with West-Burrows about to post the second highest individual total. Of Dover’s other crews the Women’s Novice crew of Lorna Florence Clay, Mia Donn, Morgan Evans and Beth Rose Cornford (ERC) are holding onto first place in their division. Ella and Kate Day, Jen Jordan and Saffron Walmsley-Preece are 3rd in the Womans Junior race. Men’s Junior Senior crew of Steve Woods, Tom Stothart, Chris Price and Chris Hall are in 3rd . Jacky Silk, Nick Bailey, Julie Hall and Emily Harvey are 7th in the Vet 40’s race.

Dover Rowing Club would normally gather at the start of each year to remember the passing of present and former members, family and friends of the club. Following this most difficult of years, the club wishes to pay tribute to those that have been lost.

Dover Rowing Club have completed their 4th virtual race of 7914km from Hawaii to Papua New Guinea. Racing against their Coast Amateur Rowing Association opponents Dover finished in 4th place after a neck and neck race with Bexhill. Dover’s finish secured 1st place amongst those completing the Trans-Atlantic and Pacific challenge.

The race saw Shoreham and Herne Bay power away from the 5 remaining squads, with Shoreham taking the win. Bexhill, Deal and Dover flipped flopped between the 3rd, 4th and 5th positions until a big drop of 600km by Bexhill when the clubs had completed two thirds of the course seeing them leap ahead. Whilst Dover knuckled down for the pursuit, Deal would gradually fall away. Dover’s charge was briefly stalled by the port authorities understandable decision to suspend water activity in the harbour following a positive e-coli water quality test. Dover’s members continued to log their rows, ergo, walks, runs, cycles and workouts as they closed down Bexhill. Dover had moved to within less than 100km when Bexhill claimed third and completed the course the same day.
When Dover crossed the line, they had 3 competitors within the top ten overall with Adrian Callard as leading man with 1097km from his multi-disciplined approach and Maria West-Burrows as the club’s leading lady with 695km contributed by walking and rowing. David Newman was second for Dover with 797km and was third overall for ergo (rowing machine) distance with 382km completing his personal challenge 1000km on the ergo during the event. Chrissy Purvis, Jo Johnston, Heather Corby and Kate Day weighed in with contributions of over 250km whilst the men’s division had Tony Burrows, Matt Barnett, Jon Osborn and Cameron Mackintosh above the 250km mark.
The junior section was led by Ella Day with 215km and Bo Corby at 145km with valuable contributions from Emma Oliver, Emma Spanton, Morgan Evans, Safia Corby, Scarlett Durnham-Burrows, Sebastian Steele and SJ Bamfield.
There were regular contributions from Alfie Gardner, Chris Hall, Chris Price, Jen Jordan, Jacky Silk, Jon Cook, Lorna Florence Clay, Marie Cockerell, Nick Bailey, Paul Scrivener, Saffron Walmsley-Preece, Steve Woods and Tom Stothart.
As the remaining teams move towards the finish Dover awaits confirmation of their next challenge.

Dover Rowing Club came home in fourth place in the virtual race from Panama to Hawaii covering 8099km, the third leg of their virtual rowing race competing against seven other coastal rowing clubs. It was a massive team effort with 38 club members contributing via ergo (rowing machine), by foot, bike and workouts. The bigger membership clubs, Shoreham and Deal would quickly push into the lead whilst Dover tried to stay with Herne Bay in a battle for third as they pulled away from Folkestone, Bexhill, Worthing and Dartmouth. With returns to work impacting Dover’s chase, they would eventually finish a few days behind third place Herne Bay.

There was a fast start from Maria West-Burrows that saw her enter the top ten overall competitors in the first week with big rowing scores and long walks and it was a late surge from West-Burrows that would push Dover over the finishing line and put herself back into the individual top ten finish with 614 km contribution. Other leaders in the Ladies Division were Jo Johnston and Heather Corby working across the four disciplines, Chrissy Purvis on the bike, Julie Hall on foot and Saffron Walmsley-Preece on workouts.

DRC Hasting’s Regatta 2019

Dover’s Junior section made a massive effort to drive the club forward with Emma Oliver leading the workouts category overall and Bo Corby leading the Juniors for distance with 157km, and an impressive total from young coxswain Scarlett Durnham-Burrows contributing 95km to the cause. Contributions from Ella Day, Emma Spanton, Channy Mayes, Izzy Godden, Hannah Power, Jasper Mallet, Morgan Evans, Safia Corby and SJ Bamfield all helped push Dover onwards.

Dover’s heaviest hitters would come from the Men’s Division with sport omnivore Adrian Callard eating up large chunks of distance recording by bike 200km, foot 45km and ergo 100km in separate single day hits leaving him the overall distance leader for the event with 1418km. David Newman won the tortoise and hare race for the ergo crown after seeing Callard close to within 2 km by pulling a 100km row. Newman had built a massive lead with daily morning rows that would see him finish with 459km, rating him third on the ergo overall and sixth in the individual event with 744km. Cameron Mackintosh pushed into the top ten for running when the first teams crossed the line, Tom Stothart put in big ergo scores whilst Tony Burrows on foot and Jon Cook through workouts ticked off the kilometres, with Alfie Gardner and Matt Barnett riding to land big distances for Dover.

There were valuable contributions from Jacky Silk, Nick Bailey, Paul Scrivener, Jen Jordan, Jon Osborn, Kate Day, Karen Ponsford, Marie Cockerell, Lorna Florence Clay, Steve Woods, Chris Hall, Chris Price.
Dover now look to the virtual Hawaii to Papua New Guinea leg, a further 7419km, and the hope that they can soon return to the water.

Following the tight finish to the virtual Atlantic crossing race, Dover Rowing Club were ready to take on Folkestone and Worthing on the next leg; the ‘sprint’ from virtual Antigua to virtual Panama covering 2115 kilometres. The event saw ergo (rowing machines), walking and running count directly to the kilometre totals with cycling counting half and workouts converted into distances to build towards the target. The interest in the first race led to more CARA teams joining the original three with Bexhill, Deal, Shoreham and Herne Bay as well as our friends from the west Dartmouth. With the larger membership clubs joining there was greater pressure on the Dover team to come together in their role of underdog. With permission from the race organisers, Dover also picked up the sole Eastbourne RC competitor and friend of the club Jon Osborn.

It was no surprise that Shoreham leapt out to an early lead on day one with their greater man and woman power, leaving Dover fighting initially with Folkestone and Worthing in the lower end of the table. Dover galvanised into action and steadily pulled away from their first leg opponents with big scores from Jo Johnston, Cameron Mackintosh, Matt Barnett and David Newman on the ergos; Chrissy Purvis, Heather and Bo Corby, Adrian Callard and Alfie Gardner on their bikes; Maria West-Burrows, Tony Burrows, Julie Hall on foot; Saffron Walmsley-Preece, Emma Oliver, Emma Spanton and Jon Cook on the workouts. Dover started closing ground on Deal and Bexhill. A midweek surge saw Deal take the lead with Shoreham and Bexhill above Dover. Big rides for Walmsley-Preece, Paul Scrivener and strong rows from Chris Hall and Tom Stothart drove the team on to close down Bexhill. With regular contributions from across the club including Nick Bailey, Steve Woods, Chris Price, Jen Jordan and Marie Cockerell. The youth section were also busy with Oliver Spanton, E Day, Chantel Mayes, Jasper Mallet and even the young coxswains Safia Corby and Scarlett Durnham-Burrows contributing to the race total.

When Shoreham crossed the line after 6 days of racing followed shortly by Deal the official race stats showed Callard as the leading individual with Newman ranked 5th by kilometres covered. The start of the 7th day saw a big push from Dover with good distances from Callard, Kate and Ella Day, hard cycling from Barnett and a big ergos from Newman and C Hall. With everyone contributing important scores, Dover came home in third ahead of Bexhill.

The individual stats saw Barnett and C Hall enter the top ten for individual performers, but Callard retained his lead contributing a truly impressive 241.5 kilometres cross the 7 days. Dover were shown to have the third smallest squad but the highest average distance per rower across the competition. They led in the walking distance category and came 3rd in ergo and workout performances.

Dover now look to the next stage of the race finishing in virtual Hawaii, the longest leg at 8099 kilometres

Following lockdown Dover Rowing Club move to be a ‘virtual’ club with the clubs ergos (Rowing Machines) distributed to members. The club started regular challenges to promote continued fitness, including a cross channel challenge, and to maintain support for members that might be struggling in these uncertain times. They were therefore delighted to pick up the gauntlet thrown down by Folkestone RC to compete in a virtual row of the Atlantic. Members could use a rowing machine, run, walk, workout or cycle (whether using turbo trainers, statics or normal rides counting for half the value of the rest) whilst encouraged to show awareness of current restrictions including social distancing. Dover RC and Folkestone RC were joined by Worthing RC to make it a three horse race for the 4700km to virtual English Harbour, Antigua.

The challenge brought together the racing members with the dry side members together in a competition for the first time. So with ergos in hallways, sheds and spare rooms, carefully thought out routes for runs, walks and cycle rides, Dover were ready for the off. The event also revealed the club had a ‘man machine’ in Adrian Callard who was the biggest individual contributor through the race. As the first third was completed, Dover and Worthing were neck and neck with Folkestone in the lead. Then marathon length rows, on the day scheduled for the London Marathon, came into play and Dover dropped to third. The fight back saw Callard, Chris Hall, Heather Corby, Maria West-Burrows and Jo Johnson bring the race into a three battle again. Contact was made with members who were not on the social media groups, or who had not been heard from recently, leading to valuable contributions from Nick Bailey, Saffron Walmsley-Preece, Steve Woods, Terry Kiggens, Amy Lewington and Julie Hall. Dover moved into a two way battle with Folkestone. Significant contributions from Junior members Bo Corby (rowing and cycling) and Emma Oliver amongst others with club stalwarts Jacky Silk, Chris Price, Chrissy Purvis, Jen Jordan and even their press officer David Newman saw Dover take the lead. The 10 km club came to together with Cameron Macintosh, Matt Barnett and Jon Cook as the end of the race came into sight. A big push at the weekend with Alfie Gardner, Paul Scrivener late declarations and regular contributors Tony Burrows Marie Cockerell, Lorna Florence Clay, Izzy Godden, Ella and Kate Day combined with the some big hits from Callard and C. Hall, Dover found themselves in sight of the finish. With the last 7.5 Km dropping in, Burrows raced to enter the finish message on the Coast Amateur Rowing Association page only to find the Folkestone had finished a mere 19 minutes ahead of Dover.

The inevitable conversation at the virtual bar, saw the clubs agree to race the next leg onto virtual Panama to start on Sunday the 10th May. With other clubs ready to join in, it will be a challenging race as we head towards the pacific .

Just prior to the instructions for social distancing and lockdown, the club held the official naming ceremony for their new pair / double boat the John Turnpenny named in memory of one the clubs benefactors who supported the club for many years. The boat, which arrived during last season, was pressed into immediate service being used in 4 wins by the C Hall / Tom Stothart pairing’s late run at the championship.

Dover Rowing Club held their Presentation Dinner following a successful season that saw 5 boats promoted and Novice crews sharing the overall CARA championship.

Nathan Peach, who took promotion in both sweep and sculling formats this season, received Men’s Most Improved Novice Rower and also took the prestigious Rowers Rowers award ahead of crew mate Matt Barnett.

Emma Spanton took the Most Improved Female Rower after taking her first win in the last race of her season.

The Coxswain of the Year award was presented to Emma Oliver for her work with a variety of crews throughout the season.

The Captain’s Award was shared by Jo Johnston and Maria West-Burrows who work hard for the club off the water and represented the club for the third year running at the World Offshore Championships.

Matt Barnett received the Club Person of the Year trophy for his willingness to help other crews and organising the successful Men’s Novice 4 crew.

Young Lacey Scrivener received the Helpers prize for her hard work at the the Dover Regatta.

CARA Novice awards were presented to the following rowers for gaining progression for Novice to Junior classification: Kate Day, Ella Day, Brogan Day, Nathan Peach, Jon Cook, Cameron Mackintosh and Matt Barnett

Special Awards:

More changing than training award: Chrissy Purvis and Jennifer Jordan

Topsy Turvy boat award: Izzy Godden and Hannah Power

Queen and Country award: Jo Johnston and Maria West-burrows

Keep trying you may win again one day award: Paul Scrivener

Stand and deliver coaching award: Tony Burrows

DRC are keen for new members male or female, younger or older to continue the clubs improvement into 2020. Anyone interested should contact the club via Facebook or the club’s website.

Dover rowers Matilda ‘Jo’ Johnson and Maria West-Burrows were in action in the World Rowing Coastal Championships held at Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong. With the UK qualifiers cancelled earlier this year, Johnson and West-Burrows were chosen as GBR1 based on their performances in previous British and World Championships.

The crew, who have a combined age of over 100 years, had to adjust to the hotter and more humid conditions in Hong Kong. In qualifying Dover’s finest had to race over the 4 km course, completing 6 turns and starting with a flat out charge to the first buoy over 1340m. Springing out of the congested turn the pair found themselves in mid field needing to move up to grab a qualifying spot for the A final. Caught behind FRA5 the Ladies had an issue with grip due to the moisture in the air. On the long sprint home to the finish they were unable to catch the top 8 coming home as the leading GBR crew in 11th place in a time of 23 mins 38.70 secs.

Day 2 saw the the Dover Double in the B Final also run over the 4 km course. The conditions were more coastal than last years finals which suited the Dover crew better. At the turn Dover were behind FRA5 and HKG4 with Dover edging closer at each turn. In the long sprint home their pressure began to tell as they broke HKG4 clawing back 26 secs from the 3rd timing point to the finish. They closed rapidly on FRA5 just dipping out and coming home in 7th, in a faster time than the heat of 22 mins 44.45 secs. Overall the ladies were pleased with their overall world ranking of 23 and being the highest ranked GBR crew in their event.

Dover Rowing Club received four trophies from the 2019 season at the CARA presentation dinner following an excellent season for their Novice crews.

Novice Ladies Four of Ella Day, Kate Day, Brogan Day, Kate Smith with Emma Spanton who subbed for Smith coxed this season by Tony Burrows and Emma Oliver jointly won their title with wins at the start and the end of the season. Novice Men’s Four of Cameron Mackintosh, Matt Barnett, Nathan Peach, Jon Cook with George Newman who also won a non status race with the squad coxed by Rebecca Stothart and Oliver were joint winners of their class.
Peach also jointly won the Novice Sculls title when his two wins were combined with one from Tom Stothart. With all four boats progressing to Junior level in the season it was pleasing to see Dover share the overall Novice Aggregate.

The trophies were picked up by Jacky Silk who is presently CARA President and Jo Johnston.