Dover Rowing Club’s secretary Jacky Silk had a busy time before Brighton and Hove Regatta requesting late entries due to Dover’s returning university contingent. Silk’s work paid dividends in the Men’s Novice Sculls as Tom Stothart was able to race alongside Club Captain Tony Burrows. Whilst Burrows found the competition too hot to handle in the enlarged field Tom Stothart showed his improved technique as he powered off the line threading a route to avoid paddle boarders on the course. At the turn Tom Stothart was first but in the unfavoured outside lane, driving hard he moved more inshore increasing his lead on the return leg and winning by several lengths. Burrows came home in 10th.

The first race of the day had seen Lucy Horton, Rebecca Stothart, Morgan Evans, Jade Jordan coxed by Burrows racing in the J16 Ladies Quad Sculls. The young crew fought hard with two older crews jumping out into an early lead. Dover’s ladies fought hard to remain in contention for 3rd place before dropping back to 5th at the finishing line. There was improved fortune for Jordon in her first sweep race where she joined a Herne Bay Novice Ladies 4. Jordon appeared to initially struggle with this unfamiliar crew before finding her rhythm. Turning first, they increased their lead scoring a comfortable win.

Jo Johnston lined up next in the Ladies Sculls race an event she has championed to return to the CARA events calendar. Johnston had a good start in a large field and was fighting for third at the turn. A problem slowed her in the last quarter before she kicked on to hold off an Eastbourne sculler taking 5th place.

The Men’s Junior Pairs saw the Dover field two crews of Chris Hall / Tom Stothart and Josh Cullen / Ed Thomas. A good start saw both Dover crews up with the leaders at the 500m point with Hall / Stothart fighting the strong Herne Bay pair for first. Cullen / Thomas struggled a little with steering taking the widest line. Hall / Stothart pursued the Herne Bay crew to the to the line taking second. Cullen / Thomas worked hard on the return leg and finished in the points in 5th place.

The Ladies Senior Pairs saw Johnston and Maria West-Burrows on the water. The pairing who prefer rougher conditions had a good start see them just behind the leading boats as they neared the turn. On the return they set their sights on the third placed Shoreham crew. Pushing hard the veteran rowers started to close as the line approached gaining an overlap before running out of water, leaving them in 4th.

Hall, Dover’s sole entry in the Men’s Junior Sculls, was a little behind from the start as he pushed towards the outer buoys. Turning second Hall was leading his Uni rowing captain at 1750m only to fade under pressure as the line approached leaving him in 3rd.

Thomas, Hall, Cullen, Tom Stothart coxed by Jordon were out in the Men’s Junior Fours. A good start saw Dover’s crew in second in the first few hundred metres. A good coxing debut from Jordon helped the Uni boys push for third out of the turn and led to a head to head with the Shoreham crew on the return leg with Dover losing out by less than a canvas leaving them 4th.

The last event saw West-Burrows / Rebecca Stothart and Johnston / Jordon competing in the Ladies Double Sculls. In another good field the Dover crews kept out of trouble in the outside lanes. By the turns the middle lanes appeared to have the advantage with Dover’s crews struggling for the lower points places. Johnston / Jordon narrowly missed out coming home in 7th whilst West-Burrows / R Stothart came home in 9th.

Dover RC eyes now turn to the weather as they are due to host their home regatta in Dover Harbour on Saturday 9th June. Racing starts at 10.30am.

The weekend saw Dover Rowing Club in action in the opening regattas of the Coast Amateur Rowing Association season. On Saturday Dover joined Hastings RC in celebrating their 150th anniversary with the regatta returning to their home waters for the first time in several years. On Sunday the regatta moved to Bexhill.

First on the water was the J16 Ladies Quad Sculls crew of Lucy Horton, Chloe Bicker, Rebecca Stothart, Jade Jordon coxed by Tony Burrows. 12 year old Horton was a late replacement having only recently started rowing. The young crew, featuring three first time racers, rapidly moved into second and at half way were a few lengths behind the lead boat. A strong last 500m saw them close down the Deal crew gaining an overlap before the finishing line and leaving them in a well deserved 2nd place. Bexhill regatta proved tougher for the young crew but they fought hard in a larger field to finish 5th.

The Ladies Double Sculls saw Dover enter two crews: Maria West-Burrows / Stothart and Jo Johnston / Jordon. In a large field both crews struggled to compete with the leading boats. Fighting for points at the buoy turns, Johnston / Jordon came home in 6th place with West-Burrows / Stothart in 8th. Stothart finished a busy session racing in a Deal novice ladies crew that came in 7th. There was improvement for Johnston / Jordon at Bexhill where they finished 5th with West-Burrows / Stothart coming in 10th.

Club Captain Burrows found himself in the outside lane for the Novice Sculls and struggled on the outward leg. A great turn saw him jump three places and begin moving through the field only for his progress to be stopped by a capsize in front of him. This forced him to stop, manoeuvre and restart leaving him in 7th at the finish. Burrows had a similar outcome on day 2 steering round the rescue boat on his way to another 7th place.

The Veteran 40 fours race saw Johnston, Nick Bailey, Burrows joined by Mark Jefferies from Herne Bay coxed by Chrissy Purvis. The crew got off to a great start and were towards the front of the field for the first 500m before dropping a little off the pace. By the buoy turn the veterans were in 5th position which they held to the end of the race.

Ladies Junior Fours crew of Jen Jordan, Purvis, West-Burrows, Kate Smith with Johnston as cox were left slightly at the start before moving up through the field. A chaotic turn saw three crews aiming for the same buoy and colliding which damaged a rigger. This gave out during the return leg, leaving the crew battling home in 5th.

Chris Price, competing in the Men’s Junior Sculls, managed to avoid the capsize of a competitor to be in the mix in the early stages. His challenge fell away by the turn and he came home in the points in 5th place.

Johnston, competing in the Ladies Sculls, found that the lead two scullers were very strong leaving her to fight for the minor places. Eventually coming in 5th before jumping into the Senior Ladies Pairs with West-Burrows two races later. The crew, who prefer rougher conditions, found the going tough with the quick turn around taking its toil leaving the boat pushing for the final points for 6th but just missing out. Johnston injured her wrist in the Sculls race on the second day which saw her come home in 7th.

At Bexhill Antonia Reed helped out Herne Bay in the Ladies Novice 4 where the young crew came in 5th.

The weekend saw Dover Rowers in action at the British Rowing Indoor Championships held at the Lee Valley VeloPark. This competition gives rowers the opportunity to compete against GB and international rowers and this year also saw Sir Bradley Wiggins’ competitive rowing debut.
Nick Bailey and Chris Price competed in Master categories. Bailey, competing in the Masters 60-64 years 2km event, got off to a strong start covering the first 500m in 1 min 53.2 sec. He slowed through the middle 1000m, averaging 1 min 56.2 sec, before finishing strongly with a final 500m at 1 min 52.9 sec. Bailey’s overall times saw him home in 11th place in a time of 7 min 38.6 sec.

Lizzie Foley there to support competitors Nick Bailey and Chris Price at BRIC 2017

Price entered in the Masters 30-39, light weight, 2 km class. He got off to a slow start posting a first 500m of 1 min 52.9 sec, improved steadily through the next 1000m and finished strongly, with a last 500m time of 1 min 48.1 sec. Price finished in 10th place in a time of 7 min 25.2 seconds.
Dover’s student Rowers Tom Stothart and Chris Hall competed in the recent British Universities and Colleges Sport indoor rowing championships. Stothart has been has been improving his 2 km times since arriving at Reading University and was aiming to break the sub 7 min target. He was heartbreakingly close, posting a time of 7 min 00.8 sec, a personal best.
Hall was a late call up for the University of Southampton squad. He improved on his previous best time, completing the 2 km in 6 min 48.2 sec, before helping his team win the relay event the same day.

Dover rowers Tony Burrows, Chrissy Purvis and Paul Scrivener assisted Dover Grammar School for Girls with their annual indoor rowing event which saw Rebecca Stothart help her team take their year groups relay title.

The weekend saw Dover Rowing Club competing in the Teddington Head Race hosted by Walbrook Rowing Club. The course offered crews the opportunity to race on a wide section of the Thames over a 5200m route. Maria West-Burrows and Jo Johnston raced in the Ladies Double Sculls and Chris Price rowed in the open sculls event after being the sole entry in the coastal sculls class.

West-Burrows and Johnston were in the first division of the event starting at Hampton Court Bridge. The Ladies crew enjoyed the experience of a wide river allowing greater over-taking options as they pushed against the tide but with the wind. By the narrow section at Raven’s Ait Dover’s challenge had slipped away as the lead crew pulled away in their lighter river boat. At the finishing line at Steven’s Eyot they were given a rounded time of 27 minutes, leaving them 2nd.

Chris Price, sculling in a borrowed Southsea boat, was up against it with his opponents in their normal river sculls. Price got off to a safe start working hard to maintain contact with the leading boats. He successfully rounded Raven’s Ait as the conditions worsened with the rain increasing to heavy and in rapidly darkening skies. He successfully negotiated both Kingston bridges making home in a time of 24 m 49.4s, leaving him in a credible 4th place.

Dover RC would like to thank Jeff Watling from Southsea RC for enabling Price to complete and Joel Dinning, Worthing RC for the photographs.

Dover rowers Jo Johnston and Maria West-Burrows represented club and country, as GBR04, by competing in the semi-final heats of the Woman’s Double Sculls division World Rowing Coastal Championships held at Thonon-les-Bains on Lake Geneva on Friday. By qualifying for, and competing in, the World Championships Johnston and West-Burrows are hoping to inspire others to take up sport or new challenges regardless of age.

Maria showing off her accreditation and Jo and Maria signing autographs.

The course map for the World Rowing Coastal Championships displaying the 4 km route.

With an average age of over 50, Johnston and West-Burrows gave 20 years to most of their opponents, and rowed in conditions far calmer than they prefer. The initial 1100 metres leading to the first turn on the 4 km course saw a mass charge with Dover’s crew fighting to maintain a qualifying position. The run to the second turn saw the field spread out with Dover towards the back of qualifying and being pushed hard. By the fourth turn Dover had slipped out of the A Final qualifying position but were maintaining a qualifying place for the B Final. Their place assured Johnston and West-Burrows sought to conserve energy for the next race coming home behind their fellow GB crews from Welsh Sea RA in a time of 22:07.86.

Jo and Maria in their club colours.

Saturday saw Johnston and West-Burrows line up for the B final along with other GB and Irish crews. Racing was tight to the first buoy with Dover in the leading group of four. The battle continued through the next three buoys with GBR02 the eventual winners and IRL01 easing ahead leaving Dover to battle GBR05 for third place. It came down to the penultimate turn where Dover dropped a length behind GBR05 to miss out on 3rd place by 3.08 seconds, finishing in a time of 21:24.82. Johnston and West-Burrows were the highest placed English crew in their event and had they been in the second semi-final their Saturday race time would have been good enough to qualify for the A Final. They finished the competition ranked 24th in the World in Coastal Doubles.

Meridian News crew of Jenna Verdicchio and Siobhan Hart visited Dover Rowing Club to report on Jo Johnston and Maria West-Burrows qualification for the World Rowing Coastal Championships. Johnston and West-Burrows will be competing on Lake Geneva on Friday the 13th in the semi final heats aiming to reach the final on Saturday. Good Luck Ladies!

There was exciting news for Dover Rowers Jo Johnston and Maria West-Burrows as they received confirmation that their performance at the British Rowing Offshore Championships in July had qualified them straight into the semi finals of the 2017 World Rowing Coastal Championships held at Thonon-les-Bains, France. They will be competing as GBR4 on the waters of Lake Geneva in the Coastal Woman’s Double Sculls event and will be facing competitors from 9 other countries. The Dover crew will be competing in the blue and white of Dover’s club colours as it is traditional for this tournament to represent both your club and country.

Whilst the rest of the club have entered off season training, Johnston and West-Burrows have been balancing work and family responsibilities as they train in Dover Harbour in preparation for their semi final on the Friday the 13th October. The heat will be based on a 4km multiple turn course with the final being run over a 6km course. The preparations have not been ideal given the temporary space restriction caused by the West Docks Development but both rowers are hopeful of qualification for Saturday’s final, although the present expected calm conditions are not in their favour.
Anyone interested in learning or returning to rowing should contact Dover Rowing Club via the Club’s website.