This week saw Dover Rowing Club members involved in international and county indoor rowing competitions. Dover’s diminutive powerhouse Chris Price was in action in the Senior men’s light weight 2km, 30 – 39 years, in the European Indoor Rowing Championships held at Stade Sebastian Charlety, Paris. Price was hoping to improve on his time from the British Championships but found himself off his desired pace. After initially hitting his early split times he fell behind his target finishing in 7 minutes 16.7 seconds, securing 14th place.

Earlier in the week Dover’s Junior section was in action in the Kent School Games. Dover’s DGSB contingent of Cameron Mackintosh, Thomas Stothart, Austin Mills and Chris Hall had qualified 2nd in the relay for the Boys U18 competition, 20m behind the King’s School Canterbury team they had beaten narrowly in 2016. Hall and Mills also qualified for the individual 2km finals with Hall highest placed in 5th. Mary Newcombe qualified in the relay event for the Girls U18 competition in the history making first girls team to represent the Boy’s Grammar School at rowing.

In the finals Hall managed to improve 2 places to take 3rd in a personal best time of 6 minutes 54 seconds with Mills also setting a personal best of 7 minutes and 4 seconds. Stothart, having narrowly missed out on the individual competition final, formed part of the team combined event with Hall and Mills. Stothart posted a personal best time of 7 minutes 8 seconds helping to secure a DGSB victory for the Dover District Team. Newcombe also posted a personal best of 8 minutes 12 seconds in the team combined event with her team to taking 3rd place.

In the relay sprint Mackintosh stepped aside to allow a higher ranked DGSB rower take his place in the team as they looked to overcome the strong King’s team. In the frantic 4 minute race sharp changes and a determined effort saw the DGSB squad complete 1349m securing an 8m winning margin for their 2nd team victory. Newcombe’s relay squad secured their 2nd medal taking 3rd overall.

Dover Rowing Club would like to congratulate all Dover District Rowers for their performances in the Kent School Games.

Dover Rowing Club held their end of season meal and awards ceremony at Cullins Yard. There was a good turnout from the active rowers at the club for the awards that covered both the 2015 and 2016 seasons. The Sarah Goodwin Trophy for Most Improved Novice Male Rower was awarded to Robin McCorkell for the 2015 season and Thomas Stothart for 2016. Both young rowers had performed well in Dover’s Novice crews whilst successfully learning to scull to a competitive level. In the Ladies division Most Improved Novice trophy was awarded to Lisa Burnett in 2015 and Mary Newcombe for 2016. Burnett won her two Novice races in successive regattas with different crews whilst Newcombe scored the only win for a novice lady in 2016.

The Cox of the Year Award was presented to Chris Hall for 2015 and Cameron Mackintosh in 2016. Hall, possibly the tallest cox in CARA, drove several crews to victory and worked with new Canterbury Christ Church University crews in training whilst Mackintosh worked to safely develop younger rowers in training and has shown willingness to cox any crew at short notice.

The Captain’s Award for winner 2015 was David Newman with the 2016 award being shared between Jo Johnston and Maria West-Burrows. Newman took on the Press Officer role for the Club at the start of the 2015 season. Johnston has worked as Junior Co-ordinator, West-Burrows has taken on the Vice Captain’s role this season and they have both worked hard for the club through the year. Johnston and West-Burrows also took the Club Man Award for 2015 and 2016 respectively for their overall contribution to the club.

The popular Rower’s Rower award, the only one selected by club wide vote, was shared between Mackintosh and West-Burrows. The Loyal Supporters award went to Toni and George Burrows and the Dover Regatta Prize was awarded to Ollie Scrivener who coxed his families Men’s Novice Four crew to victory on home water.

Anyone interested trying out rowing for the first time, or who are looking to return to the sport, should contact Dover Rowing Club using the details on the Club’s website.

The weekend saw Dover Rowing Club compete at the British Indoor Rowing Championship held at the Lea Valley VeloPark. Dover entered 4 competitors, Chris Price, Guy Hadfield, Chris Hall and Robin McCorkell, and there was also a strong representation from the Coast Amateur Rowing Association in an event featuring several Great Britain Rio Olympic medalists.

First to perform were Price and Hadfield in the Masters 30-39 Light Weight Men’s 2km class. First time competitor Hadfield went off strongly rating at 35 strokes over the first quarter, completing it in 1 minute 41.9 seconds pulling ahead of Price who managed a respectable 1 minute 48.8 seconds. During the mid 1000m Hadfield slowed a little whilst Price maintained consistent splits. Hadfield pushed hard in the last 500m pushing his stroke rate to 36 and finishing off with a 1 minute 43.1 second split to complete the race in a personal best time of 6 minutes and 56 seconds in 10th place. Price improved in his last sector to finish in 7 minutes 13.6 seconds, taking 15th overall.

Chris Hall was next up in the highly competitive Sixth Form Boy’s 2km race. Hall had broken his personal best representing Dover Schools Area in the Kent Schools Games qualifying rounds earlier in the week and completed the first sector in 1 minute 42.3 seconds. He felt his third sector had dropped behind his target for the day but pushed hard in the last 500m to break his personal best finishing in 6 minutes 55.8 seconds, 6th in his heat and 27th overall in one of the largest fields of the day.

The final competitor was McCorkell racing in the Under 23 Men’s 2km. The Gonville and Caius student started comparatively slowly to the rest of the field leaving him in 11th after the first 250m but moved up the field steadily with his first sector split of 1 minute 36.8 seconds. He moved into 5th by 1250m where he entered a battle with a Royal Navy Rower switching between 4th and 5th place. Eventually McCorkell finished 5th in Dover’s fastest time of day, 6 minutes 28.1 seconds.

Four young Dover RC rowers completed their 24 hour rowing challenge in aid of Cancer Research UK and Dover Rowing Club. Tom Stothart, Cameron Mackintosh, Austin Mills and Chris Hall exceeded their distance challenge by 3320 metres with a grand total of 337,920, the equivalent of 210 miles.

Using a 30 minute rotation they started at 17:00 hours on Friday with Stothart, rowing in memory of his father who he lost to cancer recently up first, Mackintosh then took over with Mills followed by Hall finishing each round. The group set off strongly and received good support from both Dover and Deal Rowing Club members. The early hours brought their own challenges including a short blackout during which Mackintosh had to row torchlight. Having survived the challenges of the night the four rallied as the morning brought fresh food supplies and visitors.

The last rotation saw the Dover Grammar School sixth formers give everything as each in turned finished. Between the four of them they used over 21,000 calories and are very close to achieving their target of £1000 from the Just Giving page at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/dover-rowingclub and cash donations. They would like to thank everyone who has supported their efforts through help and donations with a special mention to Jacky Silk who stayed overnight and made the challenge possible.

The Charity Row was supported by:

Support Team: Jacky Silk, Mary Newcombe, David Newman and Julie Hall

Food provided by: Alison & Darren Mackintosh and Joy & Tony Whiting

Special mention to Paul Scrivener for the inflatable bed!

Dover Rowing Club’s Cameron Mackintosh, Austin Mills, Chris Hall and Tom Stothart will be aiming to complete 334,700 metres which is 208 miles (roughly the distance of London to Manchester) in a 24 hour row from 5pm on Friday 11th until 5pm Saturday 12th November. They will be rowing on a Concept 2 rowing machine and are not allowed to let the flywheel stop spinning at any point.

The Dover Grammar School Boys are donating 2/3 of the money they raise to Cancer Research UK as this charity means a lot to all members of the crew; especially as one of the young rowers has recently lost his father to the illness. The other third will be donated to DRC who are kindly letting them use their facility to complete this challenge. DRC is the oldest rowing club on the South Coast and is a big part of their lives. Donations can be made via JustGiving.com searching Dover Rowing or by using the following web address https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/dover-rowingclub

The sixth formers are aiming to raise £1000 and are very thankful for any donations. The boys welcome you to come down and support them at Dover Rowing Club situated in Dover Sea Sport Centre on the beach.