Dover Rowing Club were in action at Eastbourne Regatta on Saturday. The event was shortened due to heavy winds leaving some crews without a race.
In the Junior Men’s Pairs race James Hale and Jasper Mallet got a great start and pulled clear of the field. A clean turn saw the Dover boys leap out to a greater lead with the winning margin being officially classed as ‘easy’.

The Men’s Novice Fours saw Max Jerden, Eddie Briggs, Kevin and Brendon Ulyatt coxed by Tony Burrows compete in a large field. A good start saw the Dover crew in the fight for the lead on the outward leg. Settling into second place at the turn, they had to fight off the other crews on the return leg to confirm the runners up spot.
Mallet competed in his first Novice Sculls race after working hard in training to make himself competitive. He worked his way through the field after a solid start and moved into the leading group at the turn. Showing confidence in the challenging conditions, Mallet was able to secure an excellent third place.
In another big field, Dover’s Junior Ladies Four crew of Canelle Ulyatt, Emma Sawkins, Nikki Leggett, Maria West-Burrows coxed by John Cox dealt with the deteriorating conditions very well. Dover’s crew held their own through the turns moving up to fourth. Pushing hard the Dover Ladies maintained fourth place as they reached the line.
The Master 40+ saw K Ulyatt, Briggs, West-Burrows and Leggett coxed by Felicity Ulyatt up against crews featuring Senior category rowers. Dover’s crew performed well bringing their boat home in fourth.

The Men’s Senior race saw a mix of Junior and Novice rowers competing for Dover. The crew Hale, Sebastian Steele, Finn Cockell, Briggs coxed by F Ulyatt took a steady approach to the conditions in what was the penultimate race due to the strengthening winds. Taking fourth in their first run at that level.
Jo Johnston was Dover’s sole entry in the Ladies Sculls. She was competitive in the early stages. Gradually losing connection with the leading crews after the turn, Jo would push on to finish sixth.

Dover Rowing Club had a great day at their home regatta taking 5 wins, securing the Junior Aggregate and only missing the Grand Aggregate by a single point.
The first win of the day came from the J14 crew of Josh Grassby, Bo Corby, Ben Fagg, Beau Everington-Nee coxed by Felicity Ulyatt, who pulled clear of their rivals at the midpoint of their race pushing their lead to 2 lengths at the line. The same crew competed against older crews in the J16 race coming in 3rd coxed by Matt Barnett.

The Men’s Novice Fours saw 3 Dover crews compete. Oli, Jacob and Harley Scrivener and Sam Pile coxed by Paul Scrivener stormed off the line, quickly taking the lead and powering through the waves. First at the turns the Scrivener crew took the win by 3 lengths. Kevin Ulyatt, Eddie Briggs, Jamie Smith, Brendon Ulyatt coxed by F Ulyatt came home in 6th with Max Jerden, Damian Napier, Chris Wong, Matt McArdle coxed by Tony Burrows 8th.

The Men’s Junior Fours saw two Dover crews. Sebastian Steele, Finn Cockerell, Jasper Mallet, James Hale coxed by Freya Emmerson, racing Jon Cook, B Ulyatt, K Ulyatt, M Barnett coxed by Burrows. Emmerson won the cox of the day for piloting her crew around the buoy turn as the young crew charged to win. Burrows crew was 3rd at the turn but raced back side by side with Shoreham breaking their opponents just before the line to take 2nd. Hale and Mallet would also take a dominant win in the Men’s Junior Pair’s race.

Three Dover crews raced in the Men’s Junior Senior 4’s Ben Gomm, Chris Hall, Tom Stothart, J Cook coxed by Emmerson would battle the Steele, Cockerell, Mallet, Hale crew coxed by Jo Johnston. The Emmerson coxed crew took the win with Johnston’s crew taking 2nd. An all Scrivener crew of Paul, Neil, Harley, Jacob coxed by Oli came home 4th.
In the 40+ race P Scrivener, Vic Evans, Nick Bailey, Andrew Bryant coxed by Rupert Evans took second place. Third was taken by Cook, Briggs, Smith, Barnett coxed by F Ulyatt, and Wong, Napier, K Ulyatt, Maria West-Burrows coxed by Emmerson came 4th..

The Men’s Junior Sculls race saw Hall fight for the lead on the return leg with Stothart chasing him hard. Hall would finish 2nd with Stothart just behind in 3rd. The two would combine for 4th in the Men Senior Pairs.
Ladies Junior Fours Emily Harvey, Emmerson, West-Burrows, Ella Day coxed by Johnston came 4th, Emmaline McArdle, Jen McKie, Marie Cockerell, Megan Barter coxed by Stothart in 6th and Canelle Ulyatt, Emma Sawkins, Holly Hannington, Jodie coxed by Paul Scrivener 7th. Ladies Novice Fours C Ulyatt, Jodie, Hannington, Nicki Leggett coxed by F Ulyatt 5th and McKie, Barter, Emma Sawkins, Harvey coxed by Burrows were 6th. Sam Pile was 3rd in the Men’s Novice Sculls. Johnston was 3rd and Heather Corby 4th in the Ladies Sculls. In the open Mixed Fours Cook, M Cockerell, West-Burrows, Eddie Briggs coxed by Johnston came 4th. Senior Men’s Fours of Bailey, Hall, Stothart, Bryant coxed by Emmerson were 5th.
Dover Rowing Club would like to thank the following sponsors:

Dover Rowing club had an excellent start to the CARA season at Hastings and Bexhill regattas securing 5 wins, both Junior Aggregate trophies, demonstrating a growing squad depth, and a coxswain award.

Junior Aggregate points at Hastings were secured by Tom Stothart’s Junior Sculls win where he bettered Chris Hall who took 2nd; Kevin Ulyatt, Eddie Briggs, Matt Barnett, Brendon Ulyatt coxed by Freya Emmerson 3rd place in the Men’s Junior Fours; Junior Ladies crew of Maria West-Burrows, Marie Cockerell, Holly Hannington, Freya Emmerson coxed by Sara Scrivens coming home in 4th in a tight race.
At Bexhill the Junior squad was supplemented by the rising Novice Crew Sebastian Steele, Finn Cockerell, James Hale, Jasper Mallet coxed by Emmerson who took 1st place in their first Men’s Junior Fours race with K Ulyatt, Jon Cook, M Barnett, B Ulyatt coxed by Scrivens securing 3rd. Hale and Mallet further contributed with a 2nd place in the Junior Pairs race with Steel and Cockerell in 4th. Stothart took his second win in Junior Sculls meaning that he would rise to Senior status next year, Hall finished 3rd . West-Burrows, Emmeline McArdle, Emmerson, Ella Day with Stothart coxing come 7th after gambling on the outside water on the return leg of their race.

Steele, Cockerell, Hale, Mallet coxed by Emmerson blasted off the start both days taking wins in the Novice Men’s 4 with wide winning margins. These two wins saw the crew progress to Junior level and help them secure three wins overall. Dover’s second Novice Men’s crew of K Ulyatt, B Ulyatt, Jamie Smith, E Briggs coxed by Scrivens took 7th at Hastings and with Smith replaced by Matt McArdle and Stothart coxing 6th at Bexhill. Novice Ladies saw Canelle Ulyatt, Marie Cockerell, Holly Hannington, E McArdle coxed by Jo Johnston taking 5th place in a tight group finish at Hastings, then coxed by Emmerson at Bexhill in a large field coming home 6th. Emma Sawkins made a debut in a composite Novice 4’s crew crossing the line in 8th .
Stothart and Hall combined in the Senior Pairs both days in their first season at the top level, taking 4th each race.

Dover’s youngest rower Sara Scrivens took 3rd in a u14 composite and 5th with West-Burrows in the Ladies Double Sculls at Hastings. Scrivens and Day raced in the Double Sculls at Hasting taking 8th .
The Veteran 40 plus were unlucky when a broken rigger prevented the crew of K Ulyatt, Barnett, Smith, Cook coxed by Scrivens fully competing, still coming home 3rd . Cook replaced Smith at Bexhill and the crew was coxed to 5th place by Emmerson.
Jo Johnston’s start in the Ladies Sculls event at Hastings was hampered by an early collision. However, she was able to push on, racing to the line to take 5th .
The experimental mixed 4’s race saw Cook, M Cockerell, West-Burrows, Briggs coxed by Emmerson finishing in 7th .

It was a winning start for Dover Rowing Club as they secured 3 wins at the Viking Shield held at Deal.

The first crew on the water Josh Grassby, Ben Fagg, Bo Corby, Beau Everington-Nee coxed by Felicity Ulyatt were racing in the u14 Quad race. The young crew raced from Deal pier to the club house steadily pulling away from the rest of the field in a mistake free run, winning by a several lengths.

The Novice Men’s Four saw Dover enter two crews Sebastian Steele, Sam Pile, Jasper Mallet, James Hale coxed by Freya Emmerson and Kevin Ulyatt, Brendon Ulyatt, Jamie Smith, Eddie Briggs coxed by Tony Burrows. Both crews got off to a good start with Emmerson’s crew establishing a lead by the first turn with Burrows crew getting impeded in the congestion dropping them down the order. The young Emmerson crew moved to a sizable lead at the run to the second buoy, allowing them a clean run to the finish to take the win. The Burrow’s crew fought hard for third but were unable to close the gap leaving them in fourth.

The Men’s Junior Fours again saw two crews with Steele, Mallet and Hale joined by Finn Cockerell with Emmerson as cox and the second crew of K Ulyatt, B Ulyatt, Jon Cook and Matt Barnett coxed by Burrows. Emmerson’s crew again had a good start and found themselves battling Folkestone to the first turn. Burrows crew had moved to third out of the turn but were unable to improve. Emmerson’s crew would establish a steady lead as they pulled clear of Folkestone, taking a comfortable win.
The Men’s Junior Sculls had Tom Stothart and Chris Hall racing. Stothart had a messy start getting caught up with a Herne Bay Sculler as the other racers moved past. Hall got entangled at the turn as Stothart closed the gap and moved into the lead. Stothart led to the second buoy where a bad turn opened the door to Herne Bay to slip past for the win, with Stothart second. Hall would cross the line in fourth.

Heather Corby had a frustrating Ladies Sculls race during the worst conditions of the day. The Umpires turned the race around when she was leading and the crews raced back to the finish line where she crossed the line in second place.
Ladies Junior Fours saw Canelle Ulyatt, Freya Emmerson, Maria West-Burrows, Nikki Leggatt coxed by F Ulyatt get a great start. At the first turn they were in third but were unable to improve on their position as the race continued.

The Masters 40+ was combined with the 50+ event. J Cook, M Barnett, J Smith and E Briggs were coxed by Emmerson racing against the Dover second crew of Paul Scrivener, Neal Scrivener, Nick Bailey, Vic Evans coxed by Ollie Scrivener. A great start from the older Scrivener crew saw them jump ahead of their Dover teammates. At the first turn its was Scrivener third and Emmerson’s crew fourth, the gaps grew on the race down the course and neither crew could improve their positions.

Two Dover crews entered the Ladies Novice Fours race. Emily Harvey, Marie Cockerell, Jodie Lott, Krista Davis coxed by Emmerson with C Ulyatt, N Leggatt, Emmaline McArdle, Heather Corby coxed by C Hall. Emmerson’s crew got the better start moving ahead of Hall’s crew in the rougher conditions. It was challenging conditions for all crews as the waves made making a clean catch, to help push the boats on, difficult. Emmerson’s crew would come home in fourth and Hall’s crew in 5th.
Stothart and Hall combined in the Senior Pair’s race. A technical issue and a poor turn dropped them to seventh. A brave first Novice Sculls race from Sam Pile would see him capsize shortly after the first turn bringing an unfortunate end to his race.

Dover Rowing Club returned to the River Itchen for the first time in over a decade to race in the Coastal Head of the River Race. Dover’s Novice 4 Crew of Kevin Ulyatt, Brendon Ulyatt, Jamie Smith, Eddie Briggs coxed by Tom Stothart took on the 4.3 km race through the heart of Southampton, supported by Club Captain Tony Burrows.

In the largest field of the first division, Dover had the position 26 slot and would be racing mostly Hants and Dorset crews familiar with the challenges of the long and snaking course. This took them under three bridges and then through marine narrows on the last third of the course. The time trial start saw Dover chasing the local Coalporters crew through the first bridge, with a faster crew closing behind them. With the river opening out after the second bridge faster crews were able to overtake as Dover pushed on. Through the Marina sections the Dover crew worked hard to maintain a good line before the sprint to the finish. Shanklin Sandown won the race in an impressive time of 19 mins 13.74 seconds, with Dover finishing just behind the Herne Bay crew in 23 mins 23.54 seconds. The crew thoroughly enjoyed the experience of competing in this longer race.
Dover Rowing Club would like to thank Herne Bay RC for providing a boat on the day.

There were a series of firsts for Dover Rowers racing in the 3.5 km Adur Head at Shoreham. The first junior level win, river race, sculls race and coxing a racing crew. The racing was divided into two divisions; against the tide and with it. The time trial format saw all crews racing under 4 bridges to the finish near Shoreham’s Rowing Club, with the Coast Amateur Rowing Association and Spitfire rowing club competing.

Tom Stothart had a storming race tracking down the second place finisher in the Junior Sculls shortly after the first bridge. Stothart pushed on to record the third fastest time across all crews at 13 mins 38 secs, taking his first win at Junior level.

Dover’s J14 Quad team raced against J16 crews in the older crews event. Josh Grassby, Ben Fagg, Bo Corby, Beau Everington-Nee coxed by Freya Emmerson fought hard to compete, racing down and passing Southsea who started 1 min 15 seconds ahead of them. The young crew would cross the line in a time of 18 mins 23 sec, finishing second to Shoreham.

The Junior Ladies 4 crew of Maria West-Burrows, Emmerson, Emma Spanton, Ella Day was coxed by 12 year old Sara Scrivens making her coxswain debut in a race. Starting third of the Junior Ladies 4 crews, Dover’s squad found the pursuit challenging and were unable to close down or catch the leading crews coming home in third place in 15 mins and 10 secs.

The Novice Men’s 4 crew of Kevin and Brendon Ulyatt, Jamie Smith, Eddie Briggs coxed by Stothart, found themselves in the sights of the other crews as they were the first to start. The role of Dover as fox, to Shoreham and Herne Bay’s hounds, saw the crew chased down in one of the closest races of the day. Pride drove the team to hold off the pursuit maintaining a 12 second gap as they would ultimately finish 3rd in a time of 18 min 55 secs.

The Ladies Novice 4 of Marie Cockerell, Canelle Ulyatt, Jodie Lott, Lorna Pile coxed by Jo Johnston, found themselves in the biggest field. With the strong Shoreham crew starting directly ahead of them, combined with the large time gap of the time trail, it was difficult for the crew to assess their relative position in the race. Lengthening the time gap to Worthing’s crew starting behind them, Dover found themselves gapped by the crews ahead. Despite finishing fourth overall their relative time to the second and third crews were not as big as their physical finish position had felt with Dover completing the course in 16 mins and 8 secs.

Krista Davis had the added challenge of sculling against the tide and experienced Dover Rower Johnston in her first Ladies Sculls race. Neither Dover racers could compete with the performance of the two Southsea scullers on the day. As the last two boats on the water in the first divison. both Johnston and Davis had to work hard finishing third and fourth in times of 21 mins 53 secs and 23 mins 55 secs respectively.

Dover Rowing Club took the win in a tight race with Folkestone in the latest stage of their virtual race around the world; the third Indian Ocean leg from Mauritius to Cape Town over a distance of 4250 km. Dover were racing fellow CARA clubs Folkestone, Worthing, Eastbourne and Bexhill adding distance by rowing, cycling or on foot.

From the start of the race Folkestone and Dover jumped out from the rest of the field. This led Worthing, Eastbourne and Bexhill to merge into a ‘Super Club’ to try and chase them down. Folkestone steadily pulled out a lead over Dover despite the best efforts of Kevin and Brendon Ulyatt, Maria West-Burrows, Tony Burrows and Krista Davis, the clubs early leading performers. As the squads reached the coast of virtual Mozambique, and with Folkestone over 200 km ahead, the Ulyatt’s put in a big day with Kevin clocking up over 60km mostly on the ergo (rowing machine). West-Burrows, Burrows and Julie Hall also dropped large multi-day totals to push Dover 6km ahead of Folkestone as the clubs closed to within 500km of the finish. The race to the end saw Dover racers move up the individual leader board as the kilometres rapidly ticked by. Contributions from Emmeline McArdle, Laine and Damian Napier and Burrows left Dover close overnight. Then early bird B Ulyatt started the morning with a 10km ergo at 4 am. Further contributions from Matt Barnett, David Newman, West-Burrows and Burrows took the club to the finish at 12:08 with Folkestone finishing later the same day at 22:43.

K Ulyatt was the top overall performer in the competition with 649 km, also topping the rowing table with 381km. B Uylatt was second overall with 432km and third in the rowing chart. The Burrows household came in fourth overall with West-Burrows adding 367km and Burrows ninth with 244km. Tom Stothart was sixth in the rowing table with 167km, Krista Davis sixth in the cycling with 202km and Eddie Briggs eighth place in the running chart. There were 100km plus contributions from Beau Everington-Nee, Bo and Heather Corby, Canelle Ulyatt, Chris Price, Chrissy Purvis, D Newman, Jen Jordan, Jo Johnston, J Hall, K Davis and Marie Cockerell.

Over 40 of Dover Rowing Club’s members turned out to support the end of season awards night. It was a busy night for Kevin Ulyatt who received 3 prices on the evening; the prestigious Rowers Rower, which is voted for the club’s members, the committee presented Club Person of the Year and the Captain’s Prize. Kevin is in his first season with DRC and had been active competitor through the season whilst being willing to jump in with any crew during training. Off the water he has helped with repairs and has refreshed the clubs supply of trestles.

The Most Improved Novice or Junior Men’s Rower was shared between crewmates James Hale, Sebastian Steele and Jasper Mallet who raced and won in both the J16 and Novice Men Coast Amateur Rowing Association titles this season. The boys would go on to narrowly miss out on the Novice title at the South Coast Championship where they came home second rowing with Sam Pile. Marie Cockerell took the Most Improved Ladies Novice / Junior award for her performances in Novice and by rowing up a grade with Junior crews this year.
Tom Stothart took the Coxswain of the Year award for his work supporting new rowers and crews during training.

A group of fun awards were also issued Best Christmas Jumper – Heather Corby, The Tiny Clooney Award – Neil Scrivener, The Best Looking from Behind Award – Brendon Ulyatt and the Laurel and Hardy Award – Laine and Damion Napier.
A special thanks to Maria West-Burrows for organising the event and club member Chris Wong, Damion and Laine Napier better known as The Ratzkins for providing the live music for the evening.

Dover Rowing Club have restarted their virtual rowing race around the world, after a hiatus for the physical rowing season. Rowing, running, walking, cycling (counting as half distance) and workouts all contribute to team totals. Dover set off from virtual Christmas Island for virtual Mauritius, a distance of 5263km, racing against five other CARA rowing clubs.

After an initial surge from all clubs, Dover moved to third behind Folkestone and Shoreham in a close fought start. Dover’s push was driven by great performances from newer members Kevin Ulyatt (221.5km), Eddie Briggs (83.km) and Krista Davis (240km) who would finish the race in the individual performance top ten for Rowing, Running and Cycling respectively. K Ulyatt (517km) finished the race second overall, whilst Briggs also had big scores for rowing and cycling including a marathon length row. Club stalwarts Maria West-Burrows (502km) and Tony Burrows (403km) appeared in the overall top ten, whilst Chris Hall (302km) led Dover in cycling.
As the three lead crews neared the 2000km mark, Eastbourne, Bexhill and Worthing decided to merge resources to form a ‘Super Club’ effectively closing the gap on the other teams. Continued high individual efforts from Dover eventually closed down Shoreham and moved them up to challenge Folkestone as the race moved into the last 1000km.
Folkestone held Dover at the line, despite Dover briefly leading, finishing less than two days ahead, with Shoreham a few days behind and the ‘Super Club’ left in fourth.

Thirty-two Dover members took part in the race with the following individuals also posting totals of over 200 km: Canelle Ulyatt, Chrissy Purvis, David Newman, Julie Hall, Marie Cockrell and Matt Barnett. There were great contributions from the club’s younger members Bo Corby, Beau Grassby and Ella Day, and the remaining kilometres covered by Brendon Ulyatt, Chris Price, Damion and Laine Napier, Emmaline and Matt McArdle, Heather Corby, Jamie Smith, Jen Jordan, Jo Johnston, Jon Cook, Josh Everington-Nee, Kate Day, Lorna and Sam Pile, Nick Bailey and Tom Stothart.
The next leg is Mauritius to Cape Town; over 4250km.

Dover’s Matilda ‘Jo’ Johnston and Maria West-Burrows were competing in club colours for Great Britain at the World Rowing Coastal Championships held in Praia da Torre, Oeiras, Portugal. Racing in wider FISA boats Dover’s crew designated GBR3 faced heats to qualify for the finals.

The heat started on the water in a mass start which saw the Dover crew a little swamped by the field making it difficult to progress through the field. Turning at the back of the field Dover’s ladies were under pressure as they sat outside the A Final qualifying. The temperature on the course, tidal flows and difficulty sighting the buoy turns added to the difficulty on the day. At the third turn Dover were two places off the A Final qualifying but had little opportunity to pass on the latter stages of the race. Easing off, accepting their fate, they rowed home in 12th, progressing to the B final.

The B final saw the competitor’s start from the beach with Dover’s crew getting a fantastic start and pulling out to a couple of length lead as they headed to the first turn of the 4km course. They would be passed by the Caminhense (Portugal) crew prior to the turn after a tight 1km leg. On the 1.1km second leg Dover were unable hold on to the younger Portuguese crew as the westerly wind made this leg more challenging. The Amstel (Holland) crew were slowly gaining and, after the second turn, would close to be directly behind before colliding with the Dover double. This was the second collision for the Dutch and both resulted in them gaining a place on their opponents. Dover were now chasing hard but had lost several lengths after the collision and had to work hard to close down their opponents. After the last turn it was a race to the beach with Dover just behind. It came down to the run up the beach to the finish line with Maria-West-Borrows coming in just behind her Dutch opponent. Johnston and West-Burrows came home in 25 mins 20 seconds and are now ranked 23rd in the world.