TEENAGERS experienced a mix of emotion on a historic day for Northwich Rowing Club at the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta.
Three crews graced the famous course in green and gold, with two junior men’s quad sculls racing against each other in the Fawley Challenge Cup.
George Lawton stroked a boat including Harry Taylor, Kevin Dudley and Greg Murphy to victory by a length over club-mates that had come through a qualifier on Friday to make the main draw.
George Crouchley, Rhys Coffey, Matt Radford and Lawrence Williams were on board, and together they halved a gap that had grown to two lengths in testing conditions.
Northwich A’s reward is a meeting with Leander Club, a selected crew given a bye to the last 16, in the second round on Thursday.
Later on Wednesday a junior women’s quad were involved in a dramatic encounter with Shiplake Vikings, racing on their home stretch of water, in the Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup.
The Northwich boat stopped dead when Anya George caught a crab during the early stages, but she recovered – along with crew-mates stroke Beth Willford-Dutton, Jess Swindells and Lucy Gillbanks – to challenge their rivals in the contest’s second half.
They eventually lost by a length after a heroic fight-back.
Really proud of the junior women's quad @henleyregatta @NorthwichRC you did yourselves proud and made it a race! #rowing proud captain
— Stewart Plant (@Row_Mighty) June 29, 2016
Really impressed by the determination shown by the @NorthwichRC women's quad @HenleyRegatta, showed real fight all the way to the finish
— Matt Langridge (@matt_langridge8) June 29, 2016
The quartet had secured a spot in the last 16 following a successful time trial before the weekend, meaning Northwich sent three boats to the event for the first time.
This year’s Henley Royal Regatta has a 629-strong entry, eclipsing the previous record by a total of 77.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here