WHETHER in Sydney’s sun or freezing temperatures at home, Emily Ford cannot be fazed.

The teenager, a medal-winner on the water in Australia seven days earlier, added a national title to her collection on Sunday at the English Indoor Championships.

Back in the green of Grange School Rowing Club, she clocked a personal best on her way to the top of the timesheet in the WJ18 class at Manchester’s Velodrome.

Hers was the fastest time set by a woman across all of the age categories.

She was in a mixed crew with coach Matthew Jump, Helen Owen and Ben Holt that claimed a gold medal too.

Grange School’s MJ16 quartet of Scott Ozsanlav-Harris, Matthew Roe, Tom Roe and Jonny Glover was also fastest in class to take the team’s gold medal haul to three.

There were silver medals for George Hull (MJ13) and Joanna Ravenscroft (WJ12), who shared second spot with a rival from Hollingworth Lake after covering the same distance in a time trial.

Grange School’s MJ14 team of Alex Hackett, JamesNorman, Tom Dufty and Paul Mainwaring was a runner-up too, as was the school’s B line-up, consisting of Matt Strickland-Baker, James Bartley, James Darbyshire and Reece Lester, in the MJ16 category.

The school’s medals collection was completed by a mixed J12 crew, curiously titled Grange School Geckos, made up of Ravensworth, Libby Prescott, Ellie Cushen and Elizabeth Lord.

Northwich Rowing Club celebrated success in two collective categories – an MJ18 and women’s open age crew – while there were bronze medals in their categories for Claire Webster (women’s over 30s’ 500m) and Abigail Davies (WJ15).

Meanwhile Hartford Church of England High School, after a course of classes after school over the past couple of months, sent four crews to take part for the first time.

Their best result was ninth in the WJ14 team competition.

Results
English Indoor Championships
Manchester Velodrome, Sunday (selected results only) – Women’s 30-39: 7. Dee Ashmore (Northwich RC) 8:00.0; 11. Claire Irons (Northwich RC) 8:36.6. Women’s over 30s (500m): 3. Claire Webster (Northwich RC) 1:52.5. Women’s open, teams: 1. Northwich RC 10:35.6.

MJ18: 5. Tom Asteriades (Northwich RC) 6:42.7; 6. Connor Gay (Grange School) 6:45.1; 11. Zak Trigg (Northwich RC) 7:03.7; 17. Jack Bond (Grange School) 7:14.5.  Teams: 1. Northwich RC 8:44.0. WJ18: 1. Emily Ford (Grange School) 7:09.2.

MJ16: 4. Harry Blake (Northwich RC) 6:59.5. Teams: 1. Grange School A 9:09.9; 2. Grange School B 9:22.0; 8. Northwich RC B 10:08.9; 9. Northwich RC A 10:09.3; 10. Hartford CoE High School 10:18.3; 12. Hartford CoE High School 11:16.0. W16, teams: 5. Grange School B 10:47.5; 6. Grange School C 10:48.5; 8. Grange School A 11:05.7; 13. Hartford CoE High School 11:47.6.

MJ15: 3. Ben Holt (Grange School) 1,477m; 10. George Lawton (Northwich RC) 1,412m; 11. Reece Lester (Grange School) 1,394m; 25. Jack Koch (Northwich RC) 1,339m; 26. Matthew Roberts (Northwich RC) 1,330m; 29. Mike Lundy (Northwich RC) 1,316m; 30. Chris Malley (Northwich RC) 1,308m. WJ15: 3=. Abigail Davies (Northwich RC) 1,306m; 8. Callie Bloodworth (Northwich RC) 1,265m.

MJ14: 7. Greg Murphy (Northwich RC)  1,129m; 10. Paul Mainwaring (Grange School) 1,070m; 12. Thomas Dufty (Grange School) 1,054m. Teams: 2. Grange School B 10:13.8; 3. Northwich RC 10:21.7; 6. Grange School A 11:10.9; 7. Hartford CoE High School 11:34.6. WJ14: 10. Amelia Berry (Northwich RC) 985m. Teams: 8. Grange School A 11:49.8; 9. Hartford CoE High School 12:10.6; 11. Grange School B 12:25.6.

MJ13: 2. George Hull (Grange School) 837m; 7. Fisayo Williamson (Grange School) 773m. WJ13: 15. Ellie Matthews (Grange School) 638m; 16. Abigail Tighe (Grange School) 637m.

MJ12: 12. Jamie Hawes (Grange School) 447m; 16. Richard O’Brien (Grange School) 423m. WJ12: 2=. Joanna Ravenscroft (Grange School) 500m; 5. Elizabeth Lord (Grange School) 482m; 7. Libby Prescott (Grange School) 472m; 8. Ellie Cushen (Grange School) 468m; 11. Bree Livesey (Grange School) 431m; 13. Erin Simpkins (Grange School) 411m; 16. Annie Cusselle (Grange School) 352m.

Mixed, teams: 1. Grange School 9:31.0. Mixed, J12 teams: 3. Grange School Geckos 12:18.9; 6. Grange School D 12:43.8; 7. Grange School C 13:14.0; 9. Grange School B 13:33.3; 13. Grange School A 15:45.3.