Lymington Amateur Rowing Club

Lymington Rowing Club picked up two more wins at the weekend and continue to lead at least two championships. The Veteran Over 50 crew and Junior Senior Crew’s picked up their third wins of the season on the sunny shores of Swanage.

The Mens Junior Senior Four crew of Jonathon Prince, Liam Webb, Geoffrey Fryer, James Phillips and Cox Joe Bull found themselves in the familiar position of being surrounded by two crews from Christchurch and were to begin the race with a 2-1 lead in the championship.

As the race began, the Lymington crew got off to an excellent start in the flat, with the Christchurch A crew struggling to match it. The two stronger crews moved away from the Christchurch B crew as the race moved out into the harbour and the course began to roughen slightly - but not as rough as previous regattas.  Decent spacing between the buoys allowed Cox Joe Bull to make a good turn and pull out a slight lead. Christchurch began to push hard on the return leg, slowly reeling in the Lymington crew.  As the race entered the last three hundred meters the Christchurch crew had cut Lymington’s lead completely and were level.  Lymington dug deep however, finding a last push that saw them stretch their lead to a couple of feet. The two crews crossed the line and after some deliberation from the umpires, it was revealed that the Lymington crew had won by just a canvas. The win means the Lymington crew take a 3-1 lead into Southsea on Saturday.

The Lymington Veteran 50 crew of Andy Tobin, Geoffrey Oliver, Brian Oliver and Cox Alex Barnes were again joined by BTC rower David Wyatt who helped them take victory last week.  The two regular crews of Lymington and Coalporters were joined by a composite team on the start line.  Lymington had a good first leg as they took out a narrow lead over both crews. Coalporters struggled round the turn, allowing the Lymington and Composite crews to row away.  Lymington began to push on, again proving to be stronger on the return leg than the other crews.  The Composite crew dropped off but a late charge from Coalporters threatened to steal the win but the Lymington crew remained in control and won a hard fought race by a length.

In regards to Lymington’s other main Championship charges, the Lymington Senior Pair crew had to put in a strong performance in their close heat, which made it difficult for the crew to take on the fresher Poole crew.  The team finished 3rd, meaning that the Championship is now tied at 3-3 moving into the rough Southsea.  Lymington’s track record shows that the boys should be favourite to retake the lead in the rough.  In the Veteran Over 40 race Lymington had a very close race with a crew from Poole as both teams left the champions BTC in their wake. The Lymington veterans just lost the race by a few feet, but due to Poole winning they still retain a 2-1 lead in the championship over BTC.

The Lymington ladies were also in action in the Ladies Senior Four and Ladies Junior Four categories. Last years Junior Ladies Champions had their first race at Senior level but despite an excellent effort they were unable to pick up a win. The Ladies Junior Crew raced with a different crew due to an injury to one of their number, but the girls still managed to pick up a respectable third place.

Joe Bull teamed up with two girls from Newport and a boy from Itchen in the J16 Mixed Fours.  The crew, who had never rowed with each other before, finished within two lengths of the two all boy crews from Ryde and were in a comfortable 3rd place.  Lymington also had an entry in the Mixed Fours race where a late push from the Lymington crew meant that they powered from fifth place to finish the race in third.

In the Novice Sculls, Alex Barnes had a good first leg as he got a small lead over Coalporters and BTC. Barnes lead by a length out of the turns, but began to fade on the return leg.  Half way through the return leg, Barnes slipped down to fourth as the top three over took at the same time.  First, second and third finished almost level, with Barnes less than two lengths behind.

Lymington also had two entries in the Junior Sculls division.  Michael Leyland Jones won the bragging rights by finishing ahead of Geoffrey Fryer but was unfortunately unable to pick up the win.