Katie Jessop and Lizzie Johnson in their winning J14 double
The Lea RC Junior section was out in force to represent their club at their home regatta on the 25th of April.
The Lea Spring is a great regatta for novices and those competitors that are just starting to compete – so much so that it was recently featured in an article in Rowing and Regatta magazine.
The day started ominously with big black rain clouds and torrential rain. With clubs coming from as far afield as Weybridge, Maidstone and Sudbury, everyone started praying for sunshine and it worked! By the start of the second division the sun had come out and a great day of racing was had by all.
The Globe and Docks were underrepresented as they had gone up to Nottingham for the interregional championships. But Lea Juniors were out in force..
Dan Cooper said:
“Even with a few scratches on the day, we fielded fourteen singles, six doubles and two quads. That’s a total of 22 boats, with 23 athletes competing over 15 different racing classes!
This all led for a busy but enjoyable day of racing. Some athletes (Heather, Eli and Florence)were racing for the first time and only after having only completed the Learn To Row programme less than six months previous while others (Liam in IM2 and Abdul in J16) raced above their age to find competition.
In the end, Lea Juniors also came in with their fair share of wins. Their winners included
- Ansir Uddin (J16 single)
- Natasha Linyard (WJ17 single)
- Dan McAteer (J13 single)
- Neil Connell (J15 single)
- Hannah Peacock (WJ14 single)
- Katie Jessop and Lizzie Johnson (WJ14 double)
The day was a great success and a big thank you to all of those volunteers that helped get the many athletes and boats organised and also to those juniors that helped out throughout the day making the regatta run so smoothly. Special thanks to some of Lea Juniors who helped out on stake boat duty, like Paul Steeley, Eli Mendel, Florence Buckwell , Liam Downes and Lottie Hudson
Our next race is the Ball Cup on the 9th of May 2010.
Go to our fan page to see more photos from the days racing. http://www.facebook.com/#!/LondonYouthRowing?ref=ts
Lea Juniors gather before the Big Event