Bexhill Rowing Club enjoyed success as they sent 31 rowers to the pre-season invitation regatta in Dover.
The club won five races, claimed three seconds, three thirds and high placings across the 21 races held. Byron Cramp was also awarded coxswain of the day.
To kick Bexhill’s wins off, the men’s masters 50+ crew of Phil McCorry, Chris Mizen, Clive Bingham, Nick McCorry and cox Tay Hutton-Mitchell stormed to a clear victory.
Win No2 came in the men’s novice fours in which Bexhill fielded two crews. The winning crew consisted of Noah Landau, Jonathon Wigmore-Hall, Alex Toogood, Digby Cramp as cox Hutton-Mitchell picked up her second win of the day.
Bexhill’s second crew of George Benson, Ollie Gillespie, Warren Saxby, Chris Golding and cox Phil McCorry recorded an excellent fourth place, narrowly missing out on third by mere inches. Ony Chris had ever raced on the sea before with the others complete first-timers.
Bexhill’s third win was in the men’s novice sculls. Seb Ward has trained well over the winter and all that hard work paid off in a highly competitive field as he produced a fast final sprint to win. Club-mate Digby Cramp was fourth.
Win number four came in the men’s masters 40+. Cox Taya Hutton-Mitchell, Chris Mizen, Phil and brother Nick McCorry added to their earlier win, teaming up with Kieran Cahill for a four boat lengths triumph.
The fifth and final win was also Bexhill’s best total race result and came in the men’s open double sculls. Kieran Cahill jumped out of the winning 40+ four straight into the double with Digby Cramp to win, also giving Digby his second win of the day. They were pushed all the way by the second crew of Dan Renner and Seb Ward, who crossed in second place.
A second in the men’s junior fours race was a fantastic result as the whole crew were novice rowers but missed out on beating all the junior status crews bar one and only by just half of a boat length.
The crew consisted of Noah Landau, Jonathon Wigmore-Hall, Warren Saxby, Chris Golding and cox Phil McCorry. Bexhill also entered a second crew of novices of George Benson, Ollie Gillespie, Alex Toogood, Jon Molton and cox Seb Ward which finished fifth.
The men’s senior pairs of Doug Holderway and Kieran Cahill also came second against long-established pairs. Seb Ward and Herbie Molton, in their first race together, followed their more experienced club mates over for third.
Phil McCorry was third in the men’s senior sculls. Another came in the men’s senior four where a few of the guys have returned after taking a year off and finished behind the two crews that dominated last year. The crew was Doug Holderway, Herbie Molton, Dan Renner, Kieran Cahill and cox Taya Hutton-Mitchell.
Nick McCorry then followed his two wins with a fourth in the men’s junior sculls.
The ladies squad has been rebuilding over the winter and some great rows were had.
In their first race together, Gabby Ward and Willow Johnson came a creditable fourth in the junior pair.
Another fourth in the ladies’ novice fours went to Tiannah Macey, Emilia Goldsmith, Hana Bolton, Scarlett Jones and cox Phil McCorry. This was Jones’ first-ever sea race and she rowed seamlessly with her more experienced crew-mates. Bexhill’s second ladies crew of Catherine Richard, Alex Dickson, Ceri Wilkinson, Sarah Reader and cox Byron Cramp were eighth. These ladies also went on to finish fifth in the masters 40+ event with only ten minutes to recover between both races!
Continuing with another fourth place was the ladies’ junior four. Junior rowers Gabby Ward, Willow Johnson, Taya Hutton-Mitchell teamed up with novice Tiannah Macey to beat much more experienced crews. A second four was entered made up of first-time racers Bryony Campbell, Phoebe Pearson, Scarlett Jones with novice rower Hana Bolton. They finished eighth.
The last result of the day was in the ladies double sculls where Taya Hutton-Mitchell teamed up with Gabby Ward. They finished in eighth place.
Bexhill’s next regatta is their home regatta opposite the colonnade on Sunday May 17th (9:30am weather permitting). Anyone interested in joining the club please email bexhillrowingclub@gmail.com to find out more.
