Weybridge Juniors were out in force last weekend for the inaugural British Rowing Virtual Championships. This was the first chance to experience competition since early February.
Catch-up on the action. Relive the moment.
Each competitor set up their rowing machine at home, ready to take on opposition across multiple events from around the UK and farther afield. Athletes, parents and spectators were treated to fast, furious and close racing from the comfort of their own home, courtesy of British Rowing live-streaming the action. Our considerable entry did not go unnoticed, with commentators from their 'home studios' making repeated references.
Day 1
Saturday's action kicked off with Weybridge Juniors competing in heats across 5 different events, jostling for position and progression to the A final. Many from our sizeable Year 10 squad reached their A finals in both the Boys and Girls set time and distance events.
Day 2
A further jam-packed day of racing for the club, Day 2 was made up of finals and relays to finish up:
With a bumper entry from our Year 10 Boys and Girls, we had multiple placings in the top 10: for the girls, all securing a place in the 5-minute A final, led by Lola R (14m off of 3rd) and Kez, and in the 500m A final, four finished in the top 10 - Eva, Holly, Lydia and Kez (at less than 3 seconds off 3rd place).
For the boys, and upping his rankings from the heats, Cullen pulled double duty to be Weybridge’s representative in the finals of the Year 10 Boys 5-minute to finish 4th and placing 5th in the 500m finals, with just 3.2 seconds separating 1st to 5th!
One of the most exciting races of the day - the Year 10 Boys 500m B final - saw five of the top 10 spots claimed by Weybridge and Ben J and James taking 1st and 2nd place, respectively.
Sophie, competing in both finals of the blink-and-you-miss it Year 11 Girls 500m and Year 11 Girls 6-minute to place 14th in both events, her first individual race event.
Having placed 3rd in his heat to qualify for the Year 9 Boys A final, Henry upped his rankings also to finish a joint 4th, pulling a new Personal Best (PB) also.
The Year 8 Boys final saw Archie and Daniel duking it out in their 3-minute event to finish separated by just 1m... Then again in the 500m final, Archie, Daniel and Bryn finished in quick succession, with a mere 1 second between them!
Coach to the J15 Boys, Kostas got in on the racing action, achieving a 'season best' the next day in the B final of the Men's 40-49 500m - and posting post-race:
"Reporting alive...😅 Motivation to train with the boys... More exciting racing to come... Stay tuned!"
So finally, the event the juniors were most looking forward to? The relay events - and they did not disappoint!
The mixed relay ended up as a Weybridge/Weybridge tussle with all 8 rowers competing at the same time over 2 minutes: Cullen, Nick, Lola R and Kez emerged victorious with an impressive 584m average (1:43.2) and Ben J, James, Lydia and Eva also displayed an impressive average 555m (1:48.1).
The girls relay team of Jaz, Sophie, Lois and Holly brought it home for Bronze position, finishing behind crews from Trafford and Sir William Perkins, and ahead of Trentham's WJ16s. The boys relay team brought a close to Sunday’s proceedings with a Silver, placing between two Trentham crews with the team of Zacc, Oscar, Sam and Logan.
All results and races can be found at britishrowing.org/brvc-results/
A big thank you to all the parents and coaches involved, each providing technical support and a lively atmosphere throughout the event, despite being across different homes.
To quote just one of the parents:
“Wow, Wow, Wow!!! Amazing races...so exciting to watch!! Well done all...awesome!!”
For the official recap, visit britishrowing.org
Also our results board is updated at weybridgerowing.club/results and detailed individual results at bit.ly/WEYDoBRVC - with any corrections welcome: captain@weybridgerowing.club