2012 Race Reports
Below are the live reports on each race as broadcast on the website on the day.Race One
BIRC 2012 Begins
Race 1 has started for the J12 boys, with a large contingent from Colmers School for the 2 min race.The clear winner was Matthew Kingston from Northampton who stole the lead and the show early on and achieved a massive 554m. Milo Chetwynd-Talbot was next fastest and then Zane Ridge came a close 3rd.
Last year's returning champion Finn Larkin unfortunately fell off his seat in the last 20 seconds so also fell out of the medals. Better luck next time!
Race Two
J11 Boys, J11 And J12 Girls
Muliti-race time here at BIRC with 3 categories racing simultaneously.In the J11 boys it was extremely close all the way with Arche Sootheran fromThe Peterborough School holding off Alex Mairs from St Dominic's to win in 479m just 2m ahead of Alex.
J11 girls saw Mathilde Tavernier pull out a 30m lead in the first minute. This continued to the end with a great result of 521m which is a new BIRC record
J12 girls - the big battle was for 2nd with Rachel Ozsanlav-Harris and Hannah Jones. Rachel was ahead for at half way but Hannah dug deep massively in the last 30 seconds and pulled back the few metres to draw dead level as they crossed the line. Dead heat for 2nd. Siobhan Samuel from Taff Attack pulled away early and stayed ahead of the battle to win
Race Three
J13 Boys And Girls
Since it was the National Junior Indoor Rowing Champs (NJIRC) on Friday, it's great to see so many juniors back for more today.The race for 2nd seems to be a feature today and J13 boys was exactly the same. Guto John from Ysgol Glantaf won convincingly in 874m, but the James Hall (Sub 7), Rohan Kholsa and Michael Heys (both The Peterborough School) were trading places throughout the 3 minutes. It finished in that order with 2m seperated 2nd to 4th. So James 2nd in 813m, Rohan 3rd 812m, Michael 4th 811m. Great race!
In the J13 girls Esme Booth nearly overturned one of the favourites Natalie Dixon, but Natalie won in 798m, Esme 2m behind and Finnley Whitbread 3rd in 791m
Race Four
J14 Boys And Girls
2 races here and the most action packed 4 minutes was in the girls J14 race.J14 girls - Imogen North worked hard to take 2nd place and held it to 3 minutes in where local Emilia Larkin rowed through into the lead. It looked like that was going to be the result until Aimee Parker nipped in during the last 10 seconds to get 2nd in 1031m, Emilia 3rd in 1030m. Neither girl came close to Holly Foster from St Peters who rowed a great 1069 in the other heat to win overall.
J14 boys - Charlie White from Bideford AAC took the lead but was being caught by a strong push halfway through by Nottingham RC's Faizan Shah. Charlie held his and fought off Faizan to win in an impressive 1198m, Faizan 1171m and James Mawby from Nottingham RC a close 3rd in 1165m
Race Five
J15 Boys And Girls
More records go today as Sam Meijer was great in the J15 boys category and took both a BIRC record and a British record with 1,579m, 2nd to him Gregory Balnchard and 3rd Leon Langmead.Not to be outdone by the boys Kyra Edwards from Nottingham RC also took a British and BIRC record with her 1,412m row. It was not so easy though as Robyn Armstrong from Bedford Girls, last year's champion, pushed her with 1,394m. Sonja Rytkonen from Lappeenranta RC, Finland had a great row to finish third wiht 1,357m
Race Six
J16 Men, J18 Lwt And Hwt Men
First 2k races of the day give us the first sub 6 minute of the day. Adam Janes from St Peter's School,York just beat Matt Langridge's (2011 World Champion in the coxless four) BIRC and British Record with a brilliant 5:58.3.The lwt J18 race was a close affair with the minor medals changing hands all the way through the race. Lee Harrison dominated and won in 6:43.9, 13 seconds ahead of the opposition of Harry Williams from Dover and Maks Orzel from Leicester RC.
In the Men's J16 Sam Bannister took an unassailable lead early on and won in 6:34.5 bringing the J16 crown to Gordon's School.
Race Seven
Women J16, J18 Lwt & Hwt
2 kilometre racing is never an easy thing but it is always impressive how hard competitors push themselves where others would just stop.Chloe Brew from Plymouth ARC faced the lactic pain barrier with 500m to go and showed it what determination really means to hold it together and win in 7:29.9. Maria Karaiskou from Cyprus pushed her very hard and came second in less than 2 seconds later in the J16 category.
J18 lwt started with Grace Elton and Isobel Eagle-Wilsher fighting extremely hard neck and neck. Both tired and could not hold off the charge of Milia Nyman who took the lead and went on to win in 8:06.7. Grace 2nd in 8:09.3, Isobel 3r.
J18 hwt Alice Jackson from Bideford AAC was the early leader and won in 7:20.2 with Mollie Appleton from Norwich pushing her hard, less than 3 seconds behind. Peterborough's Meghan Lawless 3rd in 7:30.8
Race Eight
Women 30-49 Hwt (various Categories)
The next few races combine 4 or more categories so this is more of a summary. There was some very close racing in the race containing the following: 30-34 Hwt, 35-39 Hwt, 40-44 Hwt and 45-49 Hwt.Winners respectively were Amy Stewart in 7:37.6, Hannah Hawkins in 7:14.9, Megan Brown 7:35.2 and Patrizia Scialo in 7:31.2.
There were some cracking results with a number of racers being in the 7:30s for their 2k and the 40-49 competition being very competitive. Recognition must go to Hannah Hawkins from Team Awesome, showing the rest of the women how it is done with a great time in any category!
Race Nine
Women 50-84 Hwt Various Categories
6 categories in this race over 2000m and for once we are not only running to time but we are early!!! There is a first time for everything!The closest race of the race and the day was with the 55-59Hwt category. 3 racers within a 7 metre spread across the whole race Barbara Millns taking the early lead ahead over Loriana Bigatti and Jackie Hicks. Jackie Hicks, nearly 10m behind with 500m to go stepped up the pace and overtook Loriana and pressurised Barbara. Not one to be hassled, Barbara stayed strong on pace and in the last 200m held off an almighty push from Loriana.
It ended Barbara winning in 7:56.4 and Loriana and Jackie sharing silver with 7:58.2 - hardest racers of the day!
Race Ten
Lwt Women (not Open)
All of the lightweight women in every age cateory from 30 upwards just raced. There were a number of European entries this year and they featured heavily in the racing action.Claire Boyce in the 40-44Lwt category started well and took the lead ahead of Paola Mancini from Rome. By the end of the first kilometre Paola had reeled in Claire and moved on to add the British and European IRC Gold medal to her Italian medal - fine racing!
Valentina Pezzano in the 35-39 Lwt category went off very hard and was even ahead of Jen Howse eventual winner of the 30-34 Lwts Gold medal for the first K. Valentina took the Gold in 7:40.1 and Jen Howse winner in 7:26.3.
In the other categories, Christina Nugent-Lee won Gold and a new BIRC record with 7:38.6 in the 45-49s. Luanne Mills from Pocock Rowing Centre won another BIRC record and gold with 8:20.9.
Race Eleven
All Student Races
There were a few cracking races here.In the lightweight men Ben Mitchell from Nottingham University BC had a brilliant row, aggressive throughout and hit a great 6:14.5. David Loveday, last year silver medalist at Nat Champs and 2010 Commonwealth Champion, offered the best of the resistance and came 2nd in 6:23.7.
Helge Felix Guetjen from Magdalene BC started hard and was desparately unlcky to not beat the 6 minute barrier. After his hard start he saw Neil Barton from University of London nip past him and win Gold. Barton wins in 5:58.6, Guetjen 2nd in 6:00.8.
On the day Emily Holt and Elli Whittle had a great tussle to win the heat, Emily Holt just beating Elli with 7:29.8 and 7:30.2 respectively. When the results for yesterday's student race for the event staff were added, Emily retained 1st with Sophie Berckham from Nottingham Uni BC taking 2nd.
Elli dropped into 2nd with Jo Heywood from Nottingham Uni BC winning the heavyweights in 7:21.7.
Race Twelve
Lwt Men Heat 1
2 BIRC records in this one. Tim Male, BIRC regular and ex GB international took an early lead in the 35-39 cat and looked very good taking a 6:16.3. Hywel Davies from Mad Team IRC just beat Jonathan Doyle from Paddy Power IRC with 6:30.6 vs 6:31.8.2nd BIRC record went to Philip Healy from Belfast who won the 40-44Lwt with 6:21.7 beating back 2 visiting rowers of Chris Cala from Boulogne and Italian Romualdas Kurganas.
Race Thirteen
Lwt Men Heat 2
In this race we had the 45-49Lwt and and 50-54Lwt races - both very well supported and competed by the indoor rowing community.In the 45-49 category Stuart Bizarri was given a run for his money by the rower on his left Rob Wilson from Sub 7 IRC. After 1500m Stuart managed to break the cord and put in a little distance, winning in a new British and BIRC record of 6:30.7. Rob 2nd in 6:37.7 and fellow Sub 7 member James Howard took bronze in 6:39.8.
In the 50-54 category Leandro Natale from Dunstable and Reijo Niemenmaa from Finland had a great tussle for 2nd. Leandro getting 2nd in 6:48.5 and Reijo 3rd in 6:49.3. Odd Geir Aarrestad from Free Spirits winning in 6:38.1.
Race Fourteen
Lwt Men Part 3 And Adaptive Rowing
6 lwt men , 4 adaptive men and 3 adaptive women categories took place in this race.The first World Record of the day was for Roger Bangay 7:24.1 in the 75-79Lwt category - a great competitor who raced his 19th BIRC today and enters our Hall of Fame.
A few great competitions were witnessed notably in the 65-69 category where Thomas Yule from Newbury took a definite lead pushing hard to stay ahead of Jeffrey Watling. With less than 100 metres to go Thomas had to stop through exhaustion (he's OK, and a little annoyed now) so Jeffery overtook and won in 7:17.5.
The Adaptive categories are all raced over 1000m and the highlights included Caroline MacDonald in the AS Open category who took Helen Raynsford 2007 British and BIRC record with a brilliant 4:43.1. Great racing and great support from the crowd
Race Fifteen
Men 55-59 Hwt
Full race of heavyweight men was very impressive.The Finnish contingent won a gold in this event with Rainer Hakamaki commanding the row with 25m advantage into the final 500m. Rainer won in 6:27.0, with Richard Steventon from Bannatyne gym in Shrewsbury 2nd in 6:32.7 and Glyn Reed from Peterborough City RC 3rd in 6:35.9
Race Sixteen
Men 60-64, 65-69 Hwt
A spectacularly close race saw Roy Brook edge out George King by .3 of a second in the 60-64 Hwt category.In the 65-69 event, Christian Sommer from Team Germany beat the best of the UK with 6:59.8
Race Seventeen
Men 35-39 And 50-54 Hwt
The challenge is set for Graham Benton in the 35-39hwt category - to beat Steve Redgrave's 1998 BIRC record of 5:51.1It was a tough race and a good start set it up, he held 1:30 and below through the middle 1000m and then took it down to 1:26 through the 500m to go mark. The last 250m looked very hard but the crowd cheered the group home and he finishes in 5:50.1. That beats Redgrave's record by 1 second
Craig Peterson from Avon Fire Service had a great row in 6:04.8 to come second and Paul Buchanen from Paddy Power came in with the bronze medal in a new Irish record time of 6:06.2.
Race Eighteen
Men 50-54 Hwt
Nottingham is proving to be a great venue for tight races. This race was all about 2 Italians with Michele Marullo from Roma holding off Sergio Botti from Auanagana Rowing Team to the last 500.The last 500 is where this race exploding as Sergio Botti took up the pressure and pushed past Marullo with 400m to go. That looked like race settled but Eddie Ventress from Sub 7 in Sandown on a different row took up a charge and caught the leaders over 10m ahead. With 200 to go they were level and they all hit the low low 1:30s to the end.
With only 15 strokes to go Eddie barely moved his legs, ramped up the stroke rate and out-gritted the Italian's to the cheers of the crowd. He won in 6:14.5, Botti 2nd in 6:14.7, Marullo 3rd with 6:16.8. What a great race!
Race Nineteen
Men 30-34hwt And Open (part 1)
The open race is a heat and unlikely to produce the winners, as that final is race 24 at the end of the day. The 30-34s however is a great event with some extremely fit guys racing.As with the last few races it was tight and Simon Gough from Team Oarsome had a 6m lead with 300m to go. Richard Blagrove then dropped the splits by 4 and hit the 1:29s eating away at Gough's lead. With 200m to go it was down to 4m, then 2m with 150 to go. It looked like another row through but Gough found an extra gear and came through the last 100 at 1:27 holding off Blagrove and taking the win in 6:10.9.
Richard Blagrove, Mad Team IRC, 2nd in 6:11.3 and Simon Newton from Newquay IRC 3rd in 6:14.6.
Race Twenty
Assorted Men Hwts
There was a heat for the 40-44 Hwt event plus 3 older Hwt categories in this race.The race that we all enjoyed was between Jim Brownlow from London RC and Bill Payne from Nottingham RC in the 75-79 category. Battling against each other they kept it very tight and finished exactly together with a dead heat for first in 7:52.5.
Mike Collier from Nottingham & Union RC won the 80-84 event in 8:17.1 and Michael Wrenn from Sub 7 IRC won the 70-74 event in 7:15.4
Race Twenty-One
Men 40-44 Hwt
More super tight finishes in this main event of the 40-44Hwt category.Klaus Geiger from Team Finland did much of the early work and was 17m in the lead with 500m to go moving at 1:31 pace. Roberto Blanda from Rome was moving well in 2nd holding off Joachim Ringer from Team Germany.
That is how it stayed until 200 to go when Ringer dropped it down to 1:28 and gritted his teeth to the end. He blew past Blanda finishing second bringing along David Gillard from East Sheen - who finished 4th with 6:09.2.
It ended Geiger 1st with 6:04.4, Ringer 2nd in 6:07.3 and Blanda 3rd in 6:08.3
Race Twenty-Two
Men 45-49 Hwt
All the action happened with 750 to go when Richard Blanchard lying in 4th sprinted down to 1:33 for the final few hundred to tear 3rd from Mark Hodiak. Paul Brew from DSFRS came 2nd in 6:17.5 and Robin Drew won in 6:16.5Race Twenty-Three
Men Open Lwt, Women Open Hwt And Lwt
Good calibre in the women's open racing even without the British Olympic hopefuls.Pavlina Zizkova put in a very strong performance in the Open Hwt women's event posting a great 6:55.1. Then it was 2 rowers from Nottingham Rowing Club, Lindsay Marshall achieving 2nd and a sub 7:10 with a hard last 500m to get 7:09.6 and silver. Catherine Lineker 3rd in 7:20.2
Yasmin Marks also from Nottingham won the Open Lwt event in 7:28.9
In the Lwt men event it was close all the way but Michael Maher from Commercial Rc took to win in 6:20.1 with Aristotelis Ioannou from Cyprus 2nd and McAvoy from Chislehurst 3rd.
Race Twenty-Four
Men Open Hwt
The big guys really came out to play today even though the GB rowing team were not around.Phil Turnham was on form today, pulling away from the opposition and holding sub 1:30 all the way through. He kept his head and achieved 5:55.3 well ahead of Domenico Cioffi who came 2nd in 6:10.9.
The big excitement came for 3rd where Richard Gozdecki on a separate race system who started hard and smashed his way through the last 500m to finish in 6:11.8. A little later Pete Muhley from Nottingham Rowing Club, pulled out a storming final 300 sprint to try and catch Cioffi, he didn't quite make it but did get 6:11.8, earning joint third place.
So there you end, BIRC 2012 is over! We've enjoyed it, and we hope you've enjoyed competing and racing. See you at the next one!
