Race Reports

Below are the live reports on each race as broadcast on the website on the day.

Race One

Women Hwt Age Groups

All of the women age group heavyweights race in the packed first race of the day. Some very quick times and close races, especially between Alena Antoneva (30-34) and Caroline Dolan (35-39) who were close all the way through.

Alena Antoneva wins in 7:08 with Caroline very close behind, both winning their age categories.

NEW BRITISH AND CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD Josephine Timms from Stonehouse wins the 75-79 Hwt race in the best time of 9:58.1!

NEW CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD New Zealand's Shirley Godkin has set a new record for the 60-64 Hwt with a time of 7:51.0!

Race Two

Men 45-49 & 50-54 Hwt

There were lots of competitors from this race. Andy Sangster from Humberside Fire Service and Mad Team was on the top race machine and blasted off from the start into what looked like an unassailable lead. That said, Gary Scott and Steve Turner chased hard behind, with Scott pushing past Turner at 750m to go and getting right onto the tail of Sangster. He push him hard all the way but Sangster held on to win in 6:15.7.

In the 50-54 Jargen Block from Finland lead throughout the race and took the victory in a great 6:24.5.

RACE 1 NEW BRITISH & CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD A catch up from a Women's 70-74 race, Anne Cresswell originally from the UK but having flown in from Victoria Australia set a new British and BIRC record of 8:24.9!

Races Three & Four

Race 3 involved the 40-44, 55-59 and 60-64 Hwt men. All the results are on the website but key to note is the winner of the 40-44, Pieter Engelbrecht in a very quick 6:03.2.

Also of note is Olympic Javelin star - Steve Backley who put in a quick 2k of 6:33.1. Impressive!

Race 4 had 5 different categories and some very competitive 65+ races.
Stuart Williams just beat Alistair MacDonald with 6:08.3 to take gold in the 35-39 event.

NEW CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD - Robert Lee from Community Rowing Inc. took the 65-69 Hwt in 6:49.4

NEW BRITISH AND CHAMPIONSHOP RECORD - Peter Norman from Wrekin Rowers won in 7:15.7

Race Five

Race 5 was full of the lightweight age-category rowers. There are many tales to tell however the fastest of all these lightweights was Mark Mitchell from Mad Team who punched in a 6:18.1 and a NEW CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD to win the 35-39 Lwt event. Tim Male was closest behind with a 6:25.9 to win the 30-34 event for the second year in a row!

NEW CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD of 6:38.7 in the 50-54 category by Barton Athletic Club's Brian O'Neill. Well done Brian!

NEW CHAMPIONSHIP AND BRITISH RECORD for Geoffrey Knight of Harrogate Harriers. In his 75-79 Lwt category was 1.3 seconds outside the World Record with his time of 7:26.6!

Race Six

This race has all of the female Lwt age-categories and the Men's 30-34 Hwt category.

In the men's race it was white-knuckle stuff, as Tim Perkins from Lea RC and Sergej Using from Cambridge 99 knocked 7 shades out of each other and took it all the way down to the line. Tim Perkins just nicked it by 0.5sec with 6:06.4 - great race!

Sally Dickinson just beat Jen Whiting in the 40-44 Lwt Women's event however the story of the day so far is Mavis Surridge from Fitness First Reading who won a WORLD, BRITISH AND CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD of 9:41.6. Great work! Mavis now holds 2 World records this and the 75-79 Lwt record.

Race Seven

J16 and Not So Young

This race was dominated not just by the great number of J16 racers but by the adaptive and 90+ racer 99-year old John Hodgson from Leeds.

Jack Beaumont from Maidenhead RC won a CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD which has stood for 14 years with a time of 6:15.3 - a great race!

John Hodgson though was the absolute star of the show with a standing ovation as he beat the machine again and won the 90+ year old category - a fantastic achievement!

Race Eight

Race 8 had the J18 lwt and hwt men races.

Marcus Bowyer rowed very stronlgy to win but the race was for silver and Greg Edwards just pipped WIlliam Mace into third by 0.6s.

The Lwt race was close all the way and Alexander Robertson beat Lewis Sloan with a quick 6:34.1 win

Race Nine

Records a Tumbling!

Race 9 is all about the girls racing and the J18 events and J16 event were heavily crowded with keen entrants.

There was drama galore over the J18 hwt race, which was closely contended with a dramatic conclusion. Yasmin Tredell from Evesham put in a firm start and pulled out a 10-15m lead over the field. This looked convincing until Rebecca Chin from Royal Chester racked up the pressure over the final 500m. Rebecca strung together a relentless attack at pushed through into the lead with just 50m to go, pipping the exhausted Yasmin to gold.

The women's J16 race was dominated by Nottingham Rowing Club girls Katie Bartlett and Alicia Brown, with Alicia holding off Katie and a very strong challenge from Runcorn's Lucy Burgess. Well done to all!

NEW CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD - David Smith in Men LTA won in 6:32.5 just a second ahead.

NEW CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD - Andy Houghton in Men Arms won his 1000m in 3:55.1. Very quick!

NEW CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD - Naomi Riches in Women LTA from the Leander Club won in 7:23.4

NEW CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD - Samantha Scowen in Women Arms from Dorney Boat Club won in 4:13.6

Races Ten & Eleven

Junior Races

The races are coming thick and fast as the J11 and J12 races start. These are 2 minute bursts of adrenaline and show lots of enthusiasm for the sport!

NEW CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD Natalie Dixon of Cambois RC wins the J11 girls race doing 509m in 2 minutes! Well done Natalie!

NEW CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD Peterborough City's Bradley Bucknell wins the J12 boys race by 28 metres with 568metres in 2 minutes

Races Twelve & Thirteen

These 2 races are 3 minutes a piece, starting with the J13 girls, then the J13 boys.

Just as with the other time races, many go off like a rocket, but few can actually hold it! That sound in the girls race Eloise McMahon from Trent RC held off Sophia Parvini-Wayne from Camden and Emily Ward from Nottingham City School to put them into 2nd and 3rd places respectively!

In the boys race, Xavier Parker from Huntingdon BC and Mad Team on machine 8 shot off and just kept on sprinting away from the rest of the field. Xavier finished with 874m over 25m ahead of his rivals, with De'reiss Gordon from Colmers and Jack Kidd from Trentham chasing him home.

More junior races to come!

Races Fourteen - Sixteen

Such was the size of the 14 and under entry, heats were run over 3 races to sort them out.

There were some very high scores for the girls and boys with race 16 being neck-and-neck between James Marshall from Peterborough and Oliver Knight from Walton. Being on different race machines it was difficult to tell who was in the lead but both clung on for dear life and Oliver rowed 1 metre more than James. A great contest!

In race 15 Holly McMullen scored 1073m in her 4 minutes - a really good score by Holly and many of the other girls!

Races Seventeen & Eighteen

In the girls race, there were a number of great times and the top 3 were not that far ahead of the rest of the field. In the end Emily Ford from The Grange School RC strode ahead and won in 1370 metres with Holly Thomas and Kristina Cowley fitting it out for second place.

In the men's race Denis Zaboronky had a great start at took an early lead ahead of 2 Nottingham Rowing Club boys Callum Jones and Joe Topham. Callum pushed through Denis after 2 minutes and was ice-cool keeping steady splits all the way and lead to the finish line, Zaboronky second.

Oliver Edkins from Stratford on a seperate race system pushed out by himself and posted a good time, only to see Jones and Zaboronky then go through but Topham from Nottingham fell just short and finished in fourth.

Race Nineteen

GB Rowers Come In

It has been a busy 30 minutes at BIRC.

First Men Open Lwt. A really closely contended race here, with all three medallists coming in within a second. Nothing could split the two at the top and it was a joint victory for Stuart Bizarri and Mark Tinkler.

Open Lwt Women. Samanthta Briggs pulled clear and won in a very quick time of 7:18.0, extremely quick for the this category!

Open Hwt women - Debbie Flood really was the star of this race going out hard in the 1:20s from the start before settling into the 1:40s to keep ahead. Although ahead and in charge the pack kept pace and Elena Antonova and Fiona Bassett (Nottingham Rowing Club) raced out hard from the groups and picked up second and third respectively. Debbie Flood though got the biggest cheers of the day with a great race punching in a 6:52.2 with lots of applause!

Race Twenty

Jurgen's Men...and No Benton

This race's front row was dominated by 1 man and 1 group. Rugby international, and BIRC veteran Garath Archer was in the middle, while he was surrounded by the entirety of the GB heavyweight men's squad.

During the race, it was Archer to push out the initial lead and get 10m clear from the pack. The pack looked like a defensive line on the screen, no-one ahead of the other until Steve Rowbotham pulled ahead into 2nd in the 2nd 1000m.

After that in the final 500m the pack started to pull back the non-rower with Cameron Nichol muscling his way into second and touching the 1:25s to get into contention with Archer. Nichol was arms the same size as most people's legs was dragging in Archer in the last 100m, but Archer stayed on to the line.

Archer won in 5:51.1, Nichol 2nd with 5:51.5 and Rowbotham 3rd in 5:52.8.
Archer wins the champion of champions trophy for the quickest race of the day!

Races Twenty-One & Twenty-Two

J11 and J12 Teams

The junior team races follow now and they are fun chaotic events, filled with tight racing!

I will not be able to keep up with all of the results but I will push through the highlights.

NEW CHAMPIONSHIP RECORDS:

- J12 girls team Peterborough City RC with 2:10.0 for 1000m
- J11 girls team Bishopsgate A with 2:17.0 for 1000m

Races Twenty-Three - Twenty-Six

J13 races:

Trentham BC won the J13 boys race in 2:54.5 AND the J13 girls race in 3:06.5 - a great race!

J14 races:

The A-Team from Peterborough City RC won the 750m J14 boys with 2:38.0
Maidenhead/ Ross/ Newbury RC combination took the gold in the J14 girls with a time of 2:56.4

Well done all!

Race Twenty-Seven

J18 boys team:
Super quick Plymstock SSP Bunch took gold with 3:17.5.

J16 boys team:
Cardiff City boys took this 3:13.4

J15 boys team:
Stratford just pipped Nottingham by 1 second with 3:22.5. Great tight race.

CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD - Cardiff City RC J16 boys team did 3:13.4 for the 1000m race. Great result!

Race Twenty-Eight & Twenty-Nine

Teams & Records

J15 team girls - Peterborough City RC just beat Warrington RC and Shottery with a quick, quick 3:53.0

In the J18 girls teams - Gleevesford from Evesham forged ahead of City of Oxford to win convincingly!

In the J16 it was an out-and-out battle with Trentham BC from Stoke and Nottingham Rowing Club. Nottingham pulled in front halfway through the race, however Trentham never let go, pushed and pushed but Nottingham best them by 0.6s.

CHAMPIONSHIP RECORD - Nottingham Rowing Club J16 girls with 3:47.9 for their really close race with Trentham BC! Well done Nottingham!

Race Thirty

Student Races

All the remaining medals are being decided as we speak.

The Lwt men put in a very strong display and John Preston fulfilled his role as favourite by digging in during the second half and stretching his lead to earn Reading Uni top marks in this event in 6:18.2.

In the lwt women's event it was neck and neck, with Reading Uni seemingly in charge all the way. Holly Page from Durham Uni rowed really well however and pulled through into 2nd by the end. Ally Brooks won in 7:31.7, followed by Holly Page and Lottie Burgess (Reading).

Well done all lightweights.

Race Thirty-One

Women Hwt Students

This was a tight race for the first half, with former lightweight Mathilde Pauls pressing the early leader Cassie Donovan from Birmingham Uni, all the way through first half. Cassie had a few weak spots which let the consistent Mathilde Pauls pull into a convincing lead, which no-one could catch.

After a couple of more wobbles, Donovan settled back into her strong strokes and held off the pressing Emma Nilsson who finished seconds behind in third. Great race from Pauls!

Race Thirty-Two

Men Hwt Students

This year no Cambridge or Oxford to mop up the medals, we saw Reading really show it's quality. GB squad member and Reading Uni student Sam Townsend got out of the blocks extremely quickly and pushed all the way to match the scores his GB peers got in Open Hwt.

Sam Townsend got the win in 5:53.2 which puts him 4th fastest time of the day and right in the mix of the established squad members. Mark Roberts from Kingston University chased really hard and matched Townsend in the 2nd half to earn second to earn himself a place in the sub-6-minute club. Matthew Stredwick from Reading Uni got third in another good time.