ST NEOTS JUNIORS BRING HOME 4 MEDALS
St Neots Juniors were remarkably successful in representing Eastern England at the National Junior Inter-Regional Rowing Finals at Nottingham on Saturday 27th April.
The club’s juniors contributed five crews, winning two Gold medals, two Silver, and a 4th place, establishing the junior section as one of the strongest around.
Louise Shorten and Lauren Parren competed in their WJ15 2x, Voirrey Taylor and Zoe Adamson in their WJ14 2x, Louise in her WJ15 1x, and Zoe in her WJ14 1x. Josh Davies and Fergus Mitchell competed in their J16 2x. All the crews sailed through the qualifying heats, making their finals.
Louise was given a really tight turnaround time between her 1x and her 2x with Lauren, so really applied all her efforts in the 2x, and came a very respectable 4th in the WJ15 1x category final.
Louise and Lauren raced their 2x in a highly competitive final, lying in 4th position 500m from the finish, then 3rd until 100m out, then pipped the other two boats virtually on the line to win the Gold medal.
It was one of the most exciting finishes of the day, and many paid tribute to the girls on their finishing. Zoe made a really good effort in her 1x and fought all the way to the end gaining the Silver medal in the final, then joined Voirrey in the 2x to give a masterclass in the final, pulling away from other crews with ease, and winning the Gold medal.
Their time in the qualifying heat was also exceptional and drew many comments. Josh and Fergus in their J16 2x continue to harass the Marlow boat which is very dominant in this category. At GB trials they came very close to this crew, and in the final they got even closer, pushing Marlow all the way to the end, but losing by just under 2 seconds.
It was very pleasing to see the frustration on the faces of the Marlow crew at their inability to create clear water between them, and probably had the race been 500m longer, the St Neots lads would have overtaken them. Junior Coach Andy Taylor said: ‘St Neots Juniors entered five of the 24 race categories, gaining around 25% of the points that Eastern England got in total.
Voirrey and Zoe have given us a new race tactic called “New Race” which I intend to apply to the other junior crews, so thanks girls. And we’ll make sure that Josh and Fergus race against the Marlow boys very soon as I’m confident they will beat them.
It was a very good day indeed!’
