14th – 16th July – National Championships, Strathclyde Park

 

Attended by Paul Hamblett, competing in Open Lightweight Single Sculls and Jenny Spencer in Womens Junior 15 Single sculls.  With 36 entrants Paul’s event was the largest in the Championship and provided a proper test of his progress this season. Having been narrowly beaten into 2nd in his opening race Paul progressed from the Repechage into the Semi-Final on Sunday morning. The standard on the Sunday of National Championships is necessarily high and 5th place in the Semi is a really GOOD achievement.

 

Jenny was challenged to half way in her 1st round but made sure of progressing straight to the Final on Sunday by winning comfortably. The Final was a properly competitive event with 9 seconds covering the field at half way, and only 12 at 1,500 metres. The fast starting Preston of Durham ARC was leading from Jenny by 5 seconds at 1,000m but Jenny’s power pushed her to the front, leading by 2 seconds at 1,500m and going on to win by 5 seconds in the end. This is a great achievement both for Jenny and for her Coach, Tony Moule.