14th – 16th July –
National Championships,
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.