Thank you to Oliie (J14) for this report
After successes in the regional finals ERC made it to JIRR at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham. It was an early start and for many of the juniors it was disconcerting to see all the way down the 2k straight. However, we were glad to see there were no swans. A forceful head wind had set in early in the day and grew to strong gusts, making the races even more challenging.
The first race was our J15 1x, Alex Judd. He rowed a convincing race in his heat coming 2nd and then put up a good fight in the final coming 4th. An excellent way to start the day off! In close succession was WJ15 1x, Jess Creasy, who was just edged out for A final but still put up a great performance coming 3rd in the B final.
The next boat off was J14 1x, Ollie Johnson. After a decisive win in his heat, he came second in the A final just staying ahead of Northern after a long battle down the course.
After a long wait the WJ14 4x+ left the pontoon. The boat was composed of River, Ava, Evie and Lucy with Jess as their cox. After coming 5th in their heat, they had an incredible race in the A final finishing 5th.
Great support from the bank was given throughout, from coaches, parents and teammates alike. Cheers of encouragement from the side helped our crews to the finish line.
WJ16 4x- were the next boat up. The highly experienced quad showed an excellent performance and finished 5th in their heat and 4th in the B final
OJ16 4x- were a new crew consisting of Ethan, Sam, Henry and Noah. Sam was a Paignton rower but was welcomed into ERC and quickly became part of the team. They were up against some very strong crews but still performed really well finishing 6th in their heat and 5th in their final.
The last race of the day was the WJ14 2x, made up of Mollie and Tirion, who were also a relatively new pairing. Despite this, they performed to a high-level coming 5th in their heat and winning the B final ending the day on a high!
After a brilliant day of strength and determination everyone headed off for the long journey home…leaving the Tinklers setting up for another day of racing with Sam G in the GB trials the following day.