Ryde Rowing Club returned to the scene of last years South Coast Senior Fours Championship  triumph, the 2012 Olympic Regatta venue at Dorney Lake, Eton, for their first competative event of the year.

The event was the Thames Valley Trial Head, and although their was no Senior Four available as a result of illness and holidays the Wightlink sponsored club still managed to take a group of eighteen athletes of all ages and statuses along. Racing was in the form of a time trial, over a 1900m course with crews starting, in statuses, at approximately fifteen second intervals, across two divisions.

The best performances from the Ryde Club came from Senior Sculler Mike Jenner who won the the Men's Open Coastal Sculls in a time of 7 minutes 48 seconds - and the J18 Double Scull of Tom Clark and Callum Lowe who won their section in a time of 7 minutes dead.

There was a good performance from the Clubs J14 Girls Quad of Bryony Reeve, Leona Fisk, Holly Evans and Emilie Rose with Allan Evans coxing, in their first competition at this level, finishing in 7th place in a time of 11 minutes 57 seconds, but importantly they were the first Wessex Region Crew to finish in this status. Also the first Wessex Crews to finish in their sections was the Boys J15 double scull of Adam Edwards and Ollie Gove - 9th in the status in a time of 8 minutes 24 and the J15 Girls double scull of Charlotte Brimstone and Vicky Owrid who finished 12th in their status in a time of 9 minutes 46.

The relevance of being the first Wessex Crew to finish in the Junior events is that the event was being used as part of te selection process for the Wessex Junior team that will compete in the Junior Inter-regional event at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham in April.

The Club also had two Senior C Crews entered in Coxed Fours and competing in separate divisions to accommodate some doubling up. The A Crew of Tom Clark, James Eklund, Callum Lowe and Jamie Lawson with Elena Gaskin coxing in her first race, finished in 6th place in their section in a time of 7 minutes 35. Unfortunately the B Crew of Mark Spall, making his debut for the Club, and Tim Wiggins and Francis Moore, competing in their first ever race, with experienced stroke Jamie Lawson and cox Ollie Gove making up the crew did not have a time recorded due to an error by the time keepers.

Three other Ryde Scullers competed - Stu Johnson at Senior 3, finishing 9th with a time of 8 minutes 22; veteran Alan Evan, who finished 4th in his section in a time of eight minutes 40 and Hayley Edwards sculling in the Women's Senior C section who unfortunately failed to finish the race.

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