The Club enjoys supporting all the events hosted by the West Midland Clubs and is looking to move further a field when higher levels of competition are required.

Ross Juniors achieve a Clean Sweep

The winter training season of head racing (Time trialing) commenced last weekend at Monmouth. Ross had 15 entries and took home 6 victories. The Junior squad achieved yet another new height with each entered crew all winning their event! This is unprecedented ,especially when you considered the Ross Juniors were up against all the local rowing schools, such as haberdashers and Kings Worcester. The successful crews were , Wj15 4x+ of 5 quad of Hannah Jones, Hannah Lewis, Jasmin-Brandram Jones and Georgina Watling with Frazer Blackwood Coxing; Wj16 4x+, Sarah Woolf, Fiona Rogoff, Jessica Preece and Emily Preece , Frazer Blackwood coxing, Wj162x Hannah Lewis, Jasmin-Brandram Jones; Open J152x . Dan Hunt and Dan Moran, Open j16 1x Borris Darcy.

The Junior wins were added to by the veteran crew of Phil Palmer, Clive Snell, Brian Fountain, Howard Copping with Sheron Dean Lucas coxing. The men's squad lost out in the Snr 3 eights by half a second and men's Snr 4 sculler Joe Bunting was pipped by just 3 seconds over the 2250 meter course.

This is an excellent start to the time trial season and indicated the quality of oarsmanship and enthusiasm there is at the Ross Club. The club will be celebrating the culmination of a successful season at the Regatta Ball on the 21st October held at the Chase hotel.

Pictured are the successful Ross Junior Academy squad members.

The exhilarating feeling of achievement accompanied the sore backs and blistered hands, for the Ladies Senior 1 Coxed Four from Ross Rowing Club who successfully completed the Boston Rowing Marathon (Lincolnshire not USA!) on Sunday.

Kirsty Gwynne, Michelle Hughes, Robyn Perkins and Cathy Fletcher, coxed by Dan Ruck rowed 31 long miles (51 km) to be only the second female crew in the clubs history to attempt this event.

The Boston Rowing Marathon is an annual head of the river race over a 31-mile course on the River Witham between Lincoln and Boston. The race was first rowed in 1946 and this year attracted in excess of 200 crews across the United Kingdom and Europe.

"I think it was down the pub that someone joked about doing the Boston Marathon, "said Kirsty, who is stroke within the crew. "And in a moment of madness we all agreed!"

"The girls have had a very good racing season this summer, winning their events at Evesham, Shrewsbury, Stourport, Oxford, Llandaff and Ross regattas," said Robin Fletcher Ladies Captain. "However, they really are a sprint crew, so I was a little bemused but proud when I heard they were going to tackle this somewhat longer course. They are all very physically fit and mentally strong, so knew they would complete it no matter what"

Kirsty added, "We started off really well and settled into a comfortable rhythm with the boat moving positively through the water. You hear runners talking about hitting the 'wall' in running marathons, well we hit the rowing 'wall' after about 3 ½ hours of continuous rowing - our lower backs started to ache, our behinds had gone almost numb and any blisters we had developed along the way started to burst. But we knew we had to block out the pain and the boredom and just carry on. We were also spurred on by the fact that we were raising money for The Royal National College for the Blind, Hereford"

"Everyone remembers Steve Redgrave famously saying after the Olympics in Sydney that he never wanted to see a boat again, well that is exactly how we all felt when we crossed the finish line. We all know that Steve went on to compete in another Olympics and no doubt it won't be too long before we are back in training, just as soon as the blisters heal!"

We reckon we lost about 10-15 minutes as a result of having to do this. Although we were slightly disappointed with our time we are delighted that we attempted and completed the Boston Marathon which is the longest rowing event in the country"

Fiona Rogoff rowed brilliantly only to be beaten in the final of women's novice sculls. Dan Hunt and Dan Moran lost by just 1ft in the open j15 double sculls. The Women's J15 quad of Georgina Watling, Hannah Lewis, Hannah Jones and Jasmin Brandram Jones lost by 2ft and worked through to their respective semi finals with new partners including Jessica Preece and Emily Preece. Dan Ruck rowed particularly strongly in the boys j15 event. Chris Jones won through to his semi final in men's novice sculls. Scot Morris was Ross's youngest ever competitor at 8 years old and rowed brilliantly in his final of j10 sculls. Georgie Jones again rowed superbly in the j12 semi final.

The most attractive race of the day was the final of women's j13 single sculls, which had 3 Ross rowers, Lucy Jones, Eleanor Blackwood, Morgan Baynham William competing fiercely for the honours. This event attracted huge attention with novice to world champion rowers all stopping to admire the quality and precision of the Ross Juniors.

The success of the Junior Academy is quite unprecedented and it is attracting admiration from many other rowing clubs that are potentially much bigger than Ross. The Academy has now many offers from other clubs wishing to do combined training sessions and share in the best practice which is being delivered at the Ross Club.

On the senior side the men's squad competed in 6 finals and did not convert one into a win. The Men's Snr 3 crew of Borris Darcy, Graham Watling, Jeremy Kelk, Howard Colley coxed by Sheron Dean Lucas came closest . They were unlucky to dead heat in their final only to loose the rerow. Jeremy Kelk rowed fantastically well in the final of Snr 4 single sculls only to be beaten on the line.

Yet again the Ross club showed its strength in depth over the event. It is now back to winter training in preparation to achieve new heights next year.

The bulk of the entries for Totnes were made up from the Junior Academy which had set up camp on Friday night for an early start of the multi lane racing on Saturday. The Mumbles party were made up of Father and Son combination Mike Jones and Chris Jones rowing as a pair.

The highlight of the events was the win for Rosie Lindley who had convincing wins over much older competitors. Kelly Morris only just missed this final by losing in her heat by half a length. The Junior squad won through to two other finals, Jasmin Brandham Jones and Jessica Preece in the J14 double Sculls and the J14 quad stroked by Georgina Watling ,with Jasmin Brandham Jones and Jessica Preece and Emily Preece rowing coxed by Frazer Blackwood won through to their final and cam second in their final holding off the Bideford crew by a canvas. The most improved crews in the squad were Eleanor Blackwood and Lucy Jones competing in the J13 Double Sculls. They has a tremendous race over what was by far the longest distance they have ever competed in. In addition Dan Ruck and George Wood competed for the first time in single sculls. Both had excellent rows only to come second and third to a more experienced Bideford sculler. They both commented on what a great experience the event had been for them both. Hannah Jones and Emily Preece rowing against much older competition battled well over the 1000 meter course only to be beaten in the last 100 meters. Hannah also competed in the J15 sculls final.

In the men's squad the veteran quad of Ian Howell, Bryn Hughes Paul Butler and Robin Fletcher were soundly beaten by a Totnes crew featuring several Vet World champions and then they teamed up with Graham Watling, Paul Nichols, Rob Hunter and Dave Morris to make an eight. Coxed by Sheron Dean Lucas this valiant eight put up a good performance only to be vanquished in the afternoon sun and falling tide by superior opposition.

In Mumbles Chris Jones won his first coxing pot at Mumbles Regatta. He was in the right place at the right time to cox Monmouth 'A ' in the Open committee Coastal IVs. In his final Monmouth beat Llandaff B & D crews by 2 lengths in a 3 lane final. Mike and Chris were beaten by a length in their coastal double sculls.

The key goal for the Totnes trip was to have a club away weekend and to enjoy the camaraderie that comes from all pitching in together. This was achieved in spades. The Saturday BBQ night was followed by the juniors versus the adults football match. We are still disputing some of the ref's decisions however the juniors are convinced they thrashed the adults! Sven has not called yet?

Captain Ian Howell commented that "everybody had a great time, enjoying good company and an amazing location combined with some highly competitive rowing. We are also delighted for Rosie to be competing to such a high standard and for Chris Jones in picking up his first coxing pot." Robin Fletcher (Ladies Captain) was particularly pleased by "how well the junior squad coped over the longer distance with some of the less experienced members really showing their will to win"

Over the weekend the Ross club had 21 competitors taking part in two regattas in 15 separate events. The Club next week changes tack and will be competing at the National Water Sports Centre in the National Veteran Championships and Loughborough Regatta. Of particular interest will be the senior 2 crew who are preparing for Henley and the Vet Novice 8 competing for their 1st time in a multi-lane event

The entire squad showed fantastic attitude in this tough style of rowing which is a test of fitness, technique and sheer will.

The Women's J12 double scull of Rosie Lindley and Kelly Morris won gold in their event, breaking the course record, and beat all the competing boys' crews' as-well! This result was supported by a bronze medal being won in the same event by Eleanor Blackwood and Morgan Williams.

The four girls then went on to win a silver medal by combining in a quad in the J12 event. Again the crew out paced two other boys crews and were very ably coxed by Kaylee Dimond.

The WJ14 quad crew of Emily & Jessica Preece, Hannah Jones, Kaylee Dimond and brilliantly coxed by Dan Ruck won bronze in their event. This crew showed great determination over the long course to beat 3 other crews in this very competitive event.

Other notable performances were Dan Ruck and Fraser Blackwood in the J15 sculls and Kaylee Dimond, Hannah Jones in the WJ14 double sculls. J14 single sculler Chris Jones rowed well in the largest event of the day gaining a respectable 5th place out of 9 competitors.

The junior squad at Ross grows from strength to strength and is looking forward to entering the winter training period to improve still further the quality of technique and get lots of training miles under their belt.

Juniors

The racing started at 8.30 am at Evesham with Juniors Fiona Rogoff and Hannah Jones competing for the 1st time in J15 Double sculls. They narrowly missed out in their 1st competing event. After this they competed with Georgian Watling and Hannah Lewis in the J15 Quad Sculls with Fraser Blackwood coxing. Again they performed excellently against strong opposition only to be defeated. Hannah Lewis and Georgian teamed up with Emily and Jessica Preece and were narrowly defeated by a canvas in what was one of the closest races of the day.

The J12 squad of Lucy Jones, Eleanor Blackwood, Kaylee Diamond, Morgan Baynham Williams, Kelly Morris and Rosie Lindley competed in the J12 double sculls event. This keenly fought event was eventually won by Kelly and Rosie who beat a strong Evesham crew in the final.

The Junior men were represented by Borris Darcy and Joe Bunting racing in J16 and J18 Double sculls. The boys having vanquished the eventual winners of the event was unfortunate to suffer disqualification due to some errant steering. A tough lesson for the boys who have been training hard all winter. Their time will come. Competing for the 1st time together was Dan Ruck and George Wood in J13 Double Sculls. The boys had a particularly good start but were eventually out fought in the later section of the race by a more experienced crew from Staines.

Having over 17 juniors competing at one regatta is a record for the club and represented the largest squad attending the event from Ross. Robin Fletcher (Ladies Captain and Junior Coach) commented that the quality of oars-manship from all those attending was tremendous, in particular the J14/J15 women's quads rowed particularly well in their 1st event and Rosie and Kelly kept up their 100% record of winning"

Men's Squad

The men were represented in several events including Senior 3, Senior 4, Novice, and Veteran events. The highlight of the day was a victory for the Senior 4 eight, which was stroked by Phil Davies. The rest of the crew was made up of, Graham Watling, Howard Collie, Rob Hunter, Paul Nichols, Ian Howell, Richard Ceci and Jeremy Kelk. The crew was expertly coxed by Sheron Dean Lucas. Their victory over Pengwern (Shrewsbury) was a tremendous result of the great coaching being provided for the squad by Jane Delicata and George Smith. It is clear that the expertise, support and structure provided by these coaches have really paid off. The fact that the crew could be selected from a pool of rowers and deliver such an emphatic result is testimate to the long term development plan the club is adopting to building talent at the club. In the rest of the men's squad the senior 3 coxed four won through to their final only to be narrowly beaten by Staines. The Vet F coxed 4 and Vet D eight both lost in their respective finals and the Novice four lost in their semi final.

Ladies Squad

The Ladies were represented by a Senior 2 coxed four and a Senior 3 eight. The Ladies four made up of Kirsty Gwynne, Michelle Hughes Robin Perkins, Cathy Fletcher in their 1st competitive outing of the season, emphatically dismissed their opposition winning by a comfortable margin. The crew was coxed by Dan Ruck who steered a near perfect course in his 1st event at this level of competition. This crew are now focusing all their efforts on Ladies Henley In June. The Ladies senior 3 eight lost in the final of their event to Evehsam.

Malin Eriksson continued her good form in a single scull by winning the Wallingford Skiff Regatta Cup at the prestigious Wallingford Regatta. This is Ross' first win at Dorney Lake, the venue for the 2012 Olympics. In her final she beat off tough opposition including a Scottish international sculler.

Malin also competed in the Senior 2 event and made final, where she did not cope well with the conditions but was still within touching distance of a sculler
who made the Great Britain Final Trials.

Malin's next competition is in Gent Belgium, where she will make her debut on the international regatta circuit. Encouragingly she recorded the second fastest time of the day and should look forward with confidence towards this high level competition.

Club Captain Ian Howell commented that "this is an outstanding start to the regatta season and one the strongest ever according to club members. What is most satisfying is that the squad systems that take patience and a huge degree of work are really having a positive effect. By being able to coach in large groups it creates a performance climate that breeds support and flexibility within the club. This principle applies across the Juniors, Ladies and Men's training groups and is starting to become engrained in the Ross culture"

Next week Malin Ericson will achieve another first for the Ross Club. Malin is competing in the Gent international regatta in Belgium. This will pit Malin against some of the best women scullers in Europe. We wish her the best of luck.

The B Crew, of Phil Palmer, Rob Hunter, Tony Allen, Brian Fountain, Dave Morris, Mike Jones, Paul Butler, Ian Howell and Cox Sheron Dean Lucas also took to the water in what is the world's largest rowing event. This even more inexperienced crew had to cope with the loss due to injury of Tony Allen before the race and the last minute replacement by George Smith. Although the crew were disappointed for Tony who has been preparing for the event through the winter it was a stroke of luck that George was available. He is a highly experienced international rower and he supported the crew in their creditable performance, coming in only 1 minute thirty seconds behind the A crew finishing at 399. Again this crew had new squad members, including, Brian, Dave, Paul who had never attempted this level of competition before. The entire crew especially Sheron Dean Lucas coxing performed brilliantly and executed their race plan to perfection.

Captain Ian Howell commented "We are delighted with the performances of the two crews. The squad is currently in a rebuilding phase and we look forward to seeing this group develop over the coming regatta season. What's more the spirit and camaraderie demonstrated over the weekend was a joy to work with and demonstrates the amazing spirit that resides in the club at present"

The Ross (Redgrave) crew of Cox; Tom Williams, Malin Ericson, Michelle Hughes Amelia Kinsella, Cathy Fletcher, Robyn Perkins, Kirsty Gwynne, Chris Hughes, Annie Williams Finished 100 over all out of the 350 crews. That means Ross is in the top 100 on women's rowing in Europe. It was to be stated that this crew could not achieve this goal without the support of the Pinsent Crew crew Cox - Rhiannon Jones, Nicky Wild ,Amy Perkins, Jane Davies, Kat Clarke, Becky (Junior only rowing 4 weeks!!!) Gina Butler, Chris Crowhurst, Sheron Dean Lucas, which ranked a very credible 252.

Malin was competing against all the prospective GB squad all of whom she beat by at a clear margin. Malin in fact was only beaten by one other women's sculler on the day and she was a ex GB world championship contender.

It is clear that Malin is showing true high performance potential and her result is testament to her dedication, resilience, fitness combined with a strong will to win.

Also competing at this event was Robin Fletcher (Ladies Captain) and Tom Williams (Wallingford). They competed exceptionally well achieving a highly creditable 2nd place out of 9 in their Men's Snr 2 category.

Robin commented that "Malins' performance was a tremendous achievement and is a just reward for all the hard work she is putting in"

Ladies Squad

Ross had its largest entry for many years at this Head of the River, with all the different squads being represented. The ladies four of robin perkins, any perkins, chris Hughes, cathy fletcher - cox robin fletcher put in a steaming performance to win their event narrowly by just 2 seconds over the 4.5 Km course. This is a tremendous result, illustrating, the power, concentration and focus required to win over such a distance. The ladies eight in the Walford Timber sponsored Ian Wild, comprised of Kirsty Gwynne , Michelle Hughes, Nicky Wild, Annie Williams, Gill (in her first ever event) Sheron Dean Lucas, Cat Randle, Jane Davies, coxed by Rhiannon Jones, finished second in their event. Again this was a great performance for the squad especially the newer members.

Mens Squad

The men's squad put out two eights with both having very solid rows. The quality of oarsman ship in both crews was a credit to the work completed so far in the winter training and fastest crew was 26th out of the 178 entries on the day. This senior 3 crew came third in its event. Graham Watling and Paul Nichols navigating themselves down the course in a coxless pair came second in their event. The men's Senior 4 coxed four of Mike Jones, Brain Fountain, Dave Morris and Jeremy Kelk , coxed by Sheron Dean Lucas performed heroically in their event.

Junior Squad

The juniors were represented by Chris Jones in the jj14 sculls and a J15 quad of Fiona Rogoff, Hannah Jones, Hannah Lewis, and Georgian Watling coxed by Dan Ruck. The experienced gained in this event will put them in excellent position to compete during the regatta season. Club Captain Ian Howell commented "We are very proud of how all the Juniors coped with the conditions and challenged themselves over such long distance event."

Overall all this was an excellent day with 10 entries all competing well with most crew members completing over 18KM over the day.

This weekend saw a bumper amount of competition for the local club. The Veteran rowers Robin Fletcher and Phil Davies travelled to Strayclyde having teamed up with two Hereford rowers to compete in the World Masters championships. This annual event attracts crews from the all over the world.

The Ross crew was matched against crews from West Germany, America, Italy, Scotland and England. The crew were narrowly beaten to 3rd placed by the Italian crew however they were delighted to come in ahead of the Scots and the Americans. Robin was quoted to say "that we had a fantastic row and only narrowly missed out on a medal"

On Saturday a veteran contingent supported the Penarth Regatta. Success was achieved here with the Veteran four of Phil Palmer, Rob Hunter, Paul Nichols, Mike Jones and ably coxed by Dan Ruck, winning the Veteran Coxed fours event. Mike and Paul capped off a good day with another win in the veteran double sculls event.

On Sunday Ross took is largest ever Junior Squad to Worcester Junior & Veterans regatta. 23 Juniors took part in some excellent racing. The honours for the day were taken by Chris Jones who won his J14 sculling event. The women's J12, of Rosie Lindley and Kelly Morris won in their J12 double sculls.
The Junior squad competed very well throughout the day, with a noticeable improvement in the quality of sculling. The progress of the squad bodes well for next season.

In the senior squad the honours were taken by Howard Collie and Jeremy Kelk who won their Nov Double sculls event and this was supported by Ian Howell and Torsten Pope who also won in their Vet B Double sculls.

This weekend marks the end of a remarkable Regatta season. The Ross club has gone from strength to strength with over 30 wins coming from all sections. Its growth as a true community club will be recognised at the club dinner which is held this Friday where the members will celebrate a very successful year.

The top honours were taken by Malin Eriksson who won again in her Senior 3 Sculling event. Amy Perkins won her J15 Sculls event. Both these ladies were sculling the new high performance sculling boat sponsored by Haigh Engineering. The Ladies crew rowing in the Walford Timber sponsored VIII made up of, Kirsty Gwynne, Cat Randall, Michelle Hughes, Nicky Wild, Annie Williams, Ruth Davies, Malin Eriksson, Robin Perkins and Coxed by Amy Perkins fought through a tight semi final and won a highly competitive final against Grosvenor.

The ladies senior 4 coxed iv worked their way through 2 rounds only to be beaten in their semi final. This crew of Rhiannon Jones, Jane Davis, Annie Williams and Sheron Dean Lucas performed heroically, showing real potential for the coming regattas.

The ladies senior 2 coxed iv, made up of Ruth Davies, Kirsty Gwynne, Michelle Hughes and Cat Randall rowed well in their rounds only to loose out in either the semi finals or finals.

The men's crews failed to convert the finals they achieved into pots. The Club had Senior 2 Coxed IV's, crews on both days, both loosing in their respective finals, and having made up composite 8 crews with Tyne Rowing Club again were narrowly beaten in an exciting final. Other very notable performances were the men's Novice 4 - Paul Butler, Jeremy Kelk, Howard Collie, Paul Symonds who competed very well over the long course on Saturday and the revised crew of Mike Jones, Phil Palmer Paul Butler and Jeremy Kelk who won their first round. Senior 3 Double scullers Ian Howell and Tim Bunting lost in their semi final, as did Paul Nichols and Richard Ceci in the early round of the men's novice IV. The men's Snr IV Coxed of Rob Hunter, Howard Collie, Richard Ceci and a guest from Hereford Rowing Club also lost in their semi final.

J15 scullers Borris Darcy and Joe Bunting sculled well on both days making the final on Saturday and a semi on Sunday.

The entire weekend was an excellent club outing with most staying overnight in the campsite with a large BBQ and alternative sporting activities taking place. Club Chairman Bryn Hughes commented 'it was great to see such a huge entry with over 35 different members including Juniors taking part"