ROWERS from Northwich have matched their rivals on the national stage in the past week.

Two crews representing Northwich Rowing Club returned from the Junior Sculling Head with medals, including silver for an under 17s boys’ quad of Greg Murphy, George Lawton, Chris Malley and Matthew Roberts.

They completed two legs of 1,800m in 12:34 at Dorney Lake, venue for the Olympic Games regatta in 2012.

Matthew Radford, George Crouchley, Rhys Coffey and Lawrence Williams were in an under 16s boys’ quad that claimed bronze in 12:43.

Northwich quads in the under 18s boys and under 17s girls’ boat classes both finished fifth, the former ahead of a crew from neighbours Grange School Rowing Club.

An under 15s boys’ eight from the Hartford school was third fastest in their category.

“It was a fantastic day at an iconic venue,” said Northwich captain Rachel Hooper.

“Our junior scullers continue to develop and have shown great potential for the forthcoming regatta season.”

At the Schools’ Head of the River Race in London the previous day, a Northwich Rowing Club boat consisting of Sir John Deane’s College students claimed 12th place in the women’s championship eights.

Harriet Anderson, Leila McGrorty, Libby Chaplin, Emma Roberts, Callie Bloodworth, India Trigg, Victoria Gardner, Abigail Davies and cox Tom Swithenbank, of the County High School Leftwich, made up the crew.

“It was fantastic to see the club represented at an event dominated by independent schools,” said Hooper.

“Not only did the girls race incredibly well, but they finished in a strong position.”

Four Grange School crews competed a course on the Thames, with an under 16s girls’ eight claiming their best result of seventh in class.

“It was a solid performance from the whole team,” said coach Matthew Jump.

“We’ve not competed at the event for quite some time, so it was good to see Grange crews performing well on what is an iconic stretch of river.”

On Saturday, a women’s masters D crew from Northwich Rowing Club celebrated a comprehensive victory at Runcorn Spring Head.

Melanie Benson, Claire Holt, Claire Webster, Elaine Young, Carole Riddell, Clare Briegal, Mary Ozsanlav-Harris and cox Katherine Mooney completed the course more than two minutes ahead of a rival eight from the host club, timing 24:52.6.

Results

Oarsport Junior Sculling Head

Dorney Lake, Eton

Tuesday, March 17

OJ18 quad: 5. Northwich 12:09; 6. Grange School 12:16

WJ18 quad: 14. Grange School 14:36

OJ17 quad: 2. Northwich 12:34

WJ17 quad: 5. Northwich 14:23

OJ16 quad: 3. Northwich 12:43

WJ16 quad: 30. Grange School 15:50

OJ15 coxed quad: 13. Grange School 13:51

WJ15 coxed quad: 29. Grange School 15.49; 31=. Northwich 15:55

OJ15 eight: 3. Grange School 13:54

OJ14 coxed quad: 8=. Grange School 14:28

WJ14 coxed quad: 20. Grange School 16:37; 33=. Northwich 17:29

OJ14 eight: 25. Grange School 14:30

WJ14 eight: 20. Grange School 16:41

 

Schools’ Head of the River Race

Tideway, London

Monday, March 16

Women’s eight: 12. Northwich 21:54

Junior men’s quad: 14. Grange School 20:22

Junior women’s quad: 14. Grange School 22:28

MJ16 eight: 8. Grange School 20:20

WJ16 eight: 7. Grange School 21:59