City crews take home gold at Junior Championships

The Peterborough Junior Championships took place on 30 June with J14 and J15 crews travelling from as far afield as Yarm and Chester to compete over Peterborough’s one kilometre rowing lake. Despite the tough conditions with the heat and strong crosswinds, the Peterborough juniors did extremely well with seven crews progressing to the final, and five of the crews medalling.

Callum Gilby and Ted Smith achieved a gold and silver medal each after finishing first in their quad and second in their double. In their Open J15 coxed quad they raced alongside George Woodall, Ross Lamont and cox Tom Calver, to achieve the second fastest qualifying time which was just 3 seconds slower than Maidstone Invicta. In their final they fought back against Maidstone Invicta and crossed the line two seconds ahead of them, claiming a well-deserved gold medal each.

Gilby and Smith gained their silver medals from the Open J15 doubles final. Unusually, following an appeal, there were five crews racing side by side in this final instead of four, but this didn’t stop two Peterborough crews claiming the gold and silver medals. The victorious double was Thomas Bodily and Thomas Jackson who finished just three seconds ahead of Gilby and Smith in a nail-biting race.

The other silver medal of the day was won by Milly Hilton in the Women’s band 2 J15 single sculls. Despite being in a big field of 15 scullers, she stayed strong and consistent throughout the day, finishing second in her heat, first in her semi-final then second in her final against the fastest qualifier from Star Club.

The bronze medal was won by Brandon Ingle and Tom Calverly in the Band 1 Open J14 doubles event. The boys got off to a fantastic start, achieving the fastest qualifying time out of the 12 crews, however in their tight final they secured a bronze medal, just 3 seconds behind Kings School Ely in second.

The women’s J15 coxed quad of Milly Hilton, Rosie Turp, Natalie Bicknell, Freya Woodall and George Woodall (cox) achieved the second fastest time in the qualifiers. However, they missed out on a medal because they were unable to compete in their final due to time difficulties. Turp and Bicknell also just lost out on a win in their Women’s J15 doubles final, achieving 4th place.

Peterborough members also competed at Ironbridge Regatta over the weekend where they faced a bendy 1000 metre course on the Saturday and a 500 metre course on the Sunday.

Damen Sanderson, Mike King, George Bushell and Chris Elder gained three wins over the weekend. They won the Open Coxless quad on both days, beating Huntingdon Rowing Club by a quarter of a boat length on the Saturday and won by a canvass on the Sunday.

They also joined Alex Totty, Dan Heard, Connor Mumford and George Wilson to win the Open Band 1 coxed eight on the Saturday. It was an impressive final against Br

Bewdley rowing club where the Peterborough eight was able to take the lead in the last 150 metres of the race.