National Schools Regatta and Junior Sculling Regatta

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By Sarah Watson

Peterborough juniors returned to racing at the weekend, bringing home 4 national medals from the events held at Dorney lake.

Charlotte Bolton and Harriet Drake-Lee took home a Gold medal in the Women’s Championship double at the National schools regatta that took place on Sunday. They were the fastest crew in the time trial by 6 second which qualified them for the A Final later that day, where they came first over the 2000 metre course with a time of 07:51, making them the only crew to achieve a time sub-8 minutes.

The Junior sculling regatta took place the following day over the same course, where 8 Peterborough crews raced, 3 crews returning with medals and all crews finishing in the top 15.

Ella Baden Darrington won Gold in the Womens J16 single, where she qualified in the time trials with the fastest time, 1 second ahead of Agecroft rowing club. She later went on to win the A final with a comfortable lead of 10 seconds ahead of Walbrook rowing club.

Another superb J16 crew was Daniel Armstrong and Jack Wakefield-Lilley who took home a silver medal in their double. They were only 3 seconds behind Weybridge rowing club in gold medal position. Their club mates Tom calver and Lucas Niklasson also raced in the J16 doubles and won their C final by 1 second, placing them 13th overall.

Bert Papworth did an excellent job taking home a bronze medal in the J15 singles category. He placed 4th in the time trials with 9 seconds separating him from third place, however he then gave it his all in the final moving up to third position, 1 second ahead of Nottingham and Union Rowing Club.

The J15 boys coxed quad of James Garfield, James Ryder, Hugo Carter, Joseph Beesley and Adam Carter also qualified for their A final and finished 6th overall. The J15 girls coxed quad of Erin Ansell-Crook, Lottie Tasker, Sophie Bicknell, Wicktoria Szubzda and Peggy Papworth placed 13th overall, and the women’s J16 double of Grace Niklasson and Lydia Hilton came second in their B final, placing them 8th overall.