Rowing South Coast Championships 2022
Published 01:00 on 6 Sep 2022
Eliza South reports from the Rowing South Coast Championships 2022 - Ladies Fleet - Open Junior Fleet:
Over the weekend of 10-11 September I represented Southsea Rowing Club in the coxed fours at the South Coast Rowing Championships held in Paignton.
Our fleet comprised ladies' crews with a mix of adults and under-18 crews. Having recently moved up two fleets in quality this season already, our expectations were being managed by our cox, Bryony, about hopefully making the final.
There were 12 entries in our fleet, which meant that the fleet had to be split in to two heats to qualify. Lymington were the favourites in one heat and BTC Southampton close behind as second favourites to win in our heat. We required a top two finish in the heat to make the final, and we won in our heat, so we made the final!
For the final we were up against Lymington, BTC, Christchurch, Bexhill and Shanklin. We'd been allocated the worst start position: out to sea in the waves and tide! Our cox Bryony played a blinder on the start, positioning us as far down the line as allowed, compacting the fleet. We pushed out hard and towards the halfway mark Shanklin squeezed up and our oars became entangled. The clash of carbon on carbon was deafening; luckily no blades broke! After some unladylike conversations we pushed apart and gave them a 2-stroke head start to give clear water between us. We were FURIOUS and LAST!
Bryony re-set the team. We'd been stationary for at least 30 seconds and she gave the instruction to "push out hard Southsea!" Bexhill were within sight and Shanklin just a bit further on. We steamed past them without a glance (but with some verbal banter).
The shout from Bryony followed for "more!" We were chasing down Christchurch, squeezing past them to get a foot onto the podium in 3rd place, with 300m to go out of 2000m. We had BTC next in our sights to move up a step! With 200m to the finish the arms were aching and the legs dead! Bryony shouted for yet more: "Time to sprint for the line Southsea!" All we heard were two beeps a second apart. Bodies broken, we collapsed, with no idea if we had done enough! On approaching the beach we heard the judges reviewing and got the message that we had won! 1st place Southsea - South Coast Champions 2022!!!
Eliza South
