Chilly weather on Friday, heavy sea swell on Saturday and perfect conditions on Sunday, set the scene for the World Gig Championships. All the crews sent from this Bere Peninsula club, showed huge amounts of grit, determination, and sheer ‘Grunt,’ especially when asked by their coxes for more!
The seeding races took place on the Saturday morning, were long and hard but this grouped the boats fairly, according to ability. All the races were hard fought, throughout the weekend and not without incidence. Oars were seen to clash on more than one occasion!
The club was represented by a fantastic combination of age and experience (the average age being late thirties/forties), old hands and debutants. The results achieved were the culmination of solid, consistent training throughout the winter months, great personal commitment and outstanding support from family, friends and the wider club community.
Ladies Group I Winners:
coxed by Bill Stacey-Norris, Viv Barnes, Tricia Stewart, Julie Rendle, Nicky Evans, Fizz Ward, Helen Samson-Hill
The results:
Ladies Veterans (A), 21st of 53;
Ladies Supervets (B) were 5th;
Men’s Veterans, 23rd of 48;
Ladies (A), 66th of 125;
Men’s (A), 2nd in their group final, 62nd of 120 overall;
Ladies (B), 109 of 125, group I winners, trophy holders and pictured above; coxed by Bill Stacey-Norris, Viv Barnes (stroke), Tricia Stewart (5), Julie Rendle (4), Nicky Evans (3), Fizz Ward (2), Helen Samson-Hill (1).
All of which continues to demonstrate a local club going from strength to strength and looking forward to the rest of the 2012 season!