On the 3rd of August, Tamar & Tavy Gig Club entered an all boys crew into the gruelling, annual under 16’s championship held at Newquay on the 3rd August, along with 25 other clubs. The crew members were Ben Milligan, Ethan Lamerton, Cameron McKay, Will Gardner, Ben Luke, and Elliott Overnell who was the youngest at only 11 yrs old. Coxed by their coach Tricia Stewart, they rowed magnificently!
The Newquay championship is always a very tough race and the sea conditions can be very challenging with large swells. None of the boys had ever rowed on the sea before. They are a relatively new and inexperienced crew who were competing together for the first time. They did exceptionally well, and after 3 heats had qualified for the final of the plate race.
A very large wave hit them on the start line of the final which caused a thole pin to break and get stuck, the boys slowly edged their way at the back of the pack with only 5 out of the six lads able to row. The pin wasn’t freed and replaced until nearly half way to the first marker buoy which left them a lot of ground to make up. Sheer guts and determination saw them digging deep and rowing their hearts out. One by one they managed to overtake four other gigs to finish in 2nd place, with only six seconds between the winning crew and themselves. The courage, determination and guts they showed after such an unlucky start was just a reflexion of what an amazing crew they were to fight all the way to the finishing line after having rowed four very tough races throughout the day. Huge congratulations to them all!
