Weekend to remember for Bexhill rowers

The club's in-form crews notched up four wins and three second places off the Kent coast on Saturday, and another four victories and four runners-up finishes at their own rescheduled event the next day. So impressive were Bexhill that they won the junior, senior and grand aggregates at both regattas.

The first final of the day at Deal saw the junior four of Nick and Phil McCorry, Doug Holdaway, Andy Welling and cox Callum Payne finish a strong second.

The McCorry brothers then teamed up to claim their first ever win in the junior pairs, with club-mates Holdaway and Welling fifth, and Joe Roberts and Ashley Cahill sixth. In the ladies' pairs event, Jemma Cropper and Rebecca Dawes finished well in fourth place.

The veteran A four of Dave Jones, Steve Bickers, Steve Hopkins, Glen Payne and cox Callum Payne finished runners-up just behind the Folkestone four. The veteran B crew of brothers Paul and Graham Dawes, Bob Balchin, Ray Philips and cox Jemma Cropper came home in fifth.

An eventful senior four race saw Mark Mitchell, Paul Dawes, Clive Bingham, Matt Mitchell and Callum Payne finish outside the points in the third re-row after the two previous starts had ended in collisions.

Mark Mitchell then produced one of his usual dominant performances to win the senior sculls, with brother Matt third, Chris Doswell fifth and Andy Bickers sixth.

The junior senior crew of Toby Matthews, Matt Hellier, Ashley Cahill and Roberts finished a personal best third.

Doswell won his fourth race of the year in the junior sculls with Keiran Cahill second and Steve McCorry fifth.

But pride of place on the day had to go to the Mitchell brothers who retained the South Coast Senior Pairs Championship title for the third consecutive year by winning their sixth race of the season. Darren Mitchell and Andy Bickers finished fifth.

The following day at their own regatta the Junior A crew again produced a superb performance but were unlucky to finish second. The men's senior A crew of Bingham, Dawes and the Mitchell brothers pushed the leading pack all the way to finish fourth, closely followed by Darren Mitchell, Andy Bickers, Welling and Kieran Cahill.

The veteran A crew of Jones, Bickers, Hopkins and Payne picked up their second win of the year in fine style, holding off Folkestone to cross the line two lengths clear.

Champion duo Matt and Mark Mitchell were in the unusual position of being behind for the first time this year in a senior pairs race but normality was restored when they caught and overtook Herne Bay before going on to triumph by a daunting six lengths.

Doswell notched his fifth victory in the junior sculls final, but was pushed all the way by the impressive Keiran Cahill and Steve McCorry with the matter only being settled over the last 20 strokes.

The ladies' senior pair of Jennifer Dawes and Jo Cripps managed a creditable second place in their first race for three years.

Bexhill dominated the senior sculls final by fielding five of the eight competitors. Matt Mitchell took the honours to claim a surprise win over brother Mark and they were followed by Keiran Cahill in third.

Town Mayor Cllr Stuart Earl presented the winners with their trophies and on seeing first hand the poor conditions of the exiting clubhouse he pledged his full support to the redevelopment of the much-needed new base.

The Rowing Club Fun Regatta takes place on Sunday August 15 from 9am. Anyone wishing to take part in this fun event (no experience required) should contact club captain Mark on 216350.