Newport Head of the Medina. Saturday, 5th October 2024.

Newport Head of the Medina. Saturday, 5th October 2024.

Saturday saw Wightlink sponsored Ryde Rowing Club enter its first Head Race of the winter season. The Head of the River Medina is a 3.5k processional race hosted by Newport Rowing Club. The race began at Newport Rowing Club and headed towards Cowes finishing near Kingston Marina. The race attracted a good level of entries in many categories and was well supported by mainland crews from Poole and Southampton Rowing Clubs. The day was bright and sunny if a bit windy which made conditions challenging for the entrants.

In Division one there were mainly smaller type boats with single sculls and pairs/doubles entered. Ryde Crews and Scullers performed well. Ryde had six scullers competing in the Open Single sculls with Charlie Watts winning the section, Joe Robers finishing 2nd, Isaac Gibson, 4th, Lars Groothuis 5th, Ben Robotham 6th and Paddy Kearney 8th. Joe Bird and Max Locke competing in an Open Double Scull also finished 1st in their section. Another section winner came from Ryde’s J16 Coxed Four of Ruben Rook, Locas Georgiou, Cameon D’Arcy, Fin Diffey and coxed by Dexter Robson. Alan Evans competed in the Open Coastal Masters C. Single Scull where he finished 2nd in his section with a similar result for a Women’s Coastal Coxless Pair of Mai Read & Emily Kellerman who also finished 2nd in their section. Finally in Division one was a newly formed Ryde Women’s Masters Coastal Coxed Four of Maggie Sanderson, Abi Locke, Lisa Murphy, Kirsty Robson with Rosie Watts coxing who also finished 1st in their section.

In Division two, which had mainly bigger 4's boats, the Ryde Club had an Open Men’s River Coxed Four competing of Ben Robotham, Yogi Ashworth, Lars Groothuis, Joe Bird with Ruby Read coxing who finished 1st in their section and an Open Men’s Coxless Four of Paddy Kearney, Joe Roberts, Isaac Gibson, Charlie Watts who finished 2nd. The Clubs Open Novice River Coxed Four of Reuben Rook, Lukas Georgiou, Cameron D’Arcy, and Max Locke with Harry Watts coxing finished 1st in their section and Club Women’s Master Four raced competed again in a coastal boat – again winning their section.  Finally, a Women’s Coastal J16 Coxed Four of Lottie Pettitt, Emily Kellerman, Niamh Murphy, Mai Read, with Dexter Robson Coxing raced again winning their section. The Club did have an Open Coastal Single Sculler competing in the 2nd Division - Finn Diffey – but unfortunately, he suffered an equipment failure and failed to finish the course.

A special mention should go to Dexter and Rosie who had their first taste of coxing a head race. Finally, a huge thanks to all the parents/carers who came along to support the Ryde crews for the event and to Newport Rowing Club for organising the event.