Rowing club glory at own regatta

The sun shone on the town and Bexhill Rowing Club produced a stunning performance featuring seven wins, two second places, seven third spots and 23 top six finishes.

They also collected the ladies, senior and grand aggregates for the day and never before has any club, let alone the host club, enjoyed such dominance.

The glut of glory for the local club began in the very first race of the day when the A crew of Phil and Nick McCorry, Matt Hellier, Doug Holdaway and cox Callum Payne claimed the junior senior honours.

Toby Mathews, Ben Muggridge, Joe Pellet, Ashley Cahill and cox Andy Bickers, together forming the B crew, came third in the same race behind Shoreham.

Mark Mitchell, rowing in the new Martin & Bowles-sponsored scull, produced a flawless race to win the senior sculls, with brother Matt in third place.

Doug Holdaway raced away from the novice sculls field and Kieran Cahill was never under any pressure in the junior version as Bexhill completed a clean sweep of the sculls titles.

The ladies' pair of Jemma Cropper and Jennifer Dawes led from start to finish in their senior race before crossing the line first again in the ladies' double scull.

Bexhill's magnificent seven triumphs were completed when the A crew of Chris Mizen, Matt and Mark Mitchell, Kieran Cahill and cox Rebecca Dawes produced a storming final 100 metres to win the premier event of the day - the men's senior fours - in the fastest time of the day.

They then split up to race the senior pairs with the normally dominant Mitchell brothers forced to accept second place behind Herne Bay, with Mizen and Cahill third.

Bexhill's other second position was supplied by the veteran B four of D. Jones, Steve Bickers, S. Hopkins, G. Payne and cox Callum Payne. They came a slot ahead of the A team, which comprised Bob Balchin, P. Dawes, Clive Bingham, Gemma Dawes and cox Andrew Knoll.

Further third places came from the ladies' junior four of Cropper, Hannah Ruddock, Rebecca Dawes & Holly Shoesmith, the first three of whom were joined by Jennifer Dawes to achieve an identical result in the ladies' senior four.

Lucy Sangster, Holly Makin, Jess Campbell and Becky Frost wound up third in the ladies' novice event and sixth in the ladies' junior four.

Tony Page, Ray Picard, Doug Thomas and Phil Hunt finished fifth in the men's novice four and sixth in the men's junior four.

The club would like to thank all the helpers, especially the Dawes family for running the regatta, all the sponsors and the rowers themselves.

Bexhill's results: novice sculls 1st & 4th; junior sculls 1st; senior sculls 1st, 3rd & 6th; senior pairs 2nd, 3rd & 6th; ladies' pair 1st; men's novice four 5th; ladies' novice four 3rd; men's junior four 6th; ladies' junior four 3rd & 6th; junior senior four 1st & 3rd; senior four 1st & 6th; veteran fours 2nd & 3rd; ladies' double scull 1st; ladies', senior & grand aggregates 1st.