Ross Rowing Club’s junior rowers had three representative crews in the West Midlands squad at the Junior Interregional Regatta on Saturday, and all performed with determination.

This regional team event brings together qualifying crews from each region to race over 1500m at the national Water Sports Centre in Nottingham.

Ross’s youngest competitor was Heidi Brodholt, who sculled above her age group with her doubles partner Lara Banks-Martin in the very competitive WJ14 double sculls event. The pair rowed a mature and technically excellent first round, missing out on a place in the A final by the narrowest of margins, just three hundredths of a second. They again sculled beautifully in their B final, winning in a time which would have earned them a fifth place in the A final. Technically, they were the best crew in the category.

In probably the hardest event possible in rowing, Harley Kernot competed in the WJ15 single scull category. Harley exhibited steel and bravery in competing alone down this intimidating course, against top opposition from clubs and schools from up and down the country.

She posted a fast time in her first heat, coming fourth and sculling very well following a good start, and then repeated the course in the B Final posting an even faster time. The silverware may have gone elsewhere, but all single scullers deserve gold medals for courage and grit.

The Ross WJ16 eight were up against their old adversary from LEH school as well as other qualifying crews from the East Midlands, Wales, Eastern and Northern West. The crew, coxed by Adrienne Howell, set out to secure a place in the A final in the best possible lane position and they did not disappoint. Stroke Gabby Howell set the pace, backed up by Noe Banks-Martin, Elysia Cotton, Zoe Westley, Lily Croft, Emily Morris, Frankie Crilly and Hattie Aubrey.

At 500m, the Ross crew had created a clear water advantage over the field and continued commitment and focus enabled the boat to continue to move away from the rest of the field. The result was a perfect first round performance which left them in second place in the overall qualification standings. It also meant that they would have one of the favoured lanes in the A final.

In the A final, they were up against an old rival from Henley Rowing Club, plus a strong crew from Lea Rowing Club. All the six crews in this final started with no shortage of aggression, but it was the Ross crew who again led the field out. At the 500m mark Ross and Henley were leading by a length over the rest of the field, but through the middle 500, the Henley crew crept slowly away with the Ross crew keeping hold of second place. The excitement started to mount as the strong crew from Lea put in a big push and, with 250m to go, Ross had barely a two second margin over the Lea crew. This was when the Ross Cox Adrienne Howell, working with her sister Gabby at stroke, made a big call and the crew responded. It was then that the girls pulled away from the oncoming Eastern boat enough to secure a tight and incredibly satisfying silver medal.

Their crew coach, Ian Howell commented: “These girls showed unbelievable commitment in the last throws of this race and deserve this fantastic silver medal.”