Golds galore for HLRC Juniors

Hollingworth Lake Rowing Club Junior Team for Trafford Head of the Bridgewater Race

Gold medals were won by 10 Hollingworth Lake Rowing Club juniors during a successful day of racing  on the Bridgewater Canal in Trafford on Saturday 22 February.

HLRC sent a team of 13 juniors to take part in the 3,200 metre and 1,000 metre timed races. 

The single scullers, all racing 3,200 metres, started the day with a meeting at 8.15am before setting off to race at 9.30am.

Alastair Holbrough (J14) was the first gold medal winner with an impressive performance and time of 13 minutes 21 seconds – a second faster than the J16 winner.

Other single scullers who put in excellent performances were Tom Swithenbank, racing for the first time in a new boat; as well as Hannah Lowe and Molly Archbold (both J13) who fought hard against strong opposition but narrowly missed out on medals.

As soon as they had finished their singles, Hannah and Molly were back on the water in a doubles race of 3,200m in which they had to row up in the J14 category and came in third place.

The next golds were on the 1,000m course for double scullers, Jess Pilkington and Harriet Jackson – their first win for the club.

On the 3,200m course, Katie Hargreaves and Laura Aspinall won their second double scullers gold medals in successive head races. 

Tom Swinthenbank was back on the water in the afternoon with his double sculler partner, Tom Bullock in the J14 category on the 3,200 metre course. They came a  respectable third place.

The final gold medals of the day for HLRC went to the J14 coxed quad consisting of Amy Aspinall, Gabriella Fennell, Sally Tidsall, Harriet Jackson and the cox, Jess Pilkington in an exciting timed 1,000 metre race against a crew from Trafford Rowing Club. The HLRC crew won by a convincing 32 seconds – the first gold medals for some of the crew members.

The weekend of the 1 and 2 March is the next outing for the juniors with the North West Regional Time Trials at Runcorn Rowing Club on the Saturday, and the English Indoor Rowing Championships at the Manchester Velodrome on the Sunday.