Rowing and Paddling Club Championships W O RD S: A BI WAT T A ND BIL L CH A L MERS | IM AGES: J O CELY NN CHU
Rowing
The rowing and paddling community at RHKYC held its annual Club Championships on Saturday 26 June, during which more than 120 rowers and paddlers competed in head-to-head races for the coveted title of Champion. Although the morning started with a downpour, the weather cooperated sufficiently for the rest of the day, with overcast skies in the morning, sunny breaks in the afternoon, and a modest squall rolling in conveniently at lunch time to keep the afternoon races cool.
Rowing This year, the rowing events expanded to include coxed quads, which proved to be one of the most popular events in the Open category. Nine events were contested, including the Junior Women’s 1x, Junior Men’s 1x, Women’s 1x, Men’s 1x, Women’s 2x, Men’s 2x, Mixed 2x, Women’s 4x+ and Open 4x+. The rowers’ morning opened with the singles. Representing the juniors, Sophia Peterson and Sam Wong raced through three rounds to claim the championship titles in their respective events. Meanwhile, Aleksey Mironenko won over Wan Ng in the Men’s 1x to secure his name on the Single Sculls Champion Trophy. In the Women’s 1x, Jocelynn Chu clinched the title from Michele Lam for the Shirley Boyde Memorial Trophy.
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| SEPTEMBER 2021 AHOY!
The excitement of head-to-head racing began ramping up as the schedule progressed to the crew events. The closest finish of the day came in the semi-final of the Men’s 2x between Wan Ng and Nathan Ho vs Guy Parsonage and Aleksey Mironenko. Word from the finish tower was that a late surge from Guy and Aleksey was enough to secure passage to the final, where they were beaten by the new champions Hamish King and Jamie Cahill, who will see their names engraved onto the Open Pairs Challenge Cup. In another thrilling finish, Isa Scheunpflug and Anna Fisher narrowly beat Alex Bidlake and Irene Lo to secure the title in the Women’s 2x. Later in the day, Isa once again stormed down the course with Calvin Tang
in the Mixed 2x, edging out Claire Burley and Liam Baker in the final to be crowned champion a second time. For a third and final victory, Isa rowed in the Women’s 4x+ alongside Alex Bidlake, Irene Lo, Anna Fisher and Abi Watt, prevailing over Melissa Russell, Michelle Farrell, Georgia Corones, Katty Demeleunerre and Tom Watson to win the Drake Trophy. Ten crews contested the Open 4x+ event. After some exciting semi-finals, Calvin Tang, Kelvin Chu, Matthew Lai, Chris Knollman and Abi Watt ultimately triumphed over Thuan Tran, Michael Johnson, Hamish King, Sebastian Wiehe and Stephanie Chan to win the Croucher Challenge Cup.
