Gloucestershire Primary Schools Indoor Rowing Championships

EIGHTY pupils from five local schools took part in the Gloucestershire Primary Schools Indoor Rowing Championships, held at St Matthew’s Primary on January 30.

This year’s event included excited year five and six pupils from King’s Stanley, Rodborough, Whiteshill, Longney and hosts St Matthew’s Primary Schools.

Tension was high and cheering thunderous at this event, which included many closely matched rowers.

In the Year 5 girls two minute row Libby Hill from St Matthew’s battled to win gold, only one metre ahead of Tabitha Fry from Rodborough and three metres ahead of bronze medallist Maddy Brown, also from St Matthew’s.

Year 5 boys were even closer.

Marley Peglar-Clark and George Phillpotts, both from Whiteshill, tied for gold with a distance rowed of 412 m in two minutes, closely followed by Freddie Cornwall from King’s Stanley.

In Year 6, Sean McAllister from St Matthew’s took gold with a new personal best of 455 metres in two minutes, closely followed by Andrew Targett and Toby Mendes, both from King’s Stanley.

The Year 6 girls race was dominated by Ella-Mae Ahmad from St Matthew’s who achieved 496 metres in two minutes, almost 50 metres ahead of rivals – silver medallist Emily Kovac, also from St Matthew’s and Alex Ansell from Rodborough.

The gruelling 2,000 metres relay events required each team of four rowers to demonstrate excellent teamwork, strength and determination.

In two very closely matched boys’ races, the lead swapped repeatedly between St Matthew’s and King’s Stanley.

However, St Matthew’s eventually managed to win gold in both races, but by only eight seconds in the Year 5 race and a tiny margin of two seconds in the Year 6 event.

In the girls’ relays, Year 5 girls from Rodborough had their revenge against St Matthew’s winning gold with a 23 second margin. However, St Matthew’s Year 6 girls team showed clear water between themselves and silver placed King’s Stanley, finishing 50 seconds ahead.

When the points were counted for the event, St Matthew’s took first place with 315 points, in second were King’s Stanley with 256 points and third were Whiteshill Primary scoring 219.