Bexhill Rowing Club Juniors take London by storm in the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships

It was a day where all the committed training that the young people and their coaches have put in over the months paid off with the club bringing home two silver medals.

Friday 1st March 2024, 16 junior rowers from the Bexhill Rowing Club headed up to the Copper Box Arena, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships and what an amazing time they had.

Bexhill Rowing Club has a long history of training and investing in young rowers and this was evident on Friday. The first races started at 10am and by 10.30am the club had secured two silver medals with Ebony Hutton-Mitchell and Lizzie Pannell both securing second place in their respective 2000 meter races.

However, an event like Friday is about so much more than securing medals and achieving personal bests, it is about being part of a team, coaching and encouraging your teammates, good sportsmanship, looking out for each other and making sure you all have a great time, no matter where you place.

Charlotte Little, one of the parents who accompanied the young rowers, and regularly oversees coaching sessions commented “How proud I was to know none of our rowers were competing alone because their teammates were close by coaching and cheering them on. Our junior rowers consistently display resilience, camaraderie, and strength of character. And the two silver medals that we came away with only prove that you guys have the grit, determination, and strength to see your goals and fight for them. I couldn’t be prouder of you all!”

It was a delight to be one of the parents sharing in the joy that day as the event unfolded and we learned that the commitment to training and hard work has really paid off with some of our more experienced junior rowers like Chris Botha finishing his 2000 meter Year 13 boys race with a phenomenal time of 6:59 minutes.

Other notable mentions go to Herbie Molton who placed 11th out of 67 boys in his Year 11 six-minute race, covering a massive 1705 meters; that is 284 meters per minute, and Byron Cramp placed 15th in the Year 12 boys 2000 meter race with a time of 7:16 minutes. The races for the younger rowers were very competitive with far more entries and for this reason, Lorcan Hennessy did an outstanding job of placing 20th out of 209 rowers, covering 506 meters in two minutes.

It wasn’t just the young rowers who benefited from the event on Friday though, Charlotte Little went on to say to the youngsters “Your constant support, respect and understanding has actually boosted my confidence in myself. I wanted you to know that! To see you race yesterday, to remember all the things we have practised and trained for was overwhelming. EVERYONE achieved great things yesterday, forget PBs and targets, to even get over that kind of pressure and perform WAS YOUR ACHIEVEMENT!!! And I give you gold medals for that alone!”

The club is currently seeking committed volunteers to support the growing squads training, on land and water, as well as sponsors of races at our Summer regatta. If you think you could help, please get in touch.

The current volunteer coaching team is focusing on getting those that have been land training over winter now out onto the water, before opening its door to new beginner members. However, anyone who is interested in joining is invited to email to request information on future open ‘Have a go’ sessions or membership opening. Bexhill Rowing Club takes adults over 18 or juniors of secondary school & college age. To contact the club email [email protected].