Rowing: Paignton host first championship of season

Paignton Rowing Club staged the first regatta of the West of England ARA 2022 championship season over a 1,000 metre course in Tor Bay.

Conditions for Paignton Regatta were choppy on a sunny and windy day for the 97 entries.

The home club, who will also stage the South Coast Rowing Championships on September 10, had an exceptional day recording numerous event wins and also winning the points trophy.

Wins for Paignton crews were:

Men’s masters coxed fours: Steve Warrender, Ben Smith, Mike Lister, Jason Higgins, James Tookey (cox).

Men’s novice coxed fours: Nick Brown, Ethan Frost, Tristan Northcott, Yuri Allasia, Erin Mooney (cox).

Men’s under-18 coxed fours: Keira Brueton, Freya Martin, Oliver Chalk and Sam Brueton, Erin Mooney (cox).

Men’s under-14 coxed quadruple sculls: Oliver Chalk, Hugo Dossett, Joshua Bradley, Marcus Green, Eva Birchell (cox).

Men’s under-14 double sculls: Hugo Dossett, Joshua Bradley.

Ladies’ novice singles sculls: Keira Brueton.

Men’s under-15 singles sculls: Sam Brueton

Men’s under-16 singles sculls: Sam Brueton

There was also success for Torquay with Harrison Green in his first ever race winning the men’s under-16 single sculls.

Paignton Regatta results:

Men’s senior A coxed fours 1 Bideford Reds 2 Paignton

Men’s senior B coxed fours 1 Bideford Reds 2 Paignton

Men’s senior C coxed fours 1 Bideford Reds 2 Plymouth 3 Paignton

Men’s novice coxed fours 1 Paignton 2 Bideford Reds 3 Plymouth

Men’s under-18 coxed fours 1 Paignton 2 Paignton

Men’s under-16 coxed quadruple sculls 1 Bideford Reds 2 Paignton

Men’s under-14 coxed quadruple sculls 1 Paignton 2 Bideford Reds

Men’s masters coxed fours 1 Paignton 2 Paignton/Plymouth

Ladies’ senior C coxed fours 1 Castle Dore 2 Plymouth

Ladies’ novice coxed fours 1 Dart Totnes 2 Castle Dore 3 Paignton

Ladies’ under-18 coxed fours 1 Dart Totnes 2

Ladies’ under-16 coxed quadruple sculls 1 Plymouth 2 Dart Totnes 3 Castle Dore

Open coxed quadruple sculls 1 Bideford ARC 2 Paignton 3 Paignton

Men’s open coxless pairs 1 Paignton 2 Plymouth

Men’s senior C double sculls 1 Plymouth

Men’s under-18 double sculls 1 Bideford Blues 2 Paignton

Men’s under-15 double sculls 1 Bideford Reds 2 Bideford Reds

Men’s under-14 double sculls 1 Paignton 2 Paignton

Ladies’ senior C double sculls 1 Plymouth University 2 Paignton

Ladies’ novice double sculls 1 Bideford Blues 2 Dart Totnes

Ladies’ under-17 double sculls 1 Plymouth 2 Paignton

Ladies’ under-16 double sculls 1 Dart Totnes 2 Bideford Reds

Ladies’ under-15 double sculls 1 Plymouth 2 Castle Dore

Mixed under-14 double sculls 1 Plymouth 2 Paignton

Men’s senior C single sculls 1 Robin Smith – Castle Dore, 2 George Woodall – Plymouth University, 3 Rob Harris – Paignton

Men’s novice single sculls 1 Barney Evans – Bideford Blues, 2 Yuri Allasia – Paignton, 3 Alex Rowland – Bideford Reds

Men’s under-18 single sculls 1 Harry Fanson – Bideford Blues, 2 Barney Evans – Bideford Blues

Men’s under-17 single sculls 1 Sam Brueton – Paignton, 2 David del Rio Empran – Plymouth

Men’s under-16 single sculls 1 Harrison Green – Torquay, 2 Yuri Allasia – Paignton, 3 Sam Brueton – Paignton

Men’s under-15 single sculls 1 Sam Brueton – Paignton

Men’s under-14 single sculls 1 Isaac Fugil – Castl Dore, 2 Finley Cloak – Bideford Blues, 3 Owen Thomas – Plymouth

Ladies’ senior C single sculls 1 Molly Mifsud – Dart Totnes

Ladies’ novice single sculls 1 Keira Brueton – Paignton

Ladies’ under-18 single sculls 1 Grace Asquith – Castle Dore, 2 Ellie Fowlds – Dart Totnes

Ladies’ under-16 single sculls 1 Rosalie Fowler – Bideford Reds, 2 Lucy Sanders – Dart Totnes, 3 Erin Shippey – Dart Totnes

Ladies’ under-15 single sculls 1 Lexi Reeves – Bideford Blues

Meanwhile, Brixham Gig Rowing Club are extremely grateful to have recently received funding support from two businesses, via the Actionfunder.org website; a website that links organisations looking for funding with organisations looking to fund.

Greene King, a Bury St Edmunds-based brewery with pubs across the country, generously provided £3,000 to enable the rowing club to commission a new set of tailormade wooden oars, which can be used by both men’s and women’s crews.

The oars have been ordered and will hopefully be delivered in around 8 weeks and will then be used by racing crews in regattas right across Devon and Cornwall.

South West Water, were also very generous and provided £600 to fund one of their club members attendance on a British Rowing Club Coaching Course.

Tony Mould, the member selected to attend, has now completed much of the course and has already been using his newfound skills, which has been of great benefit to the rowing crews he has taken out on the water.

With most community-based sports clubs, it is a difficult balance trying to be as inclusive as possible, by keeping annual membership fees at an affordable level, while meeting overheads, maintaining, and buying new equipment, and Brixham Gig Rowing Club is no different.

Receiving funding from organisations like Greene King and South West Water is a fantastic boost for the club and enables them to grow and move forward.

ActionFunder.org, is a great place to start if any organisation is looking for funding.

It is a simple process to submit a profile of your organisation, and details of a project you would like to fund, and once submitted that is it, you just wait until your project has found a match.

Paul Goddard, Brixham Gig Rowing Club treasurer, said: “ActionFunder is brilliant. Simple to use and it works. ActionFunder keep you fully informed and once funding was secured the monies came through within a couple of weeks.”

He recommends that any club in the Torbay area looking for funding, gives it a look.