Dartmouth Amateur Rowing Club          

Est 1869

THE West of England ARA has confirmed the final positions in the 2008 Championships with at least one bordering on farce.

What should be the major Championship, the Men’s Senior A coxed fours, has been awarded to Dartmouth’s Matthew Isaac, Phil Langman, John Hart, Terry Wallis and cox, Louise Bellamy, who have won just one race at the status this season. No blame lies with the crew but with a system that allows such a farcical situation when one considers the titanic struggles down the hundred plus years to attain the magnificent Championship shield for the pinnacle of rowing in the West of England.

With the rules now stating that three events with three crews starting each race in a season are sufficient qualifying events for the Championship the prestige of the Championship has been devalued.

Just the minimum of three qualifying events were held at Senior A coxed fours this season at Wimbleball, Falmouth and Dartmouth. At Wimbleball the Dartmouth crew, who were also Championship runners-up at Senior B, beat Exmouth and Dart Totnes and at Falmouth they were third behind two Falmouth crews. At Dartmouth, Falmouth were the only West of England entry and the placings went to outside crews with Bexhill first, BTC Southampton second and City of Oxford third.

Overall it was a good season for South Devon clubs with Dartmouth winning five Championships, Dart Totnes three and Paignton three.

Dartmouth were Championship winners at Men’s Senior A coxed fours, Men’s Novice coxed fours, Men’s Under 16 coxed quadruple sculls, Men’s Under 18 single sculls with Chris China and Ladies Under 18 single sculls with Sam Tilley.

Dart Totnes were Championship winners at Men’s Under 14 coxed quadruple sculls, Ladies Under 16 coxed quadruple sculls and Ladies Under 14 coxed quadruple sculls.

Elliot Barton was involved in all three of Paignton’s three Championship wins. He won both the Men’s Senior B and Senior C single sculls and along with Robbie Tucker, Paul Henshaw, Simon Henshaw and cox, Charlotte Lane, won the Men’s Senior C coxed fours Championship.

West of England ARA Championships final positions:

Men’s Senior A coxed fours 1 Dartmouth 7pts 2 Falmouth B 6pts

3= Exmouth 2pts & Falmouth A 2pts

Men’s Senior B coxed fours 1 Exeter 30pts 2 Dartmouth 11pts 3 Dart Totnes 8pts

Men’s Senior C coxed fours 1 Paignton 32pts 2 Exmouth 14pts 3 Exeter 8pts

Men’s Novice coxed fours 1 Dartmouth 4pts

Men’s Under 18 coxed fours 1 Bideford Reds 28pts 2 Exeter 12pts 3 Dartmouth 10pts

Men’s Under 16 coxed quadruple sculls 1 Dartmouth 38pts 2 Dart Totnes A 20pts

3 Dart Totnes B 12pts

Men’s Under 14 coxed quadruple sculls 1 Dart Totnes 30pts 2 Bideford Reds 22pts

3 Torquay 4pts

Ladies Senior A coxed fours Void

Ladies Senior B coxed fours 1 Falmouth 14pts 2 Exeter 9pts 3 Bideford Reds 4pts

Ladies Senior C coxed fours 1 Bideford Reds A 34pts 2 Bideford Reds B 12pts

3 Exeter A 9pts

Ladies Novice coxed fours 1 Exeter 4pts 2= Dart Totnes 1pt & Plymouth 1pt

Ladies Under 18 coxed fours 1 Exeter 38pts 2 Dart Totnes 22pts 3 Dartmouth 15pts

Ladies Under 16 coxed quadruple sculls 1 Dart Totnes A 33pts 2 Exeter A 30pts

3 Bideford Reds 10pts

Ladies Under 14 coxed quadruple sculls 1 Dart Totnes 32pts 2 Bideford Blues 23pts

3 Bideford Reds 15pts

Men’s Senior A single sculls Void

Men’s Senior B single sculls 1 Elliot Barton – Paignton 9pts 2 T Youd – Exeter 8pts

3 Barnaby Stentiford – Dart Totnes 6pts

Men’s Senior C single sculls 1 Elliot Barton – Paignton 34pts 2 D Rowse – Exeter 17.5pts 3 S Malloy – Exmouth 7pts

Men’s Novice single sculls 1 Wimbleball 3pts 2 Dart Totnes 2pts

3= Exmouth 1pt, Bideford Blues 1pt, Bideford Reds 1pt

Men’s Under 18 single sculls 1 Chris China – Dartmouth 36pts

2 Steve Clarke – Dart Totnes 18pts 3 M Bowyer – Exeter 16pts

Men’s Under 16 single sculls 1 M Bowyer – Exeter 30pts

2 Merryck Tooley – Dart Totnes 14pts 3 S Povey – Bideford Reds 10.5pts

Ladies Senior A single sculls Void

Ladies Senior B single sculls 1 Void

Ladies Senior C single sculls 1 L Sanders – Exeter 12pts 2 J Wood – Exeter 8pts

3 Sam Tilley – Dartmouth 4pts

Ladies Novice single sculls Void

Ladies Under 18 single sculls 1 Sam Tilley – Dartmouth 30pts 2 B Saxton – Exeter 7pts

3= Judith Rice – Dart Totnes 2pts & A Wesson – Exeter 2pts

Ladies Under 16 single sculls 1 A Wesson – Exeter 24pts 2 Jess Phillips – 19.5pts

3 Jacqui Gibbard – Dart Totnes 2.5pts

Champion Club – Fours 1 Bideford Reds 127pts 2 Dart-Totnes 108pts 3 Exeter 106pts

4 Dartmouth 69pts 5 Bideford Blues 34pts 6 Exmouth 25pts

7 Paignton 21pts 8 Greenbank Falmouth 19pts 9 Plymouth 6pts

10= Castle Dore 5pts & Torquay 5pts

Champion Club – Single sculls 1 Exeter 19pts 2 Dartmouth 11pts 3 Dart-Totnes 9pts

4 Paignton 6pts 5 Wimbleball 3pts

6 Exmouth 2pts & Bideford Reds 2pts 7 Bideford Blues 1pt

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