On Sunday 10th May five members of the Burgess Hill School for Girls’ rowing club travelled to Dorney Lake to compete in the 2009 Ball Cup Regatta. This event, held at the venue designated for rowing at the 2012 Olympics, attracts entries from schools and clubs from all over the south of England.
Burgess Hill School for Girls was represented in the Junior 16 Single Sculls by Sarah Lucas, the Junior 15 Double Sculls by Felicity Coghlan and Laura Willis, and the Junior 14 Double Sculls by Avalon Ridler and Abigail Grosvenor.
The final of the Junior 16 Single Sculls was an exceptionally close and exciting race between the six scullers, with only one boat’s length separating silver from 5th place. Sarah crossed the finish line in Bronze Medal position ahead of Stratford Rowing Club, Warden Park School (fellow Ardingly RC competitor Angie Ramanan) and The American School of London, claiming the first medal for Burgess Hill at this event.
Felicity and Laura qualified for the final of the Junior 15 Double Sculls in convincing style, but were sadly unable to complete their final race.
In the Junior 14 Double sculls Avalon and Abigail made an impressive start, leading the field for the first 150m of the race. The fast early pace could not be maintained, however, with Peterborough City, Kingston Schools’ Rowing association and Sir William Perkins’ School pulling away as the race progressed. This left Burgess Hill, Stratford Rowing Club and Hinksey School battling for fourth place, a result creditably achieved by Avalon and Abigail. Unfortunately, fourth place was not enough to progress to the final and so Burgess Hill’s day of racing was brought to an end. Congratulations to all the girls for their impressive performances throughout the day.
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| Burgess Hill Rowing Competitor |
18/05/09
