Conditions were relatively calm for the opening time trials on Friday but became a little livelier for the first set of finals on Saturday afternoon and the remaining knockout rounds on Sunday morning. By Sunday afternoon, the waves had built up dramatically. With two of the six finals planned for the day completed, racing was postponed part-way through the Under 19 (U19) Women’s double sculls ‘Last 8’ until the following day.

Finishing second on the medal table ended GB’s most successful World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals ever. All GB boats made it through the Time Trials to the head-to-head racing with the team claiming an historic gold medal in the U19 Mixed double sculls plus an additional three silver and two bronze medals.

After coming second in the time trial on Friday by just 0.42 seconds, the U19 Mixed double of Isabel Lancaster (Bradford ARC) and Jonathan Martini (City of Bristol RC) had a long wait until they could race again in the ‘Last 8’ on Monday. Once they took to the water again, they were challenged hard by Ireland in their quarter final, who wore away at the GB crew’s 3.29 second advantage at the turning buoy. GB held them off, though winning by just 1.55 seconds after a frantic final sprint up the beach. In the semi-final, the GB crew was down on Tunisia at the turn, but caught up on the return leg to win by 2.13 seconds. The final was full of drama! GB had a lead as the two crews headed back to the beach but disaster struck when they capsized. They were near enough the shore that Martini was able to run through the waves, but the Americans had caught up and just managed to hit the buzzer first. However, they were then awarded a 30 second penalty for going the wrong way round a buoy, so GB were announced the winners. Isabel Lancaster had finished fourth in the U19 Women’s double at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals in Saundersfoot, Wales last year.

Fresh from winning gold at the first Coupe de la Jeunesse Beach Sprints last weekend, the U19 Women’s double of Summer Harlow (Exeter RC) and Leah Saunders (Evesham RC) got off to an excellent start here by winning their Time Trial. They then beat Cyprus in the quarter final and Spain in the semi-final to reach the A final, taking the silver medal behind the home crew, both of whom had also represented Italy earlier in the summer in the eight at the classic-format World Rowing Under 19 Championships.

After coming fourth in the Mixed doubles Time Trial, Laura McKenzie (Leander Club) and Sam Scrimgeour (Glasgow RC) had a photo finish with Tunisia in the quarter final but were declared the winners by 0.1 seconds. They went on to beat the home crew in the semi-final. In the final, they led New Zealand for most of the race but were knocked off course by a wave and ended up with a longer run on the beach. This enabled the Kiwis to make up ground and hit the buzzer 2.82 seconds ahead of GB. This was nevertheless a strong silver after some great beach sprint racing.

James Morgan (Deal Walmer and Kingsdown ARC) and Melissa Shaw (Shoreham RC) won silver in the inaugural PR3 Mixed doubles. In the semi-final, the GB crew reached the buzzer on the beach 0.73 seconds ahead of Italy, but in the final, the ‘grain of sand’ margin was reversed with GB finishing just 0.64 seconds behind Australia, who had beaten them in the Time Trial by 6.22 seconds.

European Champion Evelyn Pakule (Lea RC) finished third in the U19 Women’s solos Time Trial behind the USA and Tunisia. She beat Turkey very comfortably in the next round, and Italy by a good margin in the quarter final. In the semi-final she came up against the reigning World Champion from Tunisia who came out on top and went on to win the World U19 title for a third year in a row. Evelyn then won the bronze medal race against Egypt to add World bronze to her European gold.

The U19 Men’s double of Ben Snoxall (Reading RC) and Bear Cochrane (King’s School Canterbury BC) won their repechage over Cyprus by over 20 seconds and beat Ireland by even more in the quarter final. After losing to Ireland in the semi-final by 3.86 seconds, they produced an excellent performance in the bronze medal final to win over Spain by 1.83 seconds.

The Mixed quad had a tough quarter final draw against the USA. GB had a great race, leading to the turn and being the first boat back at the beach but they were agonisingly beaten in the sprint to the line. USA went on to win gold.

In the Under 19 Men’s solos, Hector Harvey (Radley College BC/Jersey RC) was also knocked out in the quarter finals, losing to the eventual bronze medallist from Tunisia.

Clare Jamison (Christchurch RC) finished fourth in one of the two Time Trials for the Women’s solos, and won her knockout round against Czechia before losing to Ireland in the quarter final. The GB Men’s solo, Gregor Hall (St Andrews University BC/Stirling RC), lost at the knockout stage to New Zealand.

Full results

Photos: James Lee.

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The competition was packed into a single day on Sunday, 24 September after racing had to be cancelled on the Saturday because the sea was too rough even for wave-loving beach sprint rowers. This led to a hectic schedule for the six members of the GB team, who all doubled up.

Summer Harlow (Exeter RC) and Leah Saunders (Evesham RC) began their campaign in the Women’s doubles by winning the time trial by over 15 seconds with Italy in second. This put them straight through to the semi-finals, which they won by 2.39 seconds before dominating the final to hit the buzzer on the beach over 20 seconds ahead of the Italians. The crew are now looking forward to racing at the World Rowing Beach Sprint Championships next weekend.

Bear Cochrane (King’s School Canterbury BC) and Ben Snoxall (Reading RC) also won their time trial in the Men’s doubles. In the quarter finals, they established a strong lead but – as can happen given the unpredictable nature of beach sprint racing – this disappeared following a mistake on the final wave in challenging conditions, and they lost by just 0.4 seconds to the eventual silver medalists from the Netherlands. The experience they gained will doubtless prove useful when they race at the World Rowing event.

In the Mixed doubles, Ellie Byrne (Kingston RC) and Ben Snoxall finished fourth in the time trial while Summer Harlow and Joshua Port (Lancaster Royal Grammar School BC/Mumbles RC) were ninth. This qualified Ellie and Ben for the quarter finals, where they finished just 0.87 seconds down.

Ellie also finished fourth in the Women’s solo time trial with Leah Saunders ninth. Ellie went on to win her quarter final very comfortably before losing out to the Spanish sculler in the semi-final. She was placed fourth overall after finishing second in Final B behind the Czech.

In the Men’s solos, Bear Cochrane finished fourth in the time trial with Joshua Port fifth, just 0.33 seconds behind him. Both then lost out in their quarter finals.

Lead Coach Tom Pattichis said, “Overall, this was a really good learning event leading into the World Rowing Beach Sprints for the U19 members of the team and it also some good racing opportunities for the Worlds spares.”

You can check out the full results and watch back the full competition live stream .

Looking ahead to the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals

The GB Beach Sprint Team will be competing at the in Bartletta, Italy from 30 September to 1 October.

Part of the team have been training at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy – home of the GB Sailing Team – in preparation.

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