Poppy Fletcher and Rosie Pickles win for Hollingworth Lake Rowing Club at the Trafford Head

Hannah Lowe (Cox), Maurice Barber, Harry Heywood, Tom Wing and Nathan Scheider - J15 Coxed Quad

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Poppy Fletcher and Rosie Pickles, of Hollingworth Lake Rowing Club (HLRC), showed great determination and spirit to win the WJ13 doubles in their first ever race over the short course of 1,000m at the Trafford Head on Saturday 21 February.

Poppy and Rosie won in a dead heat with a crew from Queen’s Park High School, Chester. They were delighted with their win as was the Club Captain, Ian John, who summed it up with “brilliant”.

The Trafford Head is raced over a long course of 3,200m and a short course of 1,000m and on a day that started with hail stones and snow, and ended with glorious sunshine, HLRC entered a fairly small team with some seasoned rowers and some first time racers.

The single scullers were on the water just after 8:00am on the 3,200m course, rowing up to the start in hail stones, snow and sleet. Tom Swithenbank in J15 category, Matthew Harris in IM3, and Hannah Lowe in WJ14 all gave fantastic performances in difficult conditions to come second in each of their races.

As the weather improved and conditions became more bearable, the doubles raced over the long course, with Leanna Daniels and Katie Hargreaves in W.IM3 putting in a strong performance as ‘time only’ competitors, not racing against any other teams. Their time of 13 minutes 20 seconds was faster than some quads, fours, and even eights.

Laura Aspinall and Amy Bullock in a Women's Novice category had some strong older competition and came in a very respectable second place.

In the WJ14 doubles race, Sally Tisdall and Maggie Page came an excellent second place in only their second race together.

The first of the quad races, over the long course, was for the WJ15 crew of Sophie Webb, Amy Bullock, Jess Pilkington and Harriet Jackson, with Lucy Lonergan coxing. The crew were up against very tough competition and came in a close third place.

The final quad race over the short course was for a crew who had never rowed together: Maurice Barber, Tom Wing, Nathan Scheider and Harry Heywood in the J14 category were coxed by Hannah Lowe. Despite being crashed in to and cut up on the course, the crew finished in third place and enjoyed the experience, looking forward to future contests.

A club spokesperson said: "It was a day enjoyed by all and the members are looking forward to the year ahead with new and experienced crews bringing success and prestige to the club, as previous crews have done throughout it’s long history."