Hollingworth Lake Rowing Club at the Northwich Spring Head 2015

Tom Swithenbank and Tom Bullock (J15 doubles), second by a second

Hollingworth Lake Rowing Club (HLRC) competed in the last North West Head Race of the season on Bank Holiday Monday.

The cold spring morning, with fog enveloping surrounding fields, underwent a transformation to glorious warm afternoon sunshine.

The three divisions during the day were raced over 2,350m on the gently meandering River Weaver.

The first division was solely for 96 single scullers. HLRC had seven rowers competing with George Kershaw, in the seniors category, winning his race and also achieving the second fastest time of the division with nine minutes 17 seconds.

Tim Booth and Dave Sykes competed in the Masters D/E category, and Leanna Daniels in the Womens IM3. The three junior single scullers put in excellent performances with Tom Swithenbank finishing close third in a very large and strong field of J15s.

Molly Archbold took Gold in the WJ14 race, with Hannah Lowe coming in second. The competitors took full advantage of the width of the river, overtaking at every opportunity. At times the course had the appearance of a three lane motorway with boats weaving past each other to gain precious seconds.

In the second and third divisions it was the turn of the double sculls. Hannah Lowe and Molly Archbold competed in the WJ14 category, Amy Aspinall and Lucy Lonergan in the WJ15, and Amy Bullock and Laura Aspinall in the WJ17. All three crews fought hard in difficult races and put in very creditable performances.

The closest race of the day was the J15 doubles, with Tom Swithenbank and Tom Bullock representing HLRC. The two Tom’s had an excellent race in a large field, finishing in second place by just one second. Although they were immensely disappointed, they were also very proud of their performance, as were all the HLRC team and supporters cheering them on.

Now the long hard winter head races are over, HLRC is looking forward to the regatta season with the shorter sprint races, warmth and sunshine. A strong team of athletes, having trained hard throughout the winter, is looking forward to representing their club and achieving great success.