30 October 2013

George Musker Awards

The first ever all Northwich Junior crew to pre-qualify for Henley Royal Regatta were rewarded this weekend by being presented with the club’s top award, the George Musker Trophy, named after their late boatman. The award recognises elite performance and is presented to individuals who have demonstrated their talent on the water. Newly crowned National Champions Zak Trigg, Harry Blake, Tom Asteriades and Finn Lawton were awarded the prize by outgoing captain, Phil Hewitt who also commended Lucy Burgess on an outstanding year in which she became a Youth Olympic Gold Medallist.



The efforts of their coach, Jed Barlow were also recognised and he was awarded the Bill Cotton trophy for going above and beyond the call of duty in his role as a volunteer coach. Newly qualified coach Jack Thwaites was also recognised for how much he has given to the club in the past 12 months by being presented with the Grange Cup for Endeavour. 
Other trophies awarded for the key volunteers in the club were awarded to Barrie Blake who received the Simon Crouchley Coaching trophy while the Club Chairman presented his trophy to outgoing Treasurer of ten years, Andy Malins.  Cliff Salt, the Club President was in attendance to present the Salt of the Earth Trophy to outgoing  junior coordinator and coach, Mike Palfreyman. 
Athletes at the club were also rewarded with the Eddie Phillips trophy for Veteran of the year going to Clare Briegal, the Irvine Award for the most improved oarsperson going to George Lawton, the Eddie Phillips trophy for junior of the year went to Greg Murphy and Lawrence Williams after a fantastic season. The Dennis Mills coxing trophy was awarded to junior cox, Jack Hudson.


Graham Evans MP once again showed his commitment to the rowing club by coming to present the awards. During a weekend of celebrations for the club,  Alex Bain ensured the success continued with an impressive double win at Tees Head and Tees Small Boats Head in his single scull.
Other club trophies presented during the year were the Tim Hooper Trophy for  fastest boat of the day at the Autumn Head  which went to the Grange School who also picked up the Sue Benyon Trophy for the fastest women's boat of the day at the same event.  The senior Men’s eight from Agecroft RC took the Walter Benyon Trophy for the fastest crew at the Spring Head.

The junior section of the club voted Finn Lawton the ‘junior’s junior’ at the annual junior dinner .




Northwich Rowing club are now looking forward to taking over twenty crews to race at the Dee Autumn Head next weekend. A number of crews are also working towards the fours head on the Tideway in London at the end of November. 
(courtesy of Rachel Hooper)

21 October 2013

Senior Brit Rowing Champs 2013

Brit Champs proved to be a hugely successful weekend for Northwich Rowing Club.

Lucy Burgess came 1st in her U23 2x composite with Agecroft's Ellie Lewis



A Huge Congratulations to National Champions: Finn Lawton, Tom Asteraides, Zac Trigg and Harry Blake for winning the U19 4x.


Former Northwich Oarsmen Matt Langridge of Leander won in the Mens O2x and O4x. While Ed Grisedale came first for Oxford Brooks in the Mens University O8+.


Lucy also came 4th in her WO 4x composite with Agecroft. While Finn and Alex came 3rd in U19 2x with Harry and Leon coming 4th in the same category. 

12 October 2013

Northwich Rowing Club Dinner

The NRC Dinner on October 26th is fast approaching and tickets are quickly running out. If you still wish you to attend you can purchase tickets from Club Captain Rachel Hooper hooper_rachel@hotmail.com or Nick Parkes nickparkes@talktalk.net

11 October 2013

The George Musker Awards

On Sunday 27th October at 2:00pm, Northwich Rowing Club will host its annual George Musker Awards in The Club House. A time where we celebrate the club's sucesses over the past year, as well as an opportunity to honour our individual members and their achievements.

The George Musker Awards is a major social event in the Northwich Rowing Club social calendar and we invite all members and their friends and families to come along and join in the celebrations.

With the exception of the Chairman's Award, all awards are awarded by the out-going Club Captain, Phil Hewitt. Although the final decision remains with him, he is very open to any suggestions as to whom you believe is a worthy winner of these awards. You can convey your opinions to Phil in person or by his email "phewitt.uk@googlemail.com"

The Awards:

The George Musker Trophy - Outstanding Rowing Achievement


The Bill Coton Club Member Trophy - Going on beyond the call of duty

The Salt of the Earth Trophy - Hard work and commitment 

The Grange Cup for Endeavour

Eddie Phillips Trophy for Outstanding Junior

Eddie Phillips Trophy for Best Veteran of the year

The Irvine Award for Most improved rower

Simon Crouchley Coaching Award

Dennis Mills Coxing Award

06 October 2013

Runcorn Autumn Head - Saturday 5th October

Seventeen crews from Northwich Rowing Club travelled downstream to race at Runcorn Head of the River over 4.5km of the River Weaver. In beautiful conditions they built on their success the previous week in Chester with the Men’s J16 double scull of George Lawton and Chris Malley once again showing impressive form early in the season with a convincing win. The other junior 16 men’s crew of Matthew Roberts, Michael Lundy, Alex Hine and Jack Koch also gave a great performance to secure victory in the coxless quad. The other junior member of the crew to have a great race was Harry Blake who raced won the J18 quad with the Grange School.
It wasn’t only the juniors taking home the medals though with a win for the senior IM1 coxed four of Andy Kelsall, Adam Webster, Chris Crawford and Phil Hewitt with Grange School cox Abi Saunders at the helm.  Mike Francis also romped to victory once again in the Masters G single scull. 
Club Captain Rachel Hooper said “it was great to have crews from every club squad racing which shows that we’re now developing a good depth to our racing squads. We’ve had some great results, but more importantly we’re now able to demonstrate that the club has competitive crews at every level from the juniors right through to the veterans” 
5 Crews came in 1st place:
J16A. 2x - George Lawton and Chris Malley

J16A. 4x - Matt Roberts, Mike Lundy, Alex Hine , Jack Koch


MasG/H.1x - Mike Francis


WMasD/E. 2x - Claire Briegal and Janet Vorberg (Liv Victoria)

IM1.4+ - Phil Hewit, Chris Crawford, Andrew Kelsall, Adam Webster


5 crews came in 2nd place:

MasF.2x - Meegan

MasC/E.2x - Andy Malins, Simon Crouchley


MasE.4+ - Steve Wignall, Simon Bannister, Tom Kilkenny and Nev Hand


J15A4x+ - Murphy


J13A.1x - Swithenbank

05 October 2013

Chester Long Distance Sculls Saturday 29th Septmber


Northwich had 5 wins on the long distance 5km course.


The elite J18 quad won by 45 sec and were the 3rd fastest boat of the day

Harry Blake, Zac Trigg, Tom Asteriades, Finn Lawton


J17.1x -  Harry Blake


J16.2x - Chris Malley and George Lawton


MasC.2x - Simon Crouchley and Andy Malins


MasG.1x - Mike Francis