ROWERS: Representing Warrington at Great Britain camp

6:52am Friday 15th December 2006

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SEVERAL Warrington rowers are still in contention for a Great Britain call-up in 2007.

Warrington Rowing Club's James Whitehead, Mike Pownall, Tom Pearson, Chris Johnstone and Luke Balcerak were all invited to take part in a national training camp for the junior 16 age group at Eton on Saturday.

Female junior 18 rower Olivia Oakes, who became only the second person from the club to represent Great Britain at junior level when she rowed in Holland in July, was also involved in a weekend training camp for the top juniors in the country.

She has now travelled to Nantes in France for a further camp, which runs until Wednesday and is believed to be for those in serious contention for a place in the World Rowing Junior Championships in Chinese capital Beijing next August.

All six rowers are pupils at Lymm High School and were called up to the December training camps as a result of their performances at trials in Boston last month.

The club handed debuts to 12 rowers and finished second in three events at Saturday's Head of the Float event on Merseyside.

Clare Jackson, Sarah Bennett, Clare Newns, Helen Newns, Clare Roberts, Kelly Blackwell, Louise Wall, Stephanie Roux and cox Graeme Atherton were runners up in the women's novice coxed eight race, while Frankie Sinnott, Rachel Harper, Emily Clark, Beth Pickering and cox Andy Mair were second in the girls' junior 14 coxed quad event.

Mair was also the cox as Ed Simms, Tom Leather, Sam Holder and Jack Tamblin rowed the boys' junior 14 coxed quad into second position.

Kay Higham, Gael Tavernier, Sarah Jackson, Carol Stines, Liz Newton, Alison Brighton, Sian Henrys, Jo Coxon and cox Emma Jackson finished fourth in the women's senior three coxed eight race, while Warrington Rowing Club's Mike Bennett was part of the University of Liverpool side that won the team event.