ROWING: National medal joy

12:35pm Friday 30th May 2008

WARRINGTON Rowing Club duo Jenny Pearson and Amy Grieve clinched the bronze medal in the girls' junior 16 double sculls race at the National Schools Regatta in Nottingham.

The regatta is the showpiece of the junior racing calendar and the pair performed well to take their first ever national medal in an event that had to take the form of a time trial because of the deteriorating windy conditions.

Frankie Sinnott and Fae Atkinson finished sixth in the final of the girls' junior 14 double sculls in their first major championships, while Alison Bailey and Emily Clarke just missed out on the final in the junior 15 section despite a strong display in the preliminaries.

Boys' junior 14 double sculls duo Henry Balcerak and Matthew Pownall were also unable to make progress despite performing well, with Tom Leather and Rory O'Connor suffering the same fate in the junior 15 category.

Poor conditions meant the regatta was abandoned midway through the second day, meaning some Warrington rowers did not get chance to compete.

Others - including Luke Balcerak in the Championship single sculls, Tom Pearson and James Whitehead in the Championship double sculls, Chris Johnstone and Mike Pownall in the Championship double sculls as well as Sam Edwards, Josh Goswell, Phil Lyons and Mat Spence in the junior 16 quadruple sculls - competed but had no success in impossible conditions.