Sport

Silver medals for Welsh rowers

Published

4 years ago

August 11, 2017

THE WELSH SEA ROWING ASSOCIATION sent 14 rowers to the British Offshore Rowing Championships on July 29-30.

Members of Fishguard Llanion, Mumbles, Newport, Neyland, Towy and Wisemans Bridge were selected for the elite squad. The Welsh squad made its home at Towy Boat Club, Llansteffan in 2015 and has gone from strength to strength, under Alun Stedman’s leadership.

The squad members row coastal sculls; sliding seats and dual oared rowing boats. Eight crews; three lady doubles, three men’s doubles and two men’s singles, all travelled to Poole to compete at the prestigious championships.

Nine rowers were competing at their first international, whilst five others were returning to international duties. All eight crews proved to be highly competitive and were away first with blistering beach starts. The biggest challenge of the day was the typical ‘British Weather’. The driving wind and rain proved to be a minor hindrance as seven of the eight crews reached the finals at the event.

The ‘Welsh Base Camp’ became the international camp as the Irish and Swedish competitors joined them for some much needed shelter from the elements. A team of 30 supporters travelled to Poole to support the Welsh Team, 10 of which were boathandlers for the event, supporting the Welsh, Irish, Swedish and English rowers at the event.

“The support shown to the rowing crews from the Welsh Supporters was phenomenal. The boathandlers were exceptional, demonstrating the best beach starts of the competition. The sense of ‘hwyl’ and Welsh pride was certainly heightened with impressive performances by the rowers,” said Nic Thomas, Assistant Welsh Coach.

The top seeded lady doubles, Charlotte Heath(Towy) and Bryony Jones(Wisemans/Towy) won Silver with the other lady doubles Tyenne Morgan(Towy) and Alison Morris (Towy) finishing 5th and Caroline Williams(Towy) and Manon Dixon (Towy)finishing 6th. The 4th position was hotly contested with both welsh crews being pipped at the post with only split seconds separating the crews.

The men’s double partnership of Steven Clack (Llanion/Towy) and Jac Davies (Towy) battled the entire race with Jersey for the gold. Jersey edged ahead, with Jac and Steven collecting a silver with a very impressive performance. The other mens double Theo Owen (Fishguard) and Ben Curtis (Towy) battled for Bronze.

They managed to hold off the other crews, but following a couple of collisions they lost pace and narrowly missed out on the bronze medal finishing in 4th. In 5th Andrew Nelmes(Newport) and Tom Brain (Mumbles/Towy) gave a solid performance, finishing comfortably ahead of the back of the fleet.

In the single men’s category Elliot Harrison (Towy) had a blistering start, banded the best of the competition, finished 6th in his heat, which sadly saw the end to his championship hopes. Chris Harding (Llanion/ Towy) proceeded to the final and finished 8th in a close run race.

“The Welsh efforts by rowers, has been tremendous. All crews have delivered credible performances and proved to be competitive at international level. We couldn’t be prouder of them and the incredible supports that travelled to Dorset for the event,” added Nic.

The competitor’s next international will be the Welsh Sea Rowing Open, held at Llansteffan on September 2-3. Following that they have the Irish Open on September 9-10 before the World Championships in mid-October.

Sport

Signed Wales shirts gifted to RNLI go up for auction

Published

5 days ago

February 25, 2021

James Hemingray

FOLLOWING a winning start to the Six Nations Tournament, the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) have scored a winning try for the RNLI, gifting six signed rugby shirts to help save lives at sea.

Each rugby shirt has been signed by the full WRU squad and are accompanied by a certificate of authentication – a winning prize for any Welsh rugby fan.

To avoid a ruck for the WRU shirts the charity has placed all six signed shirts on an online auction, ensuring a fair game for all who wish to win the golden prize. The auction will be live until Wednesday, March 31, which allows plenty of time for supporters to bid for the team in red.

Each signed shirt includes Wales Captain, Mumbles RNLI supporter and the most capped international player of all time Alun Wyn Jones; as well as Louis Rees-Zammit, the Man of the Match in the nail-biting Scotland v Wales game.

Nick Evans, RNLI Fundraising and Partnership Lead said: ‘On behalf of the charity I would like to say a big thank you to the Welsh Rugby Union for donating these fantastic prizes to the RNLI. RNLI volunteers are on call 24-7 and are often called away from important events such as family celebrations – or international rugby tournaments – to respond to the pager if someone is in trouble at sea.

‘Like all charities, 2020 was a challenging year for the RNLI when all traditional fundraising had to stop – all our shops were closed, there were no collections and all events had to be cancelled. This is why we at the RNLI are so grateful to all the team at WRU for their ongoing support. The auction is now live and we would like to encourage all Wales rugby supporters to throw the RNLI a lifeline and place their bid for the winning prize.’

To place a bid or find out more about the charity auction please visit https://www.jumblebee.co.uk/rnliwru.

Sport

Five subs to be allowed for JD Cymru Premier clubs

Published

5 days ago

February 25, 2021

James Hemingray

THE FAW’s National Leagues Board has confirmed that JD Cymru Premier clubs will be permitted to make five substitutions in matches, in accordance with the Laws of the Game, until the end of the 2020-21 top-flight season.

FIFA extended the use of the rule, which was first introduced following the COVID-19 outbreak, citing “player welfare” as part of the reason for the temporary amendment to Law 3 of the Laws of the Game.

FIFA stated that “Some competitions which resumed in 2020 may have a shorter-than-usual recovery/preparation period before the start of their next season.”

“For many competitions, the 2020/21 season will involve matches being played in a condensed period due to a delayed start and the inability to end later than usual because of major international tournaments.”

With the JD Cymru Premier set to restart on March 2, the National Leagues Board has approved the use of the rule in the JD Cymru Premier until the end of the current campaign.