Junior Inter Regional Regatta (JIRR), April 20th

22nd April, 2024

Spring 2024 has been a busy one for our Minerva Juniors. Back on the 24th March on a very windy and choppy Avon, Minerva Junior members had the opportunity to time trail over 1200 metres, in various boat categories, to become a member of the WAGS and Wales team at the JIRR in Nottingham.

Hard work and dedication paid off yesterday as we had the pleasure of watching Heath compete in the OpJ16 1x category, Charlotte in the WJ16 1x category and Ivor, Cam, Ollie and Heath in the OpJ16 4+ with Sophia coxing. The region also entered a composite crew to make up a WJ16 8 with Cam stepping in to row and Sophia stepping in to cox.

The weather was almost on our side… blue skies and sunshine on one hand, a cold, cross head wind on the other. Luckily we have been out training in various windy conditions prior to the race! The morning was all about the time trails – battling it down the course and seeing where we rank vs the countries best rowers in each age category and of course the excitement of a new racing strip… receiving the WAGS and Wales black racing AIOs. Who doesn’t want to look the part?!

In the afternoon we had the pleasure of screaming ourselves hoarse, encouraging the juniors down the course in the lane finals:

Heath in his ‘C final’ raced his heart out and gave us all great entertainment and cause for celebration, when with 200 metres to go revved his engine and over took four competitors to finish in 2nd place.

Charlotte was delighted to be placed in the ‘B final’ after storming the time trail, but came in a respectable last. Rowing against some incredible girls and gaining experience is all part of the joy.

The composite 8 had an incredibly respectable row, gaining valuable points for the region, with Sophia certainly proving she is a cox in control and a force to be reckoned with. Ivor, Ollie, Cam and Heath in the 4+ with Sophia as cox had a fantastic C final, narrowly losing out to the West of England crew. It was fantastic to see a Minerva junior mixed crew become a contender in a sweep category, given that we only started sweep training 6 months ago for many of our members.

The day was incredibly good fun with team work, support and friendship amongst the juniors being so evident. Every race was cheered and celebrated and every boat and racer was helped on and off the water by their team mates.