CRC bring back medals from Eighteenth International Andalucia Rowing Open

A thousand rowers from forty different clubs from Spain, Portugal, United Kingdom and Gibraltar packed out the facilities of the CEAR rowing centre at the cartuja in Seville on the weekend of the 14th and 15th of December for the final marquee event of the 2024 Andalucian rowing calendar.
Racing was along the 2000m course for U16, U18 and open categories for males and females. Calpe Rowing Club (CRC) took a smaller group of dedicated rowers for this high end competition to test themselves over the first sprint distance of the season with a view to evaluating potential combinations for 2025.
On Saturday morning 18 year old Thomas Zammitt and 16 Stan Bielanowicz took on the open category which counted upon several olympians amongst the entries reflecting the quality of the competition . Thomas came 47th out of 79 rowers in the single scull and combined with Stan in the double scull event to place 34th out of 53 after a difficult start. This was a stern warning regarding the level of competition, however, Stan raced once more in his U18 category and placed 27th from 82 competitors in his single scull as CRC warmed to the task.
Siena Lee then contested the U18 female single scull placing 10th out of 61 competitors. Siena and Stan will both be returning to this category next year and showed solid potential.
Another relatively young crew for the U16 quad scull composed of Luna Lee, Maddie Roberts, Grace Oxley and Sofia Charrington gave a good account of themselves, 7th from 20 crews and a sign of future promise to build upon.
In the U16 female pair event Sofia Charrington and Katie Zammitt were a relatively new combination, but worked in unison to decimate the field winning their heat and the overall title in first place from 24 crews and gaining CRC’s first medal position of the weekend.
More was to follow as Sophie Lines and Siena Lee, stepping up to U18 level this year were competing in the female double sculls event. Winning their heat convincingly with a tidy performance and ultimately placing 3rd overall from 52 boats.
A busy Sunday morning had Grace Oxley and Maddison Roberts race in the U16 double sculls, having a good race to win their heat and overall place 21st from 43 boats. This was closely followed by a silver medal finish for Sofia Charrington, Sophie Lines, Siena Lee and Katie Zammitt in the U18 female quad scull event, a very polished performance against a high end field and CRC’s third top three position of the weekend.
More was to come as Luna Lee and Katie Zammitt competed in the female U16 single scull event in the increasingly strong headwind. Birthday girl Luna, just turned 14 years old, overcame a bad start to place a solid 19th overall. Katie fought a fierce battle with her náutico de Sevilla counterpart, pulling away in the last 250m to win her heat and place third overall out of 66 rowers for CRC’s final medal position of the weekend.
Finally Sophie Lines and Siena Lee were in the U18 female pair race, having an uncharacteristic struggle against the elements but still placing 7th from 25 boats.
The rowers now look forward to keeping up their levels while enjoying the Christmas festivities as the coaches digest the results and plan ahead.
(As published on the 18th December 2024)