THE Penarth Rowing Club exceeded all expectations in this year's Welsh National Indoor Rowing Championships.

Already having a great record at the event, the club were again in the limelight, with Sam Laity (16) shining again this year after gold in 2011 in the J15s (junior men’s 15 year old category race) and bronze in the men’s team event. He was only 20m off the Welsh record time.

This year, in the J16s (junior men’s 16 year old category race), Sam achieved the gold medal with a stunning performance in a very competitive category and is looking forward to next year’s event to achieve his own 'Triple Crown.'

In the J17s (junior men’s 17 year old category race), Julian Birkholz received the silver medal and was closely followed by Lloyd Phillips with bronze. It was a great achievement.

In the J18s (junior men’s 18 year old category race) the club had to withdraw Adam Tucker, a favourite for gold, after he came down with the Novovirus. Jamie Havard raced in this category and was under two seconds off a bronze medal.

In the men’s open, Ginthras Valuntinas achieved a race time of 6.27 minutes in his 2,000m row. In the afternoon, there were the men’s open team events, which included entries from Russia, GB rowing squad members and Welsh squad members. The Penarth club entered two teams and, in the first heat, stunned their competitors by finishing first and second.

In the second event, with 10 teams competing, the club's overall positions on the leader table were fifth and ninth. This was a very impressive time as they had to include a substitute in the team due to Adam Tucker's illness. If Adam had remained in the team as planned, Penarth would almost certainly have been in top medal position.

However, it was the juniors of Penarth who really performed above all expectations and those who witnessed this event were stunned by their great performance especially as they were racing against GB men’s athletes and Russian national athletes. They received a great deal of praise from the spectators for their great achievement.

On the Friday, at the Welsh Schools' Indoor Rowing Championships, the Penarth J16s girls (junior women’s 16 year old category race) won the gold medal in their team event and the men’s J16s (junior men’s 16 year old category race) won silver.

CLUB

THE club trains twice a week on a Tuesday and a Thursday evening and concentrate on weights and Ergos. On weekends the club go out on the water from their other boathouse which is in Cardiff Bay at Channel View Leisure Centre. They are looking for new rowers for 2013 for the men’s teams from the ages of 15 to 30 years.

So, if you are sporty and you would like to have a go, go down to the club on a Tuesday night at 5pm or go on to the Penarth Yacht Club website and click on rowing and you can get in contact with Nick Reeves-Hall by email.

This coming season the club will also be fielding crews to go for Welsh trials to represent their country. It’s a great sport so come and have a go!