PERSHORE High School’s Elizabeth Shaw became West Midlands age group champion for the third successive year thanks to some superb performances at the West Midlands Rowing Championships.
The 15-year-old from Norton, racing in the WJ16 age group, and Daisy Price of Nunnery Wood High School in Worcester beat their nearest rivals by just under 20 seconds to win on the 2.5km course.
Later in the day the pair teamed up with students from Christopher Whitehead Language College (Worcester) and The Chantry School (Martley) to form a quad and beat their nearest rivals by just under ten seconds to become champions in this category too for the second time in three years.
The same Worcester Rowing Club crew were beaten into second place last year by only 0.3 of a second. Overall, Elizabeth has been a West Midlands champion five times out of six attempts in three years.
The quad crew will now go on to represent the West Midlands at April’s British Rowing Inter-Regional Championships at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham, where more than 1,000 other junior rowers from all over the UK will be in action.
They will also compete at the Junior National Championships in July.
Elizabeth’s squad train seven or eight times a week at Worcester Rowing Club which, along with revision for GCSEs, is a big commitment, but they have been rewarded with these results and the friendships which have been formed.
Female and male junior athletes from Worcester Rowing Club won a total of five golds, two silver and one bronze medal at the West Midlands Championships.