Rowing glory for Bexhill College

They were part of a very strong squad who travelled to Battersea to compete in the national junior indoor rowing championships.

The women's team also achieved results to be proud of in both individual and team events.

Vinny Hourihane, rowing for the college in the year 13 girls' category, won the first bronze medal of the day and was agonisingly only two seconds away from the silver. She was well rewarded for her efforts as she achieved a new personal best of 7min 43sec over 2000m.

Arguably, the most exciting races were seen at the end of a long day with teams of 8 racing over a distance just short of 7000m.

The College girls came home in 3rd place just behind the London Youth Rowing Team in a race that was dominated from start to finish by Nottingham Rowing Club.

The boys' race was a tight, tense affair, with Bexhill and their nearest rivals neck and neck for virtually the whole race. After more than a quarter of an hour into the race, there was only around 10 metres separating the Bexhill team and Reading Rowing Club.

The tension and noise levels in the arena reached new levels as supporters of both teams roared on their teams. With the finish line approaching the Bexhill team picked up their efforts and took it home for the win and beat the rival team from Reading by 100m who had won this race the previous two years in a row.

Sports Academy Director, Kieran Cahill said "It was an exceptional day, with great performances from every member of the team. We had a lot of support there too, and I know everyone was grateful for that. For the boys to become National Champions is such an achievement. Yet again they have proved themselves to be the best"

As a result of their success, the boys relay team has won tickets to watch and follow the Oxford and Cambridge boat race on their own launch driven by the Royal Marines on March 29 '“ a prize that money cannot buy.

Men's Relay Team - Joe Slaughter, Aydan Mahoney, Ash Sutton, Elliot Moore, Ben Slater, Tom Hollick

Women's Relay Team - Vinny Hourihane, Lauren Garlick, Catherine Welford, Sophia Green, Grayson Payton, Megan Williams.