ALEX SMALLWOOD/ROSS THOMPSON DEFEND RYA NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP TITLE
Dominating the 420 fleet from the outset and securing gold with a day to spare, Alex Smallwood and Ross Thompson were the runaway winners at the RYA Youth National Championships, held at Hayling Island Sailing Club, 8-14 April 2017.
Wrapping up today, Friday 14 April, the 2017 RYA Youth National Championship featured five days of challenging racing, with the 379 sailors in the 12 classes tested in an array of conditions.
For Smallwood, this is a second Youth Nationals title: “It feels really good to win the Youth Nationals again, it’s been a pretty challenging week and we’ve worked really hard for it.”
Thompson continued: “I really enjoyed the mix of conditions and the one really windy day, which was good fun. It’s made for really good competition.”
After a slow start to week, Rhys Lewis (Cardiff Bay YC) and Drew Wright came into their own as they worked their way up the fleet in finish as second boys and third overall. Tom Collyer (Aldenham SC) and Aaron Chadwick took the boys’ bronze medal.
Isabel Davies and Gemma Keers (Itchenor SC) proved that experience counts as they are once again crowned Youth Nationals champions after finishing first girls and second overall for a consecutive year.
Davies was thrilled to have retained their title: “It’s really good, exciting times. It’s been a really fun week with really good racing”
Keers added: “It was tough competition today, with some tricky conditions and hard work.”
It was a closely fought battle for silver coming down the final race as Katie Davies and Midge Watkins (Itchenor SC) edged two-points ahead of their rivals. Hatty Morsley and Pippa Cropley (Royal Lymington YC) take bronze for the second year running.
