There was understandably great joy amongst the eager members of the Fishguard and Goodwick Jemima Rowing Club recently as it was well represented in the Welsh team that won the Home International Rowing Regatta team trophy for only the third time in the 61 years of its distinguished history.
 
England, Scotland and Ireland were joined for the first time by Jersey (who had individual entrants but didn’t form part of the team championships on this first visit) so success was even more thrilling, particularly since the regatta was held offshore at Saundersfoot - and the Welsh team trained beforehand at Fishguard and nearby Pwllgwaelod.
 

Fitting reward for local club

 
It was fitting reward for Fishguard & Goodwick Jemima Rowing Club because of the wonderful facilities the club has and which were funded by the local community a year ago to allow the club to be awarded the hosting.
 
Leading the Welsh team as captain was Jerry Owen, who hails from Fishguard and certainly led by example because in the Men’s Solo part of the competition he rowed really well to reach the final and eventually beat Jersey’s Chris Thompson (Jersey Rowing Club) by four seconds to take the coveted gold medal.
 
Jerry has been doing beach sprint racing for five years and has worked tirelessly to achieve this honour - and there is no doubt that the skills of boat handlers Kraig Murley and Martha Owen, who doubles up as Jerry’s mother, were invaluable because as well as working closely with the rower, having built trust and confidence, their role is helping to start the boat off after his sprint from the beach – and they also guide the rower around the buoys in the 500 metre race.
 
They also have to make sure the boat is quickly held and then allow their entrant to jump out speedily and run back up the beach to the finish. It was certainly done seamlessly on this occasion and it was small wonder that Jerry was delighted with his success.
 
Also involved from Fishguard was Bryony Jones as team manager and Simon Reeves (Umpire), with  Allys Phyllis and Mark Kynaston as part of the event boat management team, whilst Peter Kedward provided safety board cover throughout their junior training camp and team training sessions.




 

Exciting races as Wales do well

 
After early-morning time trials it was Jersey who started their first campaign with a bang as Sarah Earles and Hilton Harvey won the Senior Mixed Doubles by only two seconds against their Welsh counterparts - but Wales redressed the balance as the Junior Mixed Doubles of Menna Sutton and Twm Owen beat the English duo by four seconds.
 
Jersey also won the Ladies’ Solo via Natasha Searson before our own Jerry Owen redressed the balance.
 
Then England celebrated their first success of the day as Evelyn Pakule in the Junior  Women’s Solo event, which turned out to be their only win, as was Eoin O’Connell’s win for Ireland in the final race of the day when he beat  Wales’ Joshua Port (Mumbles RC) in the Junior Men’s Solo.
 
It meant that wales had secured two victories, three seconds and a third place which was more than enough to ensure a third-ever victory in the Home International Regatta, appropriately the first on home territory, in Pembrokeshire.



 

Match director Sam delighted

 
Small wonder that Sam English, the Match Director for Welsh Rowing, said afterwards:
“It was an absolute honour to host the Second Home International Rowing Beach Sprint Regatta in Saundersfoot, which is not only a fantastic location but we had the full support of the local community, who ensured that all our guests and athletes received a warm Welsh welcome.
 
“The team of volunteers we have in Wales are truly world class in what they do; we are forever grateful as events like this don’t happen without them. Special thanks go to Andrew Richards and his team at Saundersfoot Sailing Club.”



 

Overall Positions:

 
Wales 19 points
Ireland 13 points
England 12 points
Scotland 8 points
 
*With the Beach Sprint format having been added to the programme for the 2026 Commonwealth Games all rowing nations are hoping that the issues surrounding the games’ staging can be resolved so that this exciting sport will have the chance to demonstrate its appeal to a far wider international audience.*