Major coup for rowing club

GREENBANK Rowing Club has pulled off a major coup by landing the coveted 1998 South Coast Championship.

The decision, taken by the WEARRA clubs at the weekend, means that the event will be staged in Cornwall for the first time in almost 40 years.

The last occasion the event came to the Duchy was in 1957.

Greenbank has traditionally rowed in the harbour at Falmouth, but this year are moving their regatta to Stithians Reservoir and it is also there that the South Coast Championship will be held.

The decision to leave the waters of Falmouth harbour for Stithians did not deter clubs from supporting Greenbank’s bid to stage the championship.

Although previous events on the reservoir were less than successful, that was over two decades ago, and the club are very confident there will be no such hitches in future.

Instead of competing over a 600-metre harbour course, the best of the west country rowers will now be able to flex their muscles over the longer reservoir course.

Greenbank’s main rivals to stage the event were Plymouth and Torquay, but Torquay withdrew their bid in favour of Falmouth while Plymouth gained only one vote other than their own.

Callington tied down by bowlers

FALMOUTH maintained their challenge to leaders Truro when they defeated Callington at Trescobeas by 75 runs.

They won the toss and decided to bat, but lost opener Steve Williams at 16 leg before to skipper Andrew Snowdon.

Skipper Sean Hooper batted confidently to make top score of 41, which included seven boundaries. He received full support from Mark Render (20), Paul Stephens (27) and Jonathan Nesbitt as Falmouth recorded 200-7.

A poor start for Callington saw them lose three wickets with the score at only 36.

Opener Colin Kitt held firm for a while before he was bowled by first change Sean Turner for 28. Although four of the players reached double figures, none stayed long enough to build up a score and Callington were all out for 125.