Rowing Sports Section Annual Reports  2001
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 Out January 2010  2008 top
Rowing Sports Section
By Secretary DC Sue Palmer
2008 was a very poor year for the Indoor Rowing section.
The secretary, Sue Palmer, was injured and unable to compete in 2008. Efforts were made to encourage new members and a couple of positive responses were obtained. Contact was made and some training advice and tips given.
Difficulties have been encountered over the years in persuading those who have previously competed or shown an interest in the club to actually enter competitions. The level of competition is of a very high standard and fiercely contested in all age groups, this seems to discourage would be participants.
Attempts will be made in 2009 to encourage participation at smaller events such as the England Indoor and to establish a Men’s and Ladies crew for the Police Outdoor event in September. 2007 By Secretary PC Sue Palmer Indoor Rowing Though still having lots of enquiries from people interested in training advice and tips on technique, the section is struggling in its aim to achieve more entries in competitions. This year only two members competed in events, Sue Palmer and Andy Green. The results were good. Andy Green is looking to improve on his placing in the Men’s Open event at the British Indoor Rowing Championships held at Birmingham on 18th November 2007. Andy placed 27th in his first try at the 2000m event. The top winners and placings were nearly all current Olympic squad or World Class start outdoor rowers. He did extremely well against such high-class competitors. Sue Palmer competed in three events the first being the English Indoor at Manchester Velodrome in January where she got a bronze medal in the Women’s HWT 40-49 age group for 2000m and silver in the 30+ age group for 500m. Sue then competed in the World Police and Fire Games for the third time. Travelling to Adelaide, Australia the event was as large as ever with competitors from all over the world competing in the 70 different disciplines. Sue achieved Gold medals in the Indoor Rowing 2000m 40-49hwt and in the ladies double race with Deborah Caines of the Prison Service. Sue also placed in the medals for the first time in the British Indoor in November 2007 gaining Silver medal. The club continues to try and gain new competing members and is hoping to have representatives at the British Indoor again in November and other events if possible during the year. 2006 By Secretary PC Sue Palmer The section has had limited results this year due to a lack of competing members. Despite positive responses to e-mail circulations there are still issues with persuading people to enter competitions. Despite this PC 307 Palmer, PC 6049 McNally and PC Pete Burke represented the section at several Indoor events. PC Burke has since retired but has expressed an interest in continuing to compete once he has settled into civilian life. PC 6049 McNally competed in the British Indoor Rowing Championships with PC Palmer in November 2006, she was poorly at this event but still performed well finishing 9th in her 2000m category with Pc Palmer 5th. It was later discovered that she had cancer and sadly died of this condition on 14th February 2007. She was a committed and long term member of the team and will be sorely missed. Results for the year were as follows. January 2006: England Indoor Held at Manchester. Gold medal for PC Sue Palmer in the 40-49 2000m, Gold for Carole McNally in the 40-49 500m and Gold for PC Pete Burke in the mens’s 40-49 500m. July 2006: Evesham Mile held Evesham on 8th July. New British Indoor record for Sue Palmer for mile, 1609m. November 2006: British Indoor at Birmingham. Pc Sue Palmer 5th and PC Carole McNally 9th. December 2006: Welsh Indoor at Cardiff 2/12/06 PC Sue Palmer Gold medals in 2000m, 500m and mixed relay. It is hoped that further competitors can be persuaded to row in 2007, training evenings will be announced to be held at HQ’s once Sue Palmer returns from the World Police and Fire Games in Adelaide. 2005 By Secretary PC Sue Palmer The section has had some good successes in 2005, with the regular members turning out at the major competitions through the year. New members have been sought and expressions of interest and requests for information on events have been received from a number of Constabulary staff. Most have not yet taken the plunge in competition but it is hoped that competing members will increase as the sport becomes more recognised. First event of the year was the North of England Indoor Rowing Champs at Manchester Velodrome. PC Pete Burke gained 5th place in the 2000m 40-49 open and 3rd place in the 500m in the same category. I collected Bronze in the 2000m 40-49 hwt. The Outdoor championships were held in Belfast in September. I competed in the open singles scull and in a Coxed Four as part of a composite crew from The Metropolitan Police placing as runner up in both events. I still haven’t persuaded the other members to compete outdoor yet. The British Indoor Championships is the major event in the UK for Indoor Rowers with competitors from all the Universities, clubs and Olympic outdoor squads. Their open competitions produce some amazing times but luckily our competitors are not competing in their age group at present. PC Pete Burke and PC Carole McNally were both entered in the event but were unable to compete due to illness. I entered the 40-44 open women’s event placing 4th . World Police and Fire Games - Quebec By Rowing Secretary - PC Sue Palmer The event is held every two years, the last one was in Barcelona where over 20 members of the Club attended and took part in a variety of events. This year the Games were held at Quebec in July. The distance and cost involved meant that there were no entries from Lancashire other than myself. I travelled with the Prison Service Sports Association. I had a great time and was looked after well by their organising staff. I went onto win Gold in the 2000m open 40-44hwt in a PB of 7:30.1, Gold in the Ladies Doubles competing with Kris Hemmings of the Prison Service and Silver in the mixed doubles competing with Tim Ellis of the Prison Service. The next games are in Adelaide in March 2007. 2004 By Secretary PC Sue Palmer The section said goodbye to Insp Wayne Howard. Wayne had been the driving force behind the establishment of the section and had entered various events around the World representing Lancashire Constabulary. I took over as Secretary. We have three members of the section at the moment who are competing regularly Indoor with others expressing an interest but for various reasons not being able to compete. The regular competitors are Peter Burke of Blackpool Division, Carole McNally of Burnley Div and myself from Northern. Carole competed in the Grand Prix events round the country and even though she was incapacitated with a broken leg after Xmas she entered the 4/6 events required and gained a great second place overall. She collected her Silver medal on crutches at the North of England Indoor Rowing at Manchester on 13th Feb 2005. Peter Burke, Carole and myself all entered the British Indoor Rowing Champs at Birmingham in November 2004. The results were as follows Mens 45- 49 Hwt - 2000 metres PC 30 Peter Burke – Western Division - 9th place 6 mins 35.3 secs Women's 40- 44 Hwt - 2000 metres PC 307 Sue Palmer – Northern Division - 5th place 7mins 42.6 secs PC 6049 Carole McNally – Pennine Division - 7th place 7 mins 53.9 secs Travel expenses, meals, entries and overnight accommodation were funded by Sports and Social. As the sole representative of the Outdoor part of the rowing section I attended the Police rowing champs held by the Metropolitan Police in September 2004. Five forces entered teams of singles, fours and eights. Unfortunately conditions on the day were pretty terrible with high winds and a spring tide on the Thames. As the only person willing to put her single scull on the water I won the race by default. I also entered fours and eights making up composite crews with Strathclyde and Avon and Somerset. The four made it to the final but was beaten by a good team from the Met. The venue for this years event is Belfast, Northern Ireland. The next events for the Indoor section are North of England Indoor Rowing Champs on 13th Feb 2005. The main event target is now the World Police and Fire Games in Quebec to be held June/July 2005. The biannual event is well attended by British Police, Fire service and Prison service personnel. I will be co-ordinating the Indoor rowing section interest in this event. 2003 By Secretary Inspector Wayne Howard My annual report this year is certainly easy to write. At last years AGM I presented a picture of my own personal achievements and how our newly formed section was progressing. I also extolled the virtues of attending the World Police and Fire Games, which was being held in Barcelona in summer 2003. As you all know five of us went out there. Every one of us had trained to our personal limits. There is no sport that will push you harder than interval training on a Concept 2 indoor rowing machine! Our medal haul has been well publicised, but here is a resume anyway: Pete Burke 1 Gold (New World games record) 1 Silver Ian Ashton 2 Silver (individual personal best) Ian Mounfield 1 Gold (individual person best) 1 Silver Wayne Howard 1 Gold, 2 Silver Sue Palmer 1 Gold, 2 Silver (individual personal best) We all had matching kit purchased by the club and looked the best rowing team there. The Lancashire Constabulary team were more successful that any country represented in the sport. Many thanks to the S & SC for supporting us financially. Good to see other teams out there for the first time. Hope attendance can carry on - it’s a great occasion. Before the World Games I did win the Scottish Championships held in Stranraer. Since the Worlds things have been very quiet with the team. (I have been told by a specialist to retire from the sport due to an elbow injury) I have 25 'members' on my mailing list and keep them updated with how the section is progressing. All of them use the machine to some extent to keep fit. We have 8 rowers who have now experienced the pleasure and pain of competing. Recent news is that a new member Carole McNally from Burnley has been training hard for 6 months and won a silver medal at the Northern Grand Prix 500metre sprint in February 2004. I retire from the Constabulary in June this year and Sue Palmer takes over the rowing section. (or is it the helm) I wish her well. I do intend to remain in the section. Just like to say a great big thank you to everyone in the Sports and Social Club who has helped in any way my involvement in a whole multitude of competitive and representative sports since I joined the Constabulary 33 years ago. I've loved it. I am now planning to cycle the entire route of the Tour de France in aid of the Rosemere Cancer Foundation at Preston. The quest is to cover the 2,300 miles taking in the Alps and Pyrenees in less than double the time of the world's best cyclists. 5 hours hard cycling a day for 40 days should do it! Any ideas or support from members would be most welcome. 2002 By Secretary Inspector Wayne Howard We currently have 30 members in our section and numbers are growing. I keep everyone posted on what is happening within our ‘virtual’ club via a regular emailing newsletter. Members are encouraged to send in their progress and achievements. Everyone can train in their own time, setting themselves personal targets, be it for weight loss, as part of a general fitness programme or for competition rowing. During 2002 our newly formed section competed for the first time with four rowers putting themselves through hell in preparation for the National Indoor Rowing Championships at the Birmingham NIA in November 2002. This is the world's largest event and was on SKY TV. PC Pete Burke for Blackpool, a Goliath on the ‘ergo’ for over 10 years now, still got under 6mins 30sec for 2000metres at Birmingham. (Pretty good for a 45 to 49 yrs category rower) Also got a fantastic 2nd place at the Northern Championships held in Manchester in February 2003 with a 6.26s. Pete was also a member of the record breaking 100,000 metre Team Challenge, competing for Royce's Gym at Wigan, beating the famous Leander Rowing Club world record. DC Neil Ashton is progressing well in the 30 to 34 yrs category pulling a 6.24s in Birmingham. He also got a very credible 8th in Manchester PC Julian Brassington and PC Mark Green have now joined the ‘sub 7 minute club’ for 2k metres. The sub 7 barrier is a ‘bit of a landmark’ if you have tried it. There are no Police Athletic Association events so our competition is really tough competing in open categories against top class water rowers. Insp Wayne Howard, the Secretary who recently formed the Section has been injured for 6 months but is now training hard to get back on form. He did however attend the ‘Advance Performance Ltd’ inaugural ‘Achievements Dinner’ in November held at the Barton Grange Hotel. He had been nominated for the ‘Personal Achievement Award’ for his multi gold medal winning success at the World Service Games in New Zealand and the World Police and Fire Games in Indianapolis during 2001. Attended by over 300 business people he won, and was presented with his award by Dame Mary Peters of Olympic gold fame from the Moscow Olympics. The company specialises in promoting ‘positive thinking’ via their courses. Something you definitely need in order to succeed on the Concept2 machine. All the above rowers plus PC Sue Palmer (our only ‘rower’ who ventures out onto water) PC Simon Ashcroft and PC Ian Mounfield (water polo star) are committed to competing in the World Police and Fire Games in Barcelona in July 2003. We are now holding free monthly squad training sessions, kindly donated by the Next Generation Club in Chorley. 2001 By Secretary Inspector Wayne Howard This section has been inactive for two years but globetrotting gold medalist, police indoor rower, Inspector Wayne Howard has taken the helm. Wayne has applied to re-form a new section that includes indoor Concept rowing. This sport is now becoming one of the more popular aerobic disciplines.
 
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