On Friday January 17th the school hosted the North Tyneside Rowing competition. This annual event is normally hosted in the Sports Hall but a change of venue to the Dance Studio was enforced this year. The event run by Sport North Tyneside and Jo Walton – School Games Organiser, brings together pupils from Year 7 to Year 11.
The setup of the event is that there are eight Concept 2 ergometers all linked to a computer that is running a program called Row Pro. The computer is attached to a projector that puts up the race on a large screen so that the rowers can see their progress against the distance and the other rowers. Each school is allowed to enter 2 pupils per race and the races are split into age and gender groups. Each group has a different time limit and the aim for the rowers is to get as far as possible in the time allowed.
John Spence has a tradition of doing well in this competition but the competition was tougher this year with many pupils looking to try and gain a team place for the Level 3 Games that would be held at Sport Central.
The pupils performed well and the following were selected for the North Tyneside team:
Brandon Steele, Orla McAllion, Dylan Forrest, Danielle McMahon, Stuart Downie and Carl Dietrich.
A further competition was added in Durham for the top 4 rowers in each category and we were lucky enough to have Carl Dietrich represent us with Dylan Forrest being unlucky in missing out on a place by 2 meters. Carl came 5th in the North of England competition. Well Done!
Rowing Competition