Flood hit crew win gold medal

Wakefield sea Cadettes battled backed from their flooding woes to strike gold at the National Regatta in London.
Champs: The victorious crew from Wakefield Sea Cadettes who struck gold at the National Regatta.Champs: The victorious crew from Wakefield Sea Cadettes who struck gold at the National Regatta.
Champs: The victorious crew from Wakefield Sea Cadettes who struck gold at the National Regatta.

The group of teenagers became the National Sea Cadet Champions, despite not having a unit to train at following the Boxing Day floods which swamped their Thornes Lane base.

Ordinary Cadet Paige, 15, Able Cadet Johanna, 16, Able Cadet Jodie, 16, Ordinary Cadet Lydia, 14, Able Cadet Rhianna, 16, and Cadet Isobel, 13, competed in the Rowing Trinity 500 Open Girls class at the Excel Centre at Royal Victoria Dock. They secured place at the nationals by victories in the district and area heats.

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Commanding Officer Jean Pickering said: “This is a fantastic achievement by our young people in what has been a very difficult year so far for Wakefield Sea Cadets. We have not been able to use our building since it flooded on Boxing Day, which has made training much more challenging.

“We’re very grateful to Standbridge Community Centre which offered us the use of their building to enable us to continue running the cadet unit, but the floods have had a big impact on our training time on the water. There is still considerable outstanding repair work to be done and enhancements to try and improve the building before we can move back, however we are hoping to be able to make use of the building again in the next few weeks.”

Adding to the unit’s success in London was Cadet First Class Niamh, 15, who came third nationally in the Yole Open Single Female class. Cadet First Class Lewis, 14, competed in the Yole Open Single Male category, performed tremendously well against stiff competition to come fifth in the country.

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