A night of celebration for BRC
- garypritchard1
- Dec 26, 2025
- 3 min read
As we approach the end of the year, an evening of celebration was held at the Royal Anglesey Yacht Club recently to celebrate the club’s and rowers’ achievements but also to recognise the fun and cameraderie of Beaumaris Rowing Club.
As a club, we took part in seven Welsh Sea Rowing races at Caernarfon, Porthmadog, Beaumaris, Aberystwyth, Aberdyfi, Newquay and Moelfre.
I say seven races, but as the ladies' crews have pointed out all season, the men only competed in six races as the Aberystwyth races were cancelled by the organisers because of high winds and large waves after the ladies had raced in the incredibly challenging conditions!
The Beaumaris Men’s Vets Crew, racing in Menai, were presented with their trophy for winning the North League Vets having recorded two victories, one second place and one third place during the season.
Menai was crewed by a combination of Mike Thorne, Andrew Challis-Jones, Lee Williams, Arwel Evans and Justin Starbuck and coxed by Ingrid Pedersen and Pippa Thomas.
There was also recognition for the Womens Open and Mixed Vets crews who finished in third place in their respective categories.
As a club we also competed in four Challenge Races; Puffin Island Race, Madog Dash, Castle to Castle and London’s Great River Race.
Menai took the honours in the Puffin Island Race as Mike, Challis, Lee and Arwel Evans, coxed by Gary Pritchard, held off a strong Porthmadog crew to win, and the following week Menai’s crew of Mike, Challis, Lee and Gary, coxed by Mari Pritchard, finished a close second in the Madog Dash.
The annual B3 Challenge Award for the quickest row from Beaumaris to B3 and back - a distance of just under 10km - went to Lee, Challis, Arwel and Simon Geering. The crew, coxed by Andrew Parker, completed the row in a time of 51’29.
The evening was also a celebration of the social side of the club, which has 95 members this year, with several prizes being awarded to recognise the non-competetive aspect of the club too.
The annual Photography Prize was won by Gary for his photo of the scull taken during the annual Summer Solstice row, which was also nominated in the Row of the Year category as one of several events organised by the club over the course of the year.
The winning event, as voted for by the members was Pippa’s Row Around the Island (Part1). Unfortunately, the plans to row all the way around the island were scuppered by the weather earlier in the summer, but 20 rowers spread across two Celtics enjoyed a wonderful 30 mile row from Bull Bay to Traeth Bychan and from Traeth Bychan onwards to Beaumaris.
It was a good night for Robert Clunas who picked up the award for Rower of the Year having attended more rowing sessions than any other member throughout the year and also collected the Newcomer Award for throwing himself into the club’s activities with such enthusiasm.
Special thanks was given to all members who volunteer to cox our rowing sessions, without whom we would be unable to row, and the award for Cox of the Year, for the person to have coxed most sessions throughout the year, went to Jacques Sissons.
The club’s Jemima Award, presented to a member or members who have made a major contribution to the club was awarded to Mari Pritchard for her decisive action when faced with a medical emergency on the water as one of the crew became unwell when out rowing.
Faced with a rare and incredibly challenging situation, Mari took decisive action landing the boat and calling for medical aid not only managing to summon an ambulance but also their own GP.Mari’s quick thinking and decisiveness meant that our casualty got the help needed as quickly as possible and quite possibly avoided a for more serious outcome.
There were also several special awards as Cindy Styles received the Unsung Hero award for being ever present behind the scenes at all club events and outings and Wyn Thomas winning the Supporter of the Year award for his support at league races and the Great River Race despite being injured.
The final award of the evening is one of the club’s most prestigious awards and one of the the most sought after titles. It required video evidence of the duo’s incredible skill and dexterity for the committee to award Gary and John Bach the Trolley Handler of the Year award. Congratulations to both!
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