LYME Regis Gig Club’s Veterans claimed a super semi-final finish to Newquay last weekend for the annual Cornwall County Championship, the finale to the gig rowing season.

The club took four men’s crews to bar the World Pilot Gig Championships on the Isles of Scilly.

The Newquay event continues to be the sport’s most prestigious competition.

Lyme’s travelling contingent consisted of an A, B, C and D crew, the A crew ostensibly the club’s veterans (over 40s) who won the National Veterans Championship earlier in the year.

Lyme’s B, C and D all failed to make the second round.

However, Lyme Vets, masquerading as the club’s A crew, were third up in heat 11 and drawn in berth one, Lyme would have the water on all the other crews in their heat if they could hold their ground to the first mark. This is not easy when the boat beside you is Looe A, the current world champions.

Lyme stayed with Looe right onto the first mark and on turning, Lyme’s bow kissed Looe’s stern but no damage was done and the rest of the heat saw both boats pull further clear of the pack as Lyme claimed a close second and automatic qualification to the next round.

As in round one, it would be the top two boats in each heat plus the fastest losers who would claim a quarter-final place.

Employing similar tactics to the first race, Ben Short and Nick Waite pushed their crew hard off the start, 47 strokes being delivered through the water in the first minute. The heat did not lessen as all the boats came onto the first mark together.

The Dorset crew seemed to find an extra gear, coping better in the rough than some of the others as they powered past Dartmouth and Fowey B to turn into the final straight in third where they would finish but they posted one of the fastest times of the day, 11.57.

Lyme’s quarter final draw would be their toughest race so far being against: Roseland A, Coverack A, Truro A, Mounts Bay A.

However, they had also drawn what was believed to be a fast boat, the RAF gig Vigila. In typical Lyme fashion, the crew threw themselves into the fray, posting an average 38 strokes per minute over the course of the race. Dart A were dropped early and the pack stayed in close formation all the way round, with no more than a boat length between each boat. However, Lyme’s fourth was soon upgraded to third after Mounts Bay were disqualified for an infringement mark.

However, the Dorset crew’s time of 13.11 was the seventh fastest time of the 24 quarter finalists as they qualified for the semi-finals, which with an average age of 47, was beyond their expectations.

The semi-final got underway and it was a brutally fast start but the group stayed five abreast three quarters of the way up to the first mark, only Salcombe dropping off the pace. Towards the end of the first leg, Lyme had also dropped a boat length off the lead pack, but were fighting with everything they had to stay in contention. They were given a brief lifeline on the first mark as Fowey and Falmouth became entangled and Lyme overtook both, on the outside.

Yet true to form, Falmouth showed their class and power, clawing back the lost water in under two minutes.

The pattern changed little over the next two legs with Lyme stretching their lead from Salcombe and managing to stay in touching distance of the main pack, only half a boat length off Fowey’s stern. Posting fifth over the line in what was the quicker semi-final, their final placing of eighth overall was an historic achievement for the Dorset club, arguably the finest result in their 11-year history.