Ruhr-Gymnasium Witten – RGW becomes district champion in judo

After Christian Solomov and Max Handel had qualified for the NRW team 4 weeks ago as national champions in the lightweight double sculls of the year 2008, it was now time for the German championships.

From 8th to 10th On July 1st, the Federal Children’s Competition (German Children’s Championships) was held on the Werdersee in Bremen, with over 1000 young athletes registered. For this purpose, each federal state sent two boats per boat class, which had to qualify for participation in the respective state competitions. Five boats from the Witten Rowing Club qualified for the North Rhine-Westphalia team at the state competition on June 11-12. on the local regatta course.

On Friday they had to compete with their competitors over the 3000m long distance. The national winners were chosen over the 3000 m and the finals of the 1000 m race on Sunday were set according to the long-distance times. The places 1-6 of the long distance reach the A final and the places 7-12 the B final. The Werdersee in Bremen posed a special challenge for the young RCW rowers this weekend with a stormy headwind and high waves, who usually train in calm conditions on the local Ruhr.

From Witten’s point of view, the biggest surprise came from Max Handel and Christian Solomov in the young lightweight double sculls 2008, who had set themselves the goal of reaching the A final in their 18-boat field. After achieving that goal with a solid performance over the long distance, finishing just under 6th place, they far exceeded expectations in the A-final over the 1000m. With a lightning start, they took the lead from the beginning of the race with a lead of about a boat length and vehemently defended this position. In the final sprint they were able to extend their lead over the boats from Schleswig-Holstein and Berlin, who had driven much faster times over the long distance, to 2 boat lengths and rightly celebrated the gold medal at the finish.

In the overall standings, Team-NRW improved compared to last year and took second place behind Saxony-Anhalt, to which the super result of the two Witteners also contributed.

Christian and Max both learned to row in the 5th grade of the Ruhr-Gymnasium’s rowing group.

Uwe von Diecken