Dartmouth Rowing Club has been successful in its bid to stage the South Coast Rowing Championships in 2019 as part of the celebrations to mark the club’s 150th anniversary. The Coast ARA club, Deal, Walmer & Kingsdown, were due to stage the 2019 Championships but have agreed to move to 2018 when a West of England ARA venue was due to hold the Championships.

The Dartmouth club previously staged the Championships in 1959, 1969 and 2006 and a ‘last minute’ transfer to Dartmouth in 2002 when conditions in Torbay proved to be too rough. The Port of Dartmouth Royal Regatta also staged the Championships on its sesquicentennial in 1984 and to mark its 150th Regatta in 1994.
The Championships which are to be held on 14 September 2019, are the culmination of the racing season for crews of the West of England ARA from Devon, Cornwall and Somerset; the Hants & Dorset ARA and the Coast ARA which covers Kent and Sussex and will feature rowing clubs along the south coast from Herne Bay in the east to Falmouth in the west.
To compete in a Championship event, competitors are normally winners or runners-up in their respective status within their Association and it is every South Coast rower's ambition to be a South Coast Championship winner. Open, Invitation and Junior races are also held at the regatta for the remainder of crews from the three Associations.
Dartmouth’s oldest club was established on Monday, 22nd March, 1869, and has a proud and distinguished history. Rowing races had been held on the River Dart for half a century prior to the Rowing Club being formed and the first recorded races were held in the 1820’s which led to Dartmouth Regatta being established in 1834.
When the West of England Amateur Rowing Association was formed in 1896 Dartmouth was one of the eight founding clubs, three of which no longer exist. Dartmouth also provided the first Chairman and Secretary of the Association.
The club has produced some impressive crews down the years and has a record of results second to none in the West of England. The golden era was without doubt during the 1930’s and in particular 1933 the club won the WEARA Championships for Senior, Junior and Under 20’s. At the end of that season the clubs Senior and Junior crews combined to form an eight to take on other crews from around the country and went on to win the National ARA race for Champion eights of England, rowed annually on the river Thames, to lift the Lord Desborough Cup. Two years later in 1935 the Senior four became the National ARA’s Champion four of England winning the Daily Herald Cup.
The amalgamation of the national associations to form the ARA also saw the inception of the South Coast Championship Regatta in 1957 with Dartmouth hosting the third Championship Regatta in 1959. This brought more success for the club with the Senior crew winning the South Coast Championship at that 1959 regatta and repeated the success at the 1962 Championship Regatta.
The year 1969, the club’s centenary, was eventful with the Senior crew winning all eight West of England ARA regattas to win the Association’s Championship with the club’s B crew runners-up. The club also staged the South Coast Championship Regatta for the second time.
Through the 1970’s women’s rowing became the fastest growing sport in the country and again the club had its share of successes at Senior Ladies both at West of England level and at the South Coast Championships with wins in 1980 and 1982.
It is estimated that over the years Dartmouth Rowing Club has won over 2,000 trophies which includes the West of England ARA Men’s Senior coxed fours Championship on 35 occasions. There have been many other landmarks such as becoming the first club to win all of the West of England ARA men’s Championships in 1994.
Junior (Under 18) rowing came to the forefront in the 1990’s and Dartmouth has had its share of West of England ARA Junior Championships and with the inauguration of the South Coast Junior Regatta at Dartmouth in 2006 success on a wider stage. In 2006 the club won four events and in 2007 at Dorney Lake, the venue for the 2012 Olympic rowing events, they went one better with five wins. These successes were surpassed in 2008 at Plymouth with the Juniors winning six events and the newly installed point’s trophy for the South Coast Junior Regatta.
Further celebrations are planned for 2019 with the Fowey based Castledore club foregoing the West of England ARA Presidency in favour of the Dartmouth club. A celebratory dinner is planned for Friday 22 March, with a time trial Head race on the following day.

Hilary Bastone, Secretary for the 2019 South Coast Championships, who was also Secretary for the 1984, 1994 and 2006 Championships and also Chairman for the 2006 Championships, said, “Club members are really enthusiastic about celebrating the 150th anniversary of the club and see the Championships as an important part of celebrating with its friends from clubs along the south coast.”