As the sun began to set on Saturday evening, the eight fastest schoolgirl crews and the eight fastest schoolboy crews in the UK lined up on the start line of the 2000m Olympic Rowing Lake, attached to the stake-boats and prepared to put themselves on the line and race their hardest to achieve the title of fastest in the UK. In both the boys and girls category, this year saw a step up in the number of entries however also a step up in the level of competition, and those clubs which have successfully raised the bar in terms of the level of coaching and development of their training programs over the last season triumphed in these events, securing themselves some silverware and immersing the athletes and coaches with feelings of victory.
Championship Eights
With crosswinds on the course, the time trial was incredibly important for this event, as the crews which were stronger in the time trial received superior lane allocations, which would aid them in the semi final to qualify for that all important final at 7pm on Saturday evening. Favourites for this event, St Paul’s School started off the day with an extremely impressive time of 5:10, which was 13 seconds faster than the next fastest qualifying time into the AB semi from Shiplake College Boat Club, who were two seconds faster than Radley College, Bedford School, Latymer Upper School and Royal Shrewsbury School, who all received times of 5 minutes and 25 seconds. However, at the time these crews only knew where they placed in the time trial, and not the time margins between each crew. Therefore, the top 16 crews progressed into the semi final essentially “blind” of how close their next race was going to be.
The first two of the semi finals saw Radley College take the win 3 seconds ahead of Shiplake College Boat Club. The final two spots up for grabs in the A final were taken by regulars into the championship eights final, St Edwards School and unpredicted underdogs Latymer Upper School, which knocked out usual regulars into the championship eights final Hampton School and Westminster School along with the elimination of Kings College School and Enniskillen.
The second of these two semi finals saw St Paul’s School take a commanding lead over the rest of the field, securing them a superior and wind-sheltered lane for the final. The second semi also saw the qualification of regulars Royal Shrewsbury School as well as the truly unpredicted and unexpected progression of Bedford School, who although entered into the Child Beale Cup, would now be competing for a medal in the Queen Mother Cup. The final spot was snapped up by Eton College, who knocked out Abingdon School, which surprised the crowds as they were predicted to be exceptionally strong this regatta season under guidance of new coach Rory Copus and due to their strong performance at Schools’ Head.
With the final looming, crews made their final preparations to ensure they were fully recovered in order to deliver the best performance possible in the upcoming race. Tension rose as the crews attached to the stake-boats and the chanting and cheering raised anxiety and apprehension. With the traffic light changing colour, all of the crews raced their hardest out of the starting blocks with a similar race plan in mind; to get out ahead and then pull their hardest to try and stay ahead. Favourites and predicted winners, St Paul’s School did exactly this and had managed to stretch out to a staggering 7 second lead over the rest of the field by the halfway mark. At this point in the race, Bedford School were holding on tight to second place which was completely unanticipated by the rest of the field and they were followed closely by Radley College, who were absolutely desperate to take a silver medal. Following in the main pack were Shiplake College and Eton College side by side urgently trying to hold onto that fourth-placed position for all important Henley Royal Regatta seeding and to try and fight for a medal in the second half of the race. Approaching the line, St Paul’s School had extended their lead to an incredible 15 seconds over Radley College, who had moved into the silver medal position ahead of Bedford School. However, the race was not over yet, as an unexpected and phenomenal wind to the finish in the last 500m of the race saw Shiplake College row straight through Bedford School to take the bronze medal position, after sitting just over a length behind them for the entire race. Eton College led the rest of the pack and finished in 5th position with just over a length lead over Latymer Upper who were pushing off 7th and 8th place finishers St Edwards School and Shrewsbury, who had a photo finish across the line and completed the race with a time margin of only 0.4 seconds between them. Not only was it one of the most unusual championship eights finals with crews such as Bedford and Latymer present, however it was also a particularly exciting race, with St Paul’s leading the field by a gigantic margin over the main pack who were constantly changing position and battling it out for medal positions the entire race. St Paul’s win sets them up to take the quadruple as we now move into the latter stages of the regatta season with them being the favourites to triumph at Henley Royal Regatta, whilst Radley and Shiplake Colleges have put themselves in incredibly strong positions to receive strong seedings for Henley, meaning they should be presented with some easier races for the first couple of days, allowing them to progress through to the all important weekend.
Championship Girls Eights
With wins at Fours Head, Womens’ Head and Schools’ Head so far this season and a number of athletes representing GB at Munich Regatta, Henley Rowing Club set themselves up as firm favourites to take the trophy in this event, however them taking the victory certainly wasn’t going to happen without a fight from other challenging crews and clubs.
This year saw a noticeable and promising increase in the number of entries into this category, with schools such as Shrewsbury and Headington having two eights entered, and new appearances from Sir William Perkins and Glasgow Academy into the eights category along with two previously unknown Irish crews who created a lot of apprehension amongst the rest of the field as no one had an idea of how fast they would be.
After the morning’s time trial and intense racing in each of the two semi finals, we saw Henley Rowing Club and Headington School comfortably progress into the final, obtaining the two fastest lanes due to each winning their semi-final, with Marlow and Lady Eleanor Holles securing lanes 3 and 4. The final 4 spots in the A final were secured by Nottinghamshire Country, Sir William Perkins, Glasgow Academy and Latymer Upper School. With the crews lined up on the start line and attached to the stake-boats, Henley were confident that they would be victorious after the next 7 minutes of intense racing and were determined to get revenge on Headington School for winning the event for the last 9 years in a row and to break that 10 year streak. With missing athlete, Franny Curtis, who represented GB at Coupe last year, Headington knew that they were going to struggle this year in this event and the general impression throughout the crowd was that they would only be challenging for the bronze medal, after Lady Eleanor Holles’ storming performance at Wallingford Regatta where they won challenge eights with lengths of clear water over Headington. Under guidance of experienced cox Ella Nolsen, Henley were able to dominate the race and take the trophy and the gold medals, which is an achievement the club have been desiring for a ridiculously long time. A truly impressive achievement for the girls involved in this eight and their coaches despite some questionable celebrations on the finish line. However, whilst expectations were that Henley would triumph with lengths and lengths of clear water over the rest of the field, Headington managed to pull out a really impressive performance and achieved the silver medals, finishing only 6 seconds behind their rivals Henley rowing club. Perhaps if Franny Curtis wasn’t missing from the eight due to injury, this race would have been a lot closer between these two rivalling clubs, and I could have perhaps seen a photo finish or it being only a couple of seconds separating these two crews across the finish line. Under the guidance of previous Headington coach, Tom Springbett, Marlow Rowing Club really pressured Headington School the whole way down the 2000m course, challenging for the silver medal, however eventually coming away with a bronze, finishing only 1 second behind Headington. Somewhat unexpectedly, Lady Eleanor Holles finished in 4th position a fair way behind Headington and Marlow after being predicted to be achieving silver medals due to their success at Wallingford Regatta, however it must be noted that in challenge eights at Wallingford Regatta they borrowed assistance of Molesey athlete Holly Dunford, who went on to win championship singles and achieve a silver medal in championship pairs over the National Schools’ Regatta weekend.
With Henley Rowing Club triumphing at this event, this makes them the favourites for the triple this year with Henley Womens’ Regatta approaching in a matter of weeks time, however some international competition will certainly mix things up a bit and we could see them being knocked off the pedestal by a strong American or Australian crew. Whether Headington School present their eight at this event or choose to focus on their quad for Henley Royal Regatta is unknown, however if they choose to put out the eight at Henley Womens’ this year, I could see them putting up a brave fight and stepping up to really challenge Henley for the Peabody Cup.
With close and exciting racing in both categories, how individual match-ups between rival crews at Henley Womens’ and Henley Royal will turn out is unknown and we are definitely in store for some exhilarating and tense races in just around a months time. However, St Paul’s and Henley Rowing Clubs’ domination in both of their events sets them up to win the eights categories in Henley Royal and Henley Womens’ respectively, although these two crews shouldn’t become complacent, as we are yet to find out which foreign crews will be travelling across to compete in these two regattas, and these challenging foreign crews will be determined to put up a fight and place as much pressure as possible on the predicted champions.
All the crews and those athletes which achieved their goals this weekend in the championship eights category should be congratulated, however their coaches should also be praised for making these achievements and results possible. Well done to everyone who had a successful weekend and I look forward to seeing who is going to step up their game approaching Henley Womens’ and Henley Royal, which is undoubtedly one of the most important and exciting parts of the junior regatta season.
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