Hinksey Sculling School, Junior Women’s Eight
Although Hinksey have been tearing up trees for several seasons now, it is important not to forget the relative innocuity from which they have come. For a state school-powered community rowing program to win the premier women’s event at the National Schools’ Regatta is a remarkable feat and one that Bodo Schulenburg and his team of coaches and athletes should be incredibly proud of. They were competitive throughout the season, reaching the final of Henley Women’s Regatta and losing to the American national champions at Henley Royal Regatta. This was yet another fantastic season from a group that are redefining the boundaries of our sport.
Star and Arrow, Senior Men’s Quad
This was the subject of some debate internally when this crew from Star and Arrow were nominated but it is hard to look past a boat who went from unfavoured qualifiers to semi-finalists in the Prince of Wales Challenge Cup. The crew contained several former international athletes, including Olympic gold medalist Will Satch and quad sculls silver medalist Jack Beaumont, but the boat was far from top form. What made this crew the definition of an underdog was their canny ability to row the Henley course, powered by the brawn of Sam Meijer and Seb Devereux and guided by the brain of Satch and Beaumont in the bows, whose expert analysis of a race situation led them to overturn successive deficits at the Barrier.
Great Marlow School, Junior Men’s Quad
This was one of the shock results of the season, at least from an outsider’s perspective. Great Marlow School had never really been in serious contention for national honours and their first-ever Henley Royal Regatta race win came just last year. At the Oarsport Junior Sculling Head, this boat won the open junior quad title and posted the fastest time of the day to send an ominous message to onlookers that they were not to be trifled with. They made the A-final at the National Schools’ Regatta a couple of months later and were only knocked out of the Fawley Challenge Cup by the narrowest of margins via the American national champions.
Royal Chester, Senior Men’s Coxed Four
To make a Henley Royal Regatta club final, in the age of ever-increasing Putney power, is a brilliant achievement in and of itself. Royal Chester arrived into Henley Royal Regatta as one of the favourites for the Britannia Challenge Cup by virtue of strong performances at both the Metropolitan and Marlow Regattas but their story to get there was what compelled so many to get behind this group of athletes. Staying competitive in a community where the trend increasingly points towards consolidation of talent as opposed to a fragmented distribution that enables multiple challengers is extremely difficult and both Royal Chester and Marlow did exceptionally well to be in with a shout of major honours.
Ezra Ferguson, George Watson’s College, Junior Men’s Single
Any J16 who can remain competitive at J18 level deserves recognition, especially when they’re an athlete whose program does not have the resources of some of the other, much larger, domestic powerhouses. Ezra Ferguson found himself in the A-final of open championship singles despite being two years younger than the majority of his opposition, finishing fifth. He then went on to gain selection for the GB-France match, winning the match and then won two silver medals at the British Rowing Junior and Senior Club Championships, cementing a fantastic season for the young Scotsman.
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