Rowing Virtual Match

On Friday and Saturday afternoon the Boat Club took part in its first ever virtual match in a fixture against Shiplake College.

The format of the racing saw each crew complete four one kilometer runs with two into the stream and two with the stream to make some allowance for the varying river conditions between the two locations. Each crew raced with a mobile phone in the boat linked to the mobile tracking application Strava. After the four runs the average speed was calculated for comparison between the schools.

While obviously second to actual side by side competition for excitement, the racing provided an added focus and drive in what were wet and windy conditions on Saturday afternoon.

In the racing on Friday afternoon the result was two wins a piece for the senior boys with Shrewsbury quickest in the coxless fours and Shiplake winning in the coxed fours. The narrowest margin between the crews came between the second of the coxed fours with 0.1 seconds separating the two crews after four kilometers of racing.

On Saturday, the Senior boys U6th and L6th eights again share honours with Shiplake with the Upper Sixth posting the fastest average speed of the day. The Lower Sixth VIII lost out to a strong performance from Shiplake.

In the J16 Eights honours were again even as the fastest of the three Shrewsbury crews took the win with the second boat narrowly losing out to Shiplake’s second boat.

The two Senior girls’ quads lost out to Shiplake in two close matches.

The event proved a great success in reducing the sense of isolation created by having no external competition on the water since the Wycliffe Head held in February. The Boat Club are planning to race in a second virtual match against St Edwards, Radley and Shiplake on the 28^th November if river conditions allow.