Rowing crews gain experience ahead of upcoming races

It’s been a busy week for our rowing crews. 

The Boat Club took three crews to London to race at the Schools’ Head of the River on the tideway on Monday. The event saw over three hundred crews racing over the gruelling four and half mile championship course. 

The Senior boys put in a respectable performance coming 13th out of 44 school 1st VIII’s and 9th of 15 2nd VIII’s. Both crews will be looking to build on these performances on Sunday as they compete on the River Dee at the North of England Head. 

The J16 girls took part in their first national event and recorded a great result coming 4th in their event. 

A big thank you to the Sabrina Club for their tremendous support and hospitality to parents and supporters at the Blue Anchor. 

On Wednesday the Senior Girls and J15’s competed alongside over five hundred junior crews from around the country in the Junior Sculling Head at Dorney Lake. The event sees the crews compete two 1800m legs with the times combined to generate the results. The event provides a useful opportunity for the crews to gauge their progress through the winter and get a chance to see the race venue for the National Schools Regatta that will take place at Dorney Lake in May. 

The Senior Girls had the benefit of racing first in dry conditions. The girls posted strong results with the 1st Quad coming 11th out of 44 crews. The 2nd Quad came in 23rd overall and an impressive 3rd out of the 2nd boats. 

The J15 girls were next on the course. The crew sculled well in their first national event coming in 18th. 

As the girls came off the water the heavens opened and didn’t relent for the rest of the afternoon with the crews drenched in rain and the orange Sahara dust that gave the sky an eerie glow. 

The J15 boys took two crews to race at the event and give them some useful exposure to the racecourse. The J15s have primarily been training in sweep boats through the year but engaged well with the challenge of two oars in the octuple event. The A crew came 10th and the B crew came 2nd of the B crews.