Henley Camp prepares rowing crews for Met Regatta

Over the Jubilee bank holiday weekend the 1st VIII and 1st Quad travelled to Henley for a two day training camp on the Henley stretch before racing at the Met Regatta on the Sunday.

It was a great experience for the crews to train out of the world-renowned Leander Rowing Club. The two days of training on the stretch provides a great chance for the pupils to get familiar with the course without all the fanfare that comes along with the regatta.

The racing format at the Met regatta provides for some highly competitive multi-lane finals. The crews raced off in the time trials with all the other women’s quads (19) and men’s eights (58) before facing off in the finals where there are often only a few seconds separating the field.

The 1st Quad came fifth in the B final and were the second fastest junior crew in the event.

In the Open eights category the 1st VIII were the only junior crew racing and came an impressive 10th of 58 crews. The 1st VIII had an exciting race in the B final after getting off to a fast start. The crew set up a beautiful rhythm and held on well to their early lead with Thames Rowing Club just catching them in final few strokes of the race.

Natalia T (EDH, V)

The 1st VIII cox, Natalia T (EDH, V) and the Vice Captain of Rowing, Isabelle T (MSH, UVI) were invited to the GB training lake at Caversham to take part in a series of trials and training over the half term to select and prepare the girls to compete for Great Britain in the Summer. The girls were then entered to crews at the Met Regatta to race under the colours of Nautilus Boat Club to get some race experience in different combinations. Natalia T coxed the 1st Girls VIII to win the B final and come in 9th of forty-seven Open Women’s eights. Isabelle raced in the 2nd Girls VIII that won the B Final and placing 17th in the same event. Both girls are in strong contention for selection in the Summer.

Isabelle T (MSH, UVI)

Athol Hundermark
Master i/c Rowing