Successful end to season for J16 VIII crews at Reading Regatta

The J16A VIII raced at the Reading Amateur Regatta over the weekend.

On Saturday morning five of the crew raced in the J16 Coxed Fours event. The Saturday course runs over 1500 meters with the crews starting with a stagger and racing around a corner for the first 300 meters.

The crew drew the winners from the National Schools’ Regatta, Radley, in the first round. Knowing the crew faced a stiff challenge they made an excellent start and utilized the slight start stagger to open up a clear water lead on Radley around the outside of the bend. Radley never looked comfortable once down and the crew held their length and rhythm to win and progress to the final.

In the final, the crew executed a similar tactic against Pangbourne to win the JANE UK Trophy.

Not to be out done, the other half of the eight raced in the J16 Quads event and came up against a crew from Windsor Boys in the final. Both crews made a strong start and Windsor boys closed the stagger with the crews emerging level out of the bend. The tightly contested race saw both crews struggle to maintain their line once on the main straight. The Windsor crew clipped some bushes which gave the quad the momentum and they never looked back as they drew away to win the impressive Vulcan Challenge Shield.

On the Sunday the two fours combined to race in the Open Eights category in the morning and the J18 category in the afternoon over the 1000-meter course. In the final of Open Eights, the VIII faced a crew from Birmingham University. The crew made a strong start to pull out to a length lead. They held their nerve well to hold off a strong charge from Birmingham in the middle of the race before pulling away again in the closing stages to win the event.

In the final of J18 eights the crew faced Groton from the USA. The Boat Club were kindly hosted by Groton when over for the Head of the Charles in 2018 and Groton have come over for the Henley Royal Regatta this year. The J16’s put up a strong fight against Groton but had to settle for second by just over a length.

The three wins at the regatta provided a fantastic end to the season for the J16 VIII.

Athol Hundermark
Master I/C Rowing