14 July 2011
Abingdon School Boat Club represented Great Britain for a second time this year at the ‘GB vs France Match’, which is a longstanding race against the French rowing team. The match took place on Sunday 10th July 2011 and saw Abingdon’s J16 (A team) coxed four win the race with a thrilling 5 second lead ahead of the competition.
Abingdon had entered two Junior 16 coxed fours to trial for the Great Britain Junior 16 team and represent their country in the GB vs France Match. The A four of Max Brittan, Tom Browne, Mathew Carter, Kristian Wood and Joel Cooper won the trial beating the National Schools Champions and immediately gained selection to row for Great Britain.
The B four of Ian Middleton, Rory Brampton, Will Horlock, Russell Orr Burns and Edward McLaughlin were a little bit off the pace in their first race so qualified to race again to try and make up half of the eight. Unfortunately they were unable to hold off strong performances from other schools ‘A’ fours and did not qualify.
The GB vs France Match is held in France or Great Britain on alternate years. This year, the event was held in London at the Royal Albert Docks. The team moved to the racing venue on Thursday 7th July for a pre-race training camp in preparation for the race. The preparations went well with our boys enjoying being part of the Great Britain Rowing Team and being great ambassadors for Abingdon School. On race day the boys were extremely focused, professional and above all else, calm. The French opposition looked to be a strong boat in training, with rowers that equalled the size of the Abingdon boys so we knew we were going to be in for a tough race. Off the start the two boats were neck and neck with the British boat maybe having the upper hand by about two feet for the first 500m. Coming through 750m the Abingdon boys made a big push pulling in front of the French slightly. Moving into the final 500m the British boat stamped its dominance on the French breaking clear and the Abingdon 4+ won their first International competition racing for Great Britain in style. This win enabled the team to win the Boys Team trophy and added to help Great Britain retain the Overall Team Trophy.
After the event both teams took part in some fun Dragon Boat racing to end the day. A party then followed with a banquet and a riverboat cruise down the Thames through London.
One of the highlights of the day other than winning must be when one of our very supportive parents overheard another parent explaining…”that four is from Abingdon, the best rowing school in the country”… enough said!
Also this weekend, 6 of our First eight were successful at the GB Junior trials. John Carter, Vassilis Ragoussis, Jamie Copus and Felix Newman have won places in the Great Britain World Championship team being held from 4th - 7th August at Dorney Lake. Will Davey and Neil Mckenzie have been selected to race for Great Britain in the Coupe de la Jeunesse, also known as the Junior European Rowing Championships being held 29th - 30th July in Linz, Austria. Abingdon School Boat Club wishes these boys all the best in their International representation.
