14 May 2011
The Boat Club took a full fleet to race at today’s Bedford Regatta. Ten crews were entered into various events to provide plenty of race experience in the lead up to National Schools taking place from the 27th to 29th May.
The J14’s had an early start to the day with a 6am departure. Racing in octuples the J14A and B crews progressed through their first races with wins over Latymer Upper School and Radley respectively before losing to KCS Wimbledon and Bedford School in the second round. The J14C’s lost to Shiplake's B’s to move into the plate event where they beat Radley and Bedford to put themselves into a final against KCS Wimbledon’s B’s where they raced well only losing by ¾ of a length.
The J15’s had three eights entered into the eights and fours events on offer. The J15C’s came up against Radley’s J15B’s in the first round and despite a valiant effort came off second best in the first round. The J15A’s had a excellent race to beat Radley’s A’s by ½ a length and turn over the result from the previous week at BASHER. In the final they came up against Bedford Modern School who took full advantage of racing on their home water to win by a length. This will undoubtedly provide valuable experience for the boys. The J15B Eight also progressed to the final of their event where they lost to Radley’s B’s by ¾ of a length.
The J16B’s raced in novice eights and lost by 1¾ lengths to Queens' College Cambridge in the first round relegating them into the plate event. Their next race was a tight-fought affair against City of Cambridge that came down to the last few strokes where the Cambridge crew nudged ahead of the J16B’s by a canvas on the line. The J16A’s also raced in the Novice event and came away victors out of the eighteen crews entered. They saw off Magdalen College, Radley College and Bedford Modern on their way to claim the silverware. In the final of J16A’s the crew were disappointed to lose by a ¼ of a length to Radley and will be keen to turn the result around at National Schools.
The 2nd Eight had plenty of racing in the IM3 Eights and 2nd Eight events. The crew raced strongly through the rounds in both divisions seeing off challenges from Christs College, Queens' College, University of East Anglia and Kingston Grammar School to reach the finals. The Radley Abingdon theme continued with the crew meeting the Radley 2nd Eight in the final of both events. The spoils went to Radley in the 2nd Eight event before the crews headed up to the final in the last race of the day for the IM3 final. The 2nd Eight were grateful to have Daniel Boddington (OA) racing for them in the IM3 division filling in for injured Alex Fisher. The crew needed no motivation following their earlier defeat and rowed strongly from start to finish to secure a well deserved win.
The 1st Eight were not to be outdone and also got in on the silverware with a strong showing in both Elite and J18 Eights events. The crew saw off challenges from both Bedford Modern School in the Elite eights final and Radley in the J18 final to maintain their impressive record this year. It is the first time that the 1st Eight have competed at the same event as the J14’s for many years and their performances will hopefully inspire the future 1st Eight to follow in their footsteps.
A full schedule of results can be found at http://www.bedfordregatta.co.uk/.
