21 March 2019
The Boat Club has had a strong head season in the Lent term. Most recently, the J15, J16 and Senior squads raced Hammersmith Head on the Tideway in London on 2 March. Times were tight across the board, with the 1st VIII finding themselves in a close 6th. The 2nd VIII also came away an encouraging 6th in their category, with the 3rd VIII 16th in Open VIIIs. The newly-formed J16 A and B crews came away 8th and 2nd, and both J15 crews came a creditable 5th in their respective events.
Unfortunately, the Boat Club was unable to defend its placings at Schools’ Head on 15 March, due to safety concerns for the boys on the water, and trailering of boats to/from the event. Given the speed of our crews leading up to the event, we were very much looking forward to seeing where each boat would place – but with a forecast wind of 22mph and extremely strong gusts, a difficult decision was taken to withdraw all of our crews from the race, during a week in which Boat Race fixtures had been cancelled, as well as the Women’s Head of the River.
The J14s had their first major race of the season, having started sculling in January. The As and Bs took to a mirror-flat Dorney Lake to race The Scullery, while the Cs and Ds went up river for some friendly match racing against Radley. At The Scullery, the As came 11th overall, with the Bs coming 23rd overall as the 3rd-fastest B crew. A great set of results for the newest athletes to our sport.
The Boat Club now looks ahead to the ever-anticipated and successful Easter camp, which sees 56 pupils and 7 coaches head to Bordeaux in southern France for 7 days.
