5 June 2018
The Boat Club had a successful 3-days’ racing at this year’s National Schools' Regatta which brings together all the top Junior crews in the UK. Starting off with the J14s on the Friday, ASBC boated 4 crews in the J14 8x+ category. After good placing in the time trials, the As came 6th, the Bs 5th, with the Cs and Ds coming 13th and 25th respectively in the ‘B’ event. An excellent performance from the boys in their first Nationals.
The Saturday saw the J15s, J16s and seniors all racing. After the initial time trial with 5 crews within 0.5 second of each other, the 1st VIII found themselves in a tough semi final on Championship 8s, but still came away with the win in the B final, finishing 9th overall. The 2nd VIII came 7th in their event, improving on their 8th position from Schools’ Head back in March.
The J16s also had a successful regatta from both the boats. The As had an extremely hard-fought final, rowing a very gutsy race to come away with a fantastic bronze medal. The Bs also raced extremely well against tough competition, and finished in 4th place in the ‘B’ event.
It’s great to see the depth of ASBC developing in the younger years especially, and this was very apparent in the J15 squad. The As raced superbly through the time trials and semi finals to finish 4th in the A final. The Bs came away with a storming silver medal in the B event with an inspired row in the final, with the C crew 18th in the ‘B’ event, and the 4th placed C boat.
On the Sunday, the seniors and J16s moved into smaller boats, with the 1st VIII contesting in Championship 4+ and 4- events, and the J16s racing in J16 4-. The Champ 4+ rowed out of their skins to finish a very tight 6th in the A final. The Champ 4- finished 5th in the B final, and the J16 4- finished 2nd in the B final, amidst tough competition.
A great National Schools' Regatta by all the age groups. Well done to all the boys.