The Abingdonian 2019

50 The Abingdonian Rowing From the still winter mornings to the golden-lit open skies of summer evenings, the location of the school’s boathouse is always a source of natural beauty. Getting ready to disturb the stillness of another day’s flat water are the throngs of rowers that pass through its doors daily. This hive of activity - whether it is J14s learning to row, or Senior rowers preparing their crews for an upcoming race – stems from the ever-present atmosphere of thriving interest and intrigue, in a sport where the boys must learn to master ‘the art of going forwards, backwards’. As the weeks and months of the season progress, the boys develop into skillful athletes as they hone their craft and develop the cohesion of their crews. A key part of this is the training camp over the Easter break out in Temple-sur-Lot, France – a beautiful location in the southern French countryside – which allows the boys to experience, train and progress on international waters, with a good balance of work to boot. As this year’s camp neared its end, it was time for each crew to take to the water in competition with the rest of the Boat Club, with a side-by-side race between the 1st VIII, 2nd VIII, J16s and J15s. It’s always a great spectacle to have between six and eight crews barreling down the stretch of water, seeing which crew can finish first after a staggered start. As the Summer Term began, the boys set their sights high: on success at a national level. The newest and youngest athletes of the Boat Club absolutely took this to heart, and the J14 squad attacked the National Schools’ Regatta with the fearlessness and raw determination of first-time racers. In some tough racing, the A crew finished in the top 12 in the country, while the Bs came away with a much-deserved bronze medal – a fantastic way to begin their rowing careers at their first regatta, and hopefully the first of many to come. The C and D crews also raced to an impressively high standard, beating a good handful of B and C crews in the process. For the J15 rowers, this was their first foray into sweep rowing, which strangely is sometimes no easier to master than the two blades of sculling. Developing their proficiency in smaller boats helped them take responsibility for their movements, allowing them to master the direction of one oar more specifically, catching the water like the flick of a fishing rod (of which there are a number that