6 February 2020
The Boat Club had two events in the schedule last Saturday. The J15, J16 and senior squads went to race Wycliffe Big Boats Head in Gloucestershire, while the J14s welcomed their parents to the Boathouse for the annual J14 Tea Party.
Wycliffe is always a great event to attend – raced along the canals near the River Severn, the sheltered conditions provide very fast, fair racing. Three matched J15 crews were entered, and Mr Gray and Mr Price outdid themselves by picking crews that came 4th, 5th and 6th in their event, in front of a few and narrowly behind other already-selected A crews from other schools. An excellent start for their season, and very exciting to see the depth and numbers in their age group.
The J16s have had a solid start to their training this term and took one eight to Wycliffe to race, coming 4th out of the J16 crews that entered. They’ve made a very positive step on following their result at BASHER Head two weeks ago, and continue to make progress. The Senior squad sent two matched crews racing across two divisions in various combinations, and it’s safe to say that competition within the squad is still incredibly intense. Our boats finished narrowly apart, beating most other schools’ matched and 1st VIIIs, and only a little behind a couple of selected 1st VIIIs using the race for speed testing. No event wins, but valuable racing experience gained and the opportunity to push the bar at competition. A very positive weekend for all!
The J14 Tea Party is always a great opportunity for new rowing parents to meet each other, the Headmaster and the coaching staff. This year was particularly special, as it was also the official reveal and naming of the new, top J14 race boat ‘Apollo’ that the boys will use at the Scullery Head later this term. The boat was named ‘Apollo’ after the Greek God and because on the day it arrived at ASBC (31st January), this coincided with the successful landing of the first unmanned craft on the moon. The name was chosen by the third year boys.
Once again, the FASBC parents put on a fantastic afternoon for all, and it was excellent to see so many new rowing parents of the 40-strong J14 squad at the boathouse together.
