Rowing Report

It has been a busy fortnight for the Boat Club. A week ago, our younger crews competed at Marlow Town Regatta, where several finals were reached and a win recorded, in women’s Under 14 quads, our top boys’ quad losing the final to Radley by just a canvas. At Reading Amateur, the Senior girls’ quad beat a Henley Rowing Club crew, only to lose to another Henley crew in the semi-final, who went on to be convincing winners. The boys’ development eight won three races to reach the final of Intermediate 3 eights, were they were outgunned by Groton School, USA. However, the following day, while Groton went on to win Intermediate 2 eights, Pangbourne won a further three races to win Intermediate 3 eights, beating Bedford School in the final. Rory Harris won both Senior and School Junior single sculls to move his status just one point short of Elite, the highest possible.

This weekend, three girls’ crews raced at Henley Women’s Regatta. A development combined Lower Sixth and Form Five four did well in their Under 18 four time trial but did not qualify for the side-by-side racing and neither did our Under 16 four in their time trial, but only narrowly missing out. However, the Senior girls’ quad did qualify and in their heat were involved in the closest race of the day, losing by just 3 feet to a Henley Rowing Club crew, having led them off the start but being almost a length down half-way through the race. The nature of their spirited, narrow loss should give them heart going into the Henley Royal regatta qualifiers on Friday, as it is over a considerably longer course. Also, as a result of the large entry for their event, the Henley Stewards have doubled the number of places in their event from 8 to 16. This gives the girls’ prospects a major boost but they still have to finish in the top seven of thirty seven crews in the time trial.

At Marlow, for their final regatta of the season, the top two boys’ Under 14 quads combined to race in an octuple and take on the big schools at Marlow Regatta. They raced well in their time trial to reach the A Final, where, although they lost to the likes of Radley, St Paul’s and Abingdon, they beat Westminster, one of the current powerhouses of schoolboy rowing and sculling. With Rory now joining the boys’ eight for the first time, the crew did well at Marlow Regatta to be placed half-way in a field of over thirty crews in the time trial for Intermediate 2 eights. This ranked them third of the crews in the C Final, which they duly won, beating three crews that have avoided the qualifiers for Henley but our strengthened eight still not doing enough in the Stewards’ eyes to avoid the time trial themselves. As a result, Rory will be racing twice over the Henley course this coming Friday, there being a record entry of 41 for the Diamond Challenge Sculls, compared to a normal figure of about 17. With thirteen international scullers, including reigning Olympic champion, Mahé Drysdale, given direct entry, Rory faces a time trial comprising 28 scullers with just 3 to qualify. Whatever the outcome, he has the distinction of being the only schoolboy in the event.

Finally, at Thames Valley Park regatta yesterday, crews from our Under 14 and 15 girls’ and Under 15 boys’ squads raced well but did not return with any silverware. Girls’ Under 15 and Under 16 fours were third in their finals, a girls’ Under 14 quad lost to the eventual winners in the semi-final, and a boys’ Under 15 quad came closest, finishing second in the final by just half a length in a very tight race between three good crews.