The rowers have been showing incredible commitment and hard work this season already; winning races and going to early morning training sessions, the rowing season has started with a bang. And on Saturday 12 November, the rowers carried on their winning streak, proving that they are a force to be reckoned with! Thank you to Mr David Currie, for providing the following report on the Fours Head and the Pangbourne Sculls events:
‘On Saturday 12 November the rowers raced at the Fours Head which is the first National Event of the season. The race is run on the Schools Head course in London, from Chiswick to Putney. Despite the damp weather, the river conditions were perfect for racing. We only sent three crews to the Fours Head with the rest of the Squad going to Pangbourne Head.
Shiplake College faired extremely well at the Fours Head, with the Quad Scull of Charlie Rollet-Manus, Henry Blois-Brooke, Seb Newman and Alastair Holbrough posting the fastest time from any school and finishing 18th out of all the crews racing, which included Olympians such as Will Satch. The quad narrowly missed out on winning the Junior Quad pennant by two seconds, to an impressive Leander Club Junior Crew which placed the second in their division. The Coxed Four, led by Jamie Pond, also had an outstanding race; Will Dolin, Christian Hjortland-Marks, Tom Scott and Fred Peck rowed their crew to an impressive third place in Junior Coxed Fours division. The Girls Quad of Olivia Lucas, Hannah Brown, Claudia Adams and Georgia-Mae Frye were set the goal of finishing in the top 10 out of 27 crews. They rowed a great race and finished in sixth place, which is a fantastic result for the girls and will be great motivation as the season progresses.
Further up the Thames, the rest of the Boat Club were competing at Beale Park for the Pangbourne Head. The results down river were not unrivalled by the results up river; the Coxed Four of Jamie Mottram, Marcus Colao, Austin Burnand and Oliver Newton, being coxed by Milo Macmillan, won the School Junior Coxed Fours. The J16 crew of Marcus Brown, Dom Brown, Morgan Taylor and Ethan Caldeira, being coxed by Jacob Kirby, finished third in the same division. A Junior 18 Quad of Jack Turnbull, Jack Peck, Benjamin Gruchow and Joe Zolkwer finished fourth and Sunny Pong, Henry Hancock, Fergus Howard-Jones and Brett Fullard finished seventh in their division of 10 crews, with Hampton taking the win. In the afternoon division small boats raced. In J18 Pairs Austin Burnand and Oliver Newton took the win, with the J16 pair of Dom Brown and Marcus Brown finishing an impressive second and Morgan Taylor and Ethan Caldeira finishing fifth out of the divison of eight crews.
All-in-all it was a very positive weekend of racing, which will definitely motivate the rowers going into the season ahead. Congratulations to all for the tremendous effort put in!’