On Saturday 6 May, crews from the Shiplake College Boat Club headed up to Bedford, in order to take part in the countrywide regatta. A popular event, the regatta is one of few traditional river regattas in the calendar, and crews from across the years at Shiplake took part. J14A rowers were also racing on Saturday, against local rival Reading Blue Coat School. Director of Rowing Mr David Currie provides the following report on a successful weekend of racing.
‘The Bedford Regatta is a side-by-side match race between two crews, held on the Great Ouse river, which runs through Bedford. The course is on a bend, which means that there are added difficulties for the rowers – such as racing around the bend, and coping with the start line being on a stagger to allow for the inside crews on the bend having an advantage. The crews who raced at this regatta were the 2nd VIII, J16 VIII, J15 VIII and the girls’ quad. Our crews had at least four races throughout the day, gaining much valuable race experience.
The girls’ quad were Shiplake’s most successful crew of the day, winning both of their events – the Junior Women’s Coxless Quad, and the Women’s Coxed Quad. Jacob Kirby lent his expertise as a cox, taking on the position at the last minute for the girls, and, in doing so, winning his first ever race! The 2nd VIII maintain their unbeaten record in the 2nd VIII event, by beating Abingdon School in the final with ease. The J16s came up against tough opposition from Radley School and were eventually knocked out by Radley’s 2nd VIII, and then by their J16 VIII in the final of different events. Despite the result, the boys have good racing experience. The J15s also had a good day racing, and found themselves up against some tough opposition. They were eventually knocked out of the running by Hampton School in the final.
Bedford Regatta is always a long day, with crews leaving the school at 6.30am and not returning home until 9.30pm. However, the time and effort is worth it for the experience gained. Headmaster Mr Gregg Davies commented: ‘these are the best results from a girls’ crew ever, in the history of Shiplake College. I am exceptionally proud of them, and their new coach Mr Charlie Jenkins, who has been with us since January.’’
J14 coach Mr Tom Crisford provides the following report from the races against Reading Blue Coat:
‘After a number of hard training sessions, the J14A 8x was eager to go and race local rivals at Blue Coat. The first race, over approximately 800m, was won by Shiplake with a convincing margin. The second race was much closer off the start, but just as the Shiplake boat began to move away, disaster struck – a blade snapped. This resulted in the final, shorter race being rowed with seven Shiplake men. However, with a tremendous amount of determination Shiplake won the final race. Although the crew was slightly frustrated, they are all feeling optimistic, as we start the final countdown to National Schools’ Regatta. The J14B 8x had an extremely productive racing programme against Blue Coat, winning all three races they had against their opposition, with a convincing margin in all of them. The crew is really starting to show the form needed just at the right time, and under the watchful eye of their very experienced Octo specialist coach Barry Bathe-Taylor they could be another Shiplake crew to watch out for in the coming weeks.’