The Boat Club have been braving the weather and getting rowers back on the water, entering many events in the run up to Christmas. The rain and biting wind has done little to deter the crews from training hard and taking on some races. The experience of racing is also helpful as the teams prepare for regattas come the Summer term; no time is too early to start practising for these prestigious races! Half of the Senior quad raced the Fours Head of the River in London, whilst the other half stayed closer to home to race the Pangbourne Head. The conditions reminded everyone that Autumn has most definitely set in, with extremely strong winds. Although many had speculated that the race would be cancelled, the wind was blowing with the current which made for difficult but manageable conditions.
The first race to be undertaken was the Fours Head. Taking place on the tideway, the race from Chiswick Bridge to Putney embankment plays host not only to the best club and university rowers in the country but also current Olympians! This is one of the few domestic events that the Great Britain Rowing Team get released to their rowing clubs to participate alongside national rowers, making for an exciting experience for all involved! After some successful sculling results at the Pairs Head in October, it was decided that the two doubles would join to create a quad for this event. The quad of Charles Rollet-Manus, Will Carey, Seb Newman and Ollie Gerrard had a difficult time in the conditions but handled themselves well, producing a fantastic result. The crew finished in 28th place out of 371; many of the top places were occupied by Olympic rowers. The crew was the 4th fastest Junior crew, being beaten only by pure sculling schools. The Junior coxed four of Tim Waller, Christian Hjortland-Marks, Henry Blois-Brooke and Tom Scott and cox Jamie Pond were selected after successful results in pairs at the Pairs Head. Impressing onlookers, the crew finished 3rd of 20 in Junior coxed fours, losing out to St Pauls and Hampton.
Girls rowing has been going from strength to strength, and two competitive boats took part in the race. The quad of Lucy Walker, Orla Brown, Madeline McNerney and Claudia Adams finished in 13th position from 34 crews. The coxed four of Olivia Lucas, Charlie Scales, Alina Budden and Maisie Webb, being coxed by Orla Brown showed that they were a force to be reckoned with, despite not having done much sweep oar rowing this term, placing 9th out of 16 crews.
50 miles down the M4 conditions were much the same; with nowhere to shelter other than the school minibus things were a little damp! Nonetheless, the rowers competed to their highest standard. The quad of Alex Grey, Matt Brown, Josh Cuffe and Henry Edwards raced, finishing 9th. The coxed four of William Dolin, Marcus Colao, Ben Pogmore, Alfie Sheppard and cox Milo Macmillan put together an impressive race, finishing 3rd behind strong crews from Winchester and St Edwards. The double scull of James Love and Andy Turnill finished 5th of 11 crews. Afternoon singles and coxless pairs racing ensued; James Love finished 5th and Matt Godwin 13th of 15 Junior single sculls. Matt Brown finished 2nd and Josh Cuff 8th of nine J18B single sculls. William Dolin and Ben Pogmore finished 6th, Andy Turnill and Marcus Colao 7th and Austin Burnand and Matthew Aldridge 8th of 10 coxless pairs. Director of Rowing Mr David Currie commented that ‘the whole club had some great racing experience, and now the focus is on the bigger boats in the lead up to the Wallingford Head at the end of the month.’
