Shiplake’s rowers took home 26 medals between them from the National Schools’ Regatta at the weekend, winning the Championship Girls’ Quad, the 2nd Girls’ Quad and J16 Eight events and taking silver in the Boys’ 2nd Eight. The Championship Boys’ Eight qualified for the A Final and Charlie Crisp came third in the B Final of the Championship Sculls Cup.
Director of Rowing, Mr Dave Currie, said of the weekend: “It's an absolute pleasure to see all the hard work and months of training at school and in lockdown coming to fruition. We had no idea of our standard going into the Championship Regatta but knew we had left no stone unturned in our preparations. The results from this regatta prove in no uncertain terms Shiplake College is one, if not the, very best coeducational rowing school in the country. This has only been achievable by having an incredible coaching team and full support from Shiplake College's teachers, support staff, Headmaster and governors. It is great to repay their support with some success to be proud of.”
Day 1 of the regatta started with the time trials for each of the crews, with the 6 fastest crews progressing to the A Final (or 8 fastest in the Championship Eight event). First up was the Boys’ 2nd Eight in the Elsenham Cup and they posted a time only one hundredth of a second slower than Eton College in first place. The Girls’ 2nd Quad were next and they posted the fastest time in the Wimbledon Centenary Cup by 8 seconds. The Girls’ Championship Quad were also first in their Sherriff Cup time trial by 1 second - this was the first year that Shiplake had entered girls’ quads into the regatta and things had started very well indeed. Charlie Crisp came 7th out of 23 competitors in the Championship Sculls Cup time trial, missing out on a place in the A Final by just one second. The Championship Boys’ Eight needed to post a decent time for their time trial and secured 6th place to proceed to the A Final amongst some big name rowing schools.
The 2nd Eight consisted of Sam Pogmore, Kurt Forberger, Sam Waller, Toby Rackett, Rocco Pritchard, Dylan Hillier, Felix Arkle, and Adam Hunt, with Christa Scott as cox. 500m into the A Final, Eton were half a length up on Shiplake and the rest of the field and continued to pull away to secure the win. At the halfway mark, however, Shiplake was tussling with Dulwich College for second place and the bow ball of Dulwich’s boat got in front of Shiplake’s bow ball for a short time. Shiplake dug deep and it was only in the last 300m of the race that Shiplake’s charge paid off to secure the silver position.
2nd Eight coach Mr Chris Lee said: “The crew showed resilience and adaptability during a turbulent build up to the regatta. 24hrs is a long time in the life of the 2nd VIII! Consequently, it was no surprise to see their battling qualities come to the fore in the latter stages of their final. And whilst it can be unfair to single out individuals after such an impressive, collective, effort, I’d like to give a special mention here for the leadership shown by Christa Scott and Adam Hunt. Furthermore, I know that the crew owe a debt of gratitude to Gus Elliot and Billy Fundell for keeping the boat running when we needed them. Thanks also to Mr Mackworth-Praed, Mr Currie and Mr Morgan: it’s hard not to make boats go fast under their tutelage!”
For the A Final of the Girls’ 2nd Quad, coached by Dr Gemma Prata, the Shiplake girls, consisting of Casey-Jane Green, Scarlett Maleham, Megan Hadfield and Ellie Webb, took off like a rocket and by 500m into the race Shiplake were leading the field by a length and a half. They settled down to a nice rhythm and continued to extend a substantial lead, going across the finish line 16 seconds before Headington School in second place.
The Girls’ Championship Quad had a slower start to their A Final and were sitting in fourth place at the 500m mark, with Wallingford School a full length ahead of the rest of the field at this point. At the halfway mark Shiplake had nudged ahead of the other crews and started a charge on the Wallingford boat, closing the gap to half a length. The crew, made up of Mia Vickerman, Nicole Dunn, Izzy Blake Hurworth and Merry Oakes, stuck to their race plan and reeled in the leading crews, pushing into first place soon after. They were then under pressure to maintain the lead with Marlow Rowing Club and Headington School not more than a few seconds behind. As they approached the finish line, Marlow put in a charge but the Shiplake girls held them off and they won by 0.6 of a second.
Head of Girls’ Rowing, Mr Dan Safdari, said: “It has been a challenging year for all the athletes but the girls proved on Saturday that with hard work, commitment, and determination, anything is possible. The pandemic has meant that there have been no events for 16 months, so going into the Regatta we weren’t sure of our speed. However, both the first and second quad won their respective time trials which then put the pressure on for the A finals. They raced with a great level of maturity and I could not be prouder of the squad and what they have achieved.”
The Boys’ Championship 1st Eight included Lucas Morgan, Matt Johnston, Dan Hallsworth, Jake Birch, Angus Wood, Ed Tayler, Ed Dallas, Danny Mulligan and cox Wallace Fisher. Qualifying for the A Final of the Queen Mother Cup meant they were racing against the likes of Eton, St Paul’s, Westminster and Abingdon and the time trial results indicated it would be a close race. Eton took an early lead but the rest of the crews battled it out and whilst Shiplake finished in 8th position there were only five seconds between them and silver.
Whilst the event was held behind closed doors, preventing spectators from watching at Eton Dorney itself, parents, Old Vikings, staff and pupils were glued to their screens watching the races on YouTube from their homes. We were delighted to hear the familiar sound of former Shiplake Headmaster, Gregg Davies, who has maintained his interest and links with rowing and was part of the National Schools' Regatta commentary team. Thank you also to Mr Keith Settle for being part of the umpire team and helping ensure the races all ran to time.
The J16 Eight was the only crew competing on Day 2 of the regatta. Representing Shiplake were Louis Swinburne-Johnson, Tom Madden, Harrison Harper, Ed Humphris, Fred Fox, Freddie Middleton, Ned Floyd, Luke Byca and Charlie Keena (cox). J16 coach, Mr Currie, said: “The Year 11s have been committed to rowing throughout the entire pandemic which is an achievement in itself. Missing out on their entire J15 season they managed to keep focussed and enjoy their rowing regardless of the lack of competition and endless ‘training sessions’. NSR 2021 was only their 3rd regatta they had competed in which is remarkable, their last NSR was J14 where 5 of the 8 came away with a silver medal, missing out on gold to a Radley crew. In their time trial they finished a close second to their old rivals from Radley by 0.9 seconds and progressed to the final.
“In the final, Radley and Shrewsbury took on an early lead leaving Shiplake in 3rd place at half way by 3 seconds with a lot of work to do. The crew stuck to their race plan to push hard through the middle and hold good boat speed. In the last 1,000m the tide started to turn and the leading crews were being reeled in by the Shiplake crew. Coming into the last 500m the crew could see they were moving through the field and pushed through to take the lead and mounted a final sprint to push them clear of their competitors, taking the gold medal by 1.9 seconds over Shrewsbury School and Radley College finishing 3rd. An incredibly mature performance from the crew paid dividends. The future of Shiplake Rowing looks to be in safe hands.”
Flickr album: National Schools' Regatta 2021 |
Height: auto |
Theme: Default | Skin: Default Skin
