It was a historic day for Shiplake College at National Schools’ Regatta 2025 where we became the first school to win both the Championship Boys' Eight and Championship Girls' Eight events. On a weekend with cancelled racing, a strong headwind, and a venue change, this year’s National Schools’ Regatta will be remembered at the college for years to come.
Four Shiplake boats medalled on Saturday with the pick of the bunch being the Ch 8+ crews. On the NSR livestream, the commentating team remarked that it was "a historic ten minutes for Shiplake College Boat Club". Roared on by their supporters, the girls' Eight – consisting of Ava Lowe, Freya Smith, Alice Knight, Annunciata Ings, Katie Proudlove, Eva Rootkin-Gray, Amelia Westbrook, Alice Dargue, and Charlotte Hodgkinson (cox) - crossed the line ahead of Headington School to spark scenes of jubilation in the boat and in the stands. Then, minutes later, the boys’ Eight – consisting of Ed Galer, Oliver Nash, Finlay Rhys-Jones, William Harper, Luca Hunt-Davis, Henry Day Clark, Joshua Barnes, Isaac Dean, and Ben Loggie (cox) - matched the girls to cross the line ahead of Radley College.
In both categories, Shiplake won both the time trial and the A-final in decisive fashion, triumphing by six seconds in both races. Despite coming into both races as underdogs having come second at School’s Head of the River in March, two breathtaking performances delivered the ultimate junior prizes which sets up a scintillating end of season where all eyes now turn to Henley Royal Regatta.
There was further success for our senior rowers earlier in the day with both the boys’ 2nd Eight and Girls’ Championship 4+ taking silver medals in their races. Running at one point 4th in their final, the boys – Will Tavinor, Zac Powell, Inigo Markham, Tomos Weighell, Otto Berg de Kerangal, Ben Schroeder, Oliver Bennett, Rupert Evans, and Charlie Watkins (cox) - found another gear to fend off Hampton School to take the silver medal. It was a similar story for the girls’ Ch 4+ who were also 4th at the start, but the crew – Abby Hutton, Tilly Foreman, Lucy Green, Florence Dallas, and Alexander Erb (cox) - rallied superbly to take the silver medal.
Racing on the same day as the senior pupils were our J16 A and B quads and our J15 eight. The A quad – Jack Terry, Charlie Scott, Will Nicholas, Z Young, and H Cookson (cox) - qualified for the A Final where they finished 5th, while the B quad – M Perry, Max Shevlane, H Howe-Davies, W Houldsworth, and Tom Cockings (cox) - finished 1st in their C Final. The J15 crew consisting of C Sookha Williams, Albert Lee, Barnaby Maskell, Luke Leamon, Harrison Webb, E Grubb, Oscar Spearing, Cameron McClure, and Paul Newton (cox) finished 2nd in their D final. The Ch 4x of Kai Critchley, Alex Butler, A Dodwell, and D Wilson finished 28th in their time trial.
Shiplake was also well represented on the Friday of NSR with three J14 octuples racing, in addition to a J15 quad. The C octuple finished 5th in their C Final, the B octuple won their B final, and the A octuple finished 5th in their B final which was a great effort by all considering that this would have been their first NSR competition. The J15 quad finished 3rd in their C final.
Speaking after NSR, Director of Rowing, Mr Dave Currie, said:
'It’s a fantastic achievement for Shiplake College to make National Schools’ Regatta history by winning both of the championship eight categories. This success results from immense ambition and relentless hard work from all the athletes and the coaching team. It’s incredibly rewarding to see Shiplake’s vision for rowing truly fulfilled.'
