Medal Bonanza for Great Marlow Rowers

Mr Murison writes about the fabulous haul of medals earned by GMS rowers. After all their commitment to training and dedication to the sport, this past week has made the effort incredibly worthwhile. “It has been an exciting few days for GMSBC because on Saturday we took almost the whole squad,  Year 8 upwards to Bath to compete at the Avon Spring Head. It was a breezy, bright day with good racing conditions and turned out to be a glorious first event for all our Year 8 and 9 rowers. We had 17 crews racing over 4 divisions, which produced some really great performances.

There was a large competitive field with numerous universities, private schools, including Winchester, Pangbourne and Cheltenham as well as a number of major clubs.

In the first division from Year 8, we had two Girls’ Quads and a Boys’ Quad, along with a Year 10 Boys’ Quad. The top girls’ crew came third; and both boys’ crews won their event, which is a fantastic start to their racing season.

In the next division, our senior boys picked up two medals in the Coxless Quads and the Double Sculls.

The third division saw our Year 9 crews competing in good-sized fields and looking very dominant as they came down the track. Both the boys and the girls won their events and looked extremely accomplished during their races.

Also, in this third division, was a Year 10 Girls’ Double of Jess Rhodes and Emilia Deering who won, beating their nearest rival by a mighty 40 seconds.

In the final race, our Boys’ Eight went off at the head of the pack and had a great row looking very impressive as they came down the final straight with no other crews in sight having left them behind.

The Girls’ Senior Quad and one of our WJ16 Quads won their events and a top Year 10 Boys’ Coxed Quad destroyed all their opponents and won not only their age group event but the open category as well.

It was a really memorable day with so many excited rowers and their families. 10 medals across every year group and the pairs of siblings with medals for each, Eldridge, Wharfe and Quin. Full crew lists are below.

As a short footnote, Anna Bradley, who was competing for Bath University won in her single scull.”

 

National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships (NJIRC)

Mr Murison writes, “Ahead of Saturday’s excitement, we had a number of students competing in the NJIRCs , mainly across KS3. The event was held virtually with rowers submitting their scores throughout last week.

The relaxed low-cost format of the event attracted massive participation with thousands in each age group.

We had a number of athletes in the top 50 of their event, which is a very strong performance. These were in Year 7  Erin Ford and Sophia Mills-Miguel; Year 8 Ernie Stevens (6^th) Ben Symon, Tom Wharfe and Lucy Platt; in Year 9 Elise Whyte, Connor Quaan, Can Gucumengil and Will Allen.

“It is rare that a National Gold Medal is not the highlight of our week, now to that National Gold Medal.

On Friday at 7:15 we entered two relay teams for the NJIRC.

The girls were Emily Downing, Amelia Eldridge, Erin Huddleston and Charlotte Greening.

The boys were Tom Wiles, Noah Grottrupp, James Robson and Sal Dunn.

Both crews put in a very slick performance with fast handovers and high intensity sprints. The girls took Gold and the boys took Silver in their respective events. The Junior Boys, namely Connor Quaan, Can Gucumengil, Ernie Stevens and Will Allen also took the Silver medal.”

Winning Crews

J18 4x Henry Gavin, James Robson, Aidan Kelly, Freddie Grant

WJ18 4x Maddie Jones, Erin Huddleston, Amelia Eldridge, Emily Downing

J17 2x Tom Wiles , Noah Grottrup

WJ16 4x Hannah Angelides Christina Baxter, Charlotte Greening, Sophie Wharfe

J15 4x+ Rafael Quin, Leo Chapman, Lucas Wolvers-Gray, Sam Terret Imogen Holder

J15 4x+ ( short) George Spencer, Monty Todd, Billy Davidson, Adam Thorkilsden, Alex Bickford

WJ15 2x Emilia Deering, Jess Rhodes

WJ14 4x+ Elise Whyte, Natalie Quinn, Chloe Shepard, Chloe Wilson, Charlotte Tedder

J144x+  Connor Quaan, Will Allen, Alexander Eldridge, Haashim Ahmed, Luke Reynolds

J13 4x+ Ernie Stevens, Tom Wharfe, Archie Gentry, Ben Symon Jackson Walker

Huge congratulations to everyone in the rowing contingent at GMS, the students, their coaches and all the parents and carers who support with such enthusiasm.