Regatta Season in Full Flow

This weekend saw GMSBC competing at three separate regattas, all with great success.

Henley Women’s Regatta

GMS’s top Girls’ Quad entered the J18 quads event, which is the most competitive event for Juniors at this regatta and one that the school has never qualified for before. The girls had a time trial at 8:00 in the morning to gain qualification for the regatta proper and were delighted when the successful crews were published: they were through to race against  Tideway Scullers in the afternoon. Tideway was tough opposition and our girls put on a good performance, but could not quite match this London club. Tideway went on to make it all the way to the final.

A really impressive result for this young crew and looks good for them to qualify for Henley Royal at the end of this week.

Marlow at Dorney

The top Boys’ Quad, meanwhile, was competing at Dorney at the major regatta before Henley. This is where the Henley stewards often fine-tune the list of crews that prequalify for Henley Royal Regatta (HRR). This crew has been changed since National School Regatta (NSR) and is now virtually a Year 11 boat.

In their time trial, the Quad put down a solid result, being marginally faster than the performance at National School and won a place ranked in the middle of the B final. Come the side-by-side race, the boys had a fast start and lead from the beginning. With a push near halfway they opened up a half-length lead on the nearest placed Pangbourne and moved to open water on Shiplake and Trentham. Over the last 500m, the Pangbourne crew put in a spirited charge and closed the gap but the GMS crew had sufficient to come home in front. A great race and 9^th overall putting them firmly among those crews to pre-qualify for Henley Royal next week.

Thames Valley Park (TVP)

On Sunday, many rowers went to  TVP. A charming riverside regatta with up to three rounds of racing to make the final. It is a short 500m sprint and as such can produce upsets.

Our Year 8s were given another chance to compete and the girls’ crews performed well; they made it down the course in style and beat one of their opponents.

Sadly, the boys who had done so well in the Octo at Marlow last weekend had a frustrating equipment failure and could not race in their final.

The Year 9 boys had a good first race progressing to the semi-finals, but could not quite match the Henley crew in the next round.

The Girls’ Quad won their semi against one Henley crew and was lined up for the final against another Henley crew and a Kingston rowing club crew. Henley who have beaten them continuously this year eventually succumbed, but sadly for our girls a new rival in the form of Kingston just pipped them to take the overall win.

A highlight, however, was Bea Spence in the Year 9 Single Sculls where she dominated her semi-final. Sculling well and aggressively in the final she was just over a length down with 80m to go. Pushing hard she closed the gap, but then caught a crab and spectators worried whether she would stay upright. Bea handled it well and was back at full tilt in moments, but this had distracted the coaches, for the leader suddenly appeared upside down and going nowhere. With a huge grin across her face, Bea powered on to take victory.

The two older Doubles crew both put in good performances but the boys could not quite repeat their victory of last week and lost in the final. However, Sophie Wharfe and Abi Forgenie had a great performance and won their event. A really good result.

Well done to all our crews and to all the coaches who support, encourage and teach our students how to better their performances.