On Saturday, our top Girls’ Eight, who were victors at the Marlow Schools’ Challenge at Marlow Town Regatta last weekend, competed at Henley Women’s Regatta.
Thirty four top junior Eights took part in the time trial to qualify for the sixteen places in the side by side racing. This was a big ask but the crew rose to the occasion and performed outstandingly to qualify for the side by side regatta, an achievement never achieved before by a GMS crew in this Blue Riband event.
Their first race was against Godolphin Latymer, a known top flight crew. Sadly, GMS had a poor start and let the opposition slip ahead. However, despite this they fought hard throughout and were closing the gap in the later stages of the race.
This performance bodes well for Henley Royal Regatta qualifiers coming up this Friday.
On Sunday, others from the squad competed at Thames Valley Park, a charming sprint regatta. In the morning division we had four Year 8 Quads racing and two Girls’ Doubles.
The boys having won at Marlow last weekend had a tough draw against Henley and Maidenhead and met an early exit.
On Sunday the Girls B Quad hoped to shine, they achieved a convincing win in the semi-final. However, despite the final being a close race, the GMS girls could not ‘bring the win home’.
Both the Year 9 Girls’ Double and the WJ18 Double won their semis, but again just missed out in the final.
This was a continuing theme in the afternoon division with both the Year 9 boys and girls progressing through to the final. In both cases this showed good progress from earlier events, and they are obviously getting faster through the season.
Along with the Year 9s, the WJ16 4+ and the J16 Double raced in the finals. It took till the end of the day for the Year 10 Boys’ Four to produce GMS’s first outright win. In a great final against Windsor Boys and Bedford School, the Four rowed with style and great power to beat this top-class opposition.
A great day with lots of sunshine and some good races won. All crews showing good progress.
