The first of the National Regattas was held this weekend at the National Water Sports Centre NWSC, in Nottingham. Great Marlow took four crews as part of the selected team for the new Thames Upriver East region. The Year 11 boys were doubling up in the Fours event and as half of the Eight.
The conditions were beautiful with bright sunshine and a wonderfully calm day, which for veterans of NWSC was a pleasant change. All events started with a time trial and based on results crews are put into final side by side races, with the top six being in the “A” Final for the medals; then B, C finals etc.
The Year 11 Four, namely Dima Polino, Luke Quann, Ralph Hill, Jamie Watson and cox Theo Harper won their time trial and so went into the final with high hopes. The old region we rowed for was Thames Upriver but because we were so dominant, it was decided to break us into three separate regions: Thames Upriver West, Thames Upriver Central and Thames Upriver East. So in the final was Abingdon School, representing Thames Upriver West, Shiplake College representing Thames Upriver Central and Great Marlow representing Thames Upriver East: these were the fastest three qualifying crews.
Abingdon in lane 3, took off at a flying pace at a very well drilled high rate pace and were half length ahead very quickly. GMS and Shiplake were neck and neck through 500m. After that the Great Marlow crew pushed hard. In the middle 500m they seemed to be challenging Abingdon, certainly moving slightly ahead of Shiplake. The Abingdon crew responded and re-established a three quarter length advantage. While all three crews were moving ahead of the rest of the field, the order looked pretty stable: Abingdon leading, GMS next and Shiplake close behind. With 250m to go, it looked very much as though Abingdon had the Gold, but GMS in Silver were definitely under pressure from Shiplake. Sadly, despite a very determined push from GMS, a last-minute crab in the dying phases allowed Shiplake to slip ahead. So the Bronze medal for GMS. This was a great race and the crew, after initial disappointment, were justifiably proud of a great performance. Abingdon and Shiplake have won the prestigious Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, Shiplake as recently as last year.
Our other crew to make an A final was the Boys’ Eight. However the Fours final had definitely taken much energy so they had to be content with 5th, beating Reading Blue Coats.
The Year 10 Girls Four of Rugile Banuilaityte, Edee Somers , Lily Powel, Olivia Griffiths and cox Lily Nickless were in the B final. they began with a flying start, only to have to go back for a restart due to a crash between two other crews. Second time around they were not so smooth and were in 4th place at 500m gone. The middle 500m was solid and they had moved into 3rd position. The last 500m saw a very determined push from the girls and they were closing on the leaders the whole time. While the margins were getting closer and closer the whole time the order didn’t change. This was a hugely spirited race from this young crew.
Possibly, the race of the day from a GMS perspective was from Georgina Greening in her single. Not having raced much in a single, Georgina was slightly cautious at the start and found herself in 4th position at 500m gone. Nothing daunted her, however, she pushed through the middle 500m and overhauled the next two scullers; she was moving well and powerfully. Coming into the last 500m she was in second place some 4.4 seconds behind first. A considerable margin and while moving well it seemed too much to expect. However, Georgina was clearly in the zone and just kept eating up that margin. With 80m to go she hit the front and won her final by over a second. A truly determined, remarkable performance.
On Sunday Connor Quann took part in the GB trials regatta, with his pairs partner from Kew House. They had a good Time Trial for a scratch crew, being the fastest of the three Kew House pairs competing. They came second in their semi final, to progress to the E final. The final was a tough line up with two St Pauls’ Crews in the mix but Connor and his crew mate raced well.
This was definitely a great day at the races.
