On Saturday 7th February, GMSBC rowed in Gloucestershire at The Wycliffe Big Head, which is an annual favourite. It is a long race that takes place on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, as it is a canal, the event usually takes place even in times of flood elsewhere.
As a result, there is always a strong field including rowing heavyweights like Radley, Shiplake and Shrewsbury as well as local rivals Marlow RC and Henley RC.
The weather was not kind to the rowers. Each division took over three hours to complete by the time they had rowed 6 km up to the start, marshalled, then raced back, all the time the rain fell heavily.
Despite the adverse conditions the GMS crews returned buoyant for being on the water and pleased to have raced well.
In Division 1 the three Year 11 crews raced. The top Boys’ Quad of Dima Polino, Ralph Hill, Luke Quann and Ethan Taylor won their event despite clipping the bushes during the race.
A very encouraging “B” Quad earned third place, over 2 minutes ahead of the Marlow RC A boat.
The girls comfortably beat the Marlow A and B boats.
In the afternoon, the Year 9s rowed. Both boys and girls were racing in Octos. The girls, unfortunately, had to race in the boys’ event so they were up against the odds. Despite not being in a girls’ category, being soaked to the skin and very cold they were hugely excited to have raced so well as to have earned 2nd place behind the GMS boys and 5 seconds ahead of those in third place, Haberdasher’s Monmouth.
The Year 10 crews both had good rows with the Boys’ Quad coming 3rd behind Henley and Wallingford. A result they will be looking to reverse come the nationals in March.
The girls won the Fours event and beat over half of the Year 10 Girls’ Quads, who had the advantage of being in a faster boat class.
Finally, at the back of the Division came our top Boys’ Four, who dominated their event with a comfortable winning margin.
GMSBC collected five pennants and came third in two other events so a very wet but very successful outing.
The rowers, their parents and carers coped with the conditions with grit and determination and the results are an exciting start to the 2026 season.
