National Schools success

Many congratulations to our senior rowers who travelled to Nottingham last weekend to compete in the presigious National Schools' Regatta.

The 3rd VIII led by Mr Jones qualified for the final from the semi-finals as the 4th fastest crew. Unfortunately they could not improve on this position in the final but it has been great to see this crew training hard throughout the season and more importantly enjoying their rowing and racing.


The 2nd IV was required to race in a time trial to qualify for the semi-final and they comfortably qualified into the semi-final races. The 2nd IV put in a strong performance in the semi-final as they were in 2nd place at the 1000m marker just behind Westminster School. The crew was then able to control the last 1000m and qualified for the final in what is the first time we have qualified our 2nd boat into a national final for some time. Despite a spirited effort all the way down the course in the final the crew could not keep up with a number of schools that had entered their top crew into this event. However, they should be more than pleased with their performance in finishing 6th in the final.
The 1st VIII comfortably qualified for the semi-final finishing in 1st position from the time trial. The semi-final required the crew to be in the top three to qualify for the final and the Shiplake College crew dominated the race to qualify in 1st position. The final was always going to be a fiercely contested battle and it certainly did not disappoint with Shiplake showing huge determination throughout the race. The honours went to St George’s, who also set a new record time for this event with Shiplake just behind them and earning a Silver medal in a time of 6:02.01. The crew had set itself the ambitious target of the gold medal but they should be delighted to have won a well-deserved silver medal.
On Sunday the 1st VIII raced in a Coxless and Coxed Four in the Championship event. Both crews comfortably qualified for the semi-final but the coxless four could not quite show the speed required to qualify for the final. The Coxed Four containing 4 of our GB trialists Michael Glover, Max Hearnden, Harry Vardigans, Marek Lapham and cox James Girling raced beautifully in the semi-final to qualify as the second fastest crew from both semi-finals behind Abingdon School. The final was a high calibre race with Shiplake keeping up with many of the top rowing schools although Abingdon showed the rest of the field how to do it by taking an early lead. However with 2 medals still up for grabs Shiplake fought hard with Hampton School and St Edwards and ultimately Shiplake gained their second medal of the weekend with the crew receiving a bronze medal behind St Edwards who took the silver medal.