Rowing Results 2018/2019
Junior Scullery – 18th March 2019
On Monday 18th March ten Great Marlow crews competed at the Junior Sculling Competition, which was a National Event held at Eton Dorney.
The event has continued to grow in popularity, and for the first time the organisers had to exclude a significant number of entries due to the event being oversubscribed.
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This event is a harsh test of endurance, with all crew racing over two lengths of the Olympic course. For GMS students it marks the culmination of the long winter training. To give some idea of the scale of this event, there were fourteen separate divisions running from 0900 until 1600. For each division the boats lined up nose to tail for as much as a mile, in the warmup lake.
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While it is not uncommon for GMS to win medals at this event, the level of competition increases each year and the standard in 2019 was higher than ever. As a school squad, we had four crews in the top ten of their events and the Year 9 and 10 Boys’ Quads in 15th and 16th place respectfully, in their very competitive classes.
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The club as a whole looks very well positioned for some exciting results in the summer regattas with competitive crews across the board from Year 9 upwards.
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The results were as follows:
J18 4x 9th
WJ18 4x 22nd
J16 4x 13th
WJ16 4x 10th
WJ16 4x (B) 10th (B crews)
J15 4x+ 16th
J15 8x+ 6th
J14 4x 15th
British Rowing Indoor Championship 2018 – 8th December 2018
On Saturday 8th December, twelve students went to the Lee Valley Velodrome, to compete in the British Rowing Indoor Championships. This was our second year of attending and the buzz was palpable. The students who had raced before were looking forward to their chance at ‘National Glory’ once more.
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Joel Hammond, Year 11 competitor, was first up, having seen the athletes walk out onto the arena floor on the big TV screens, Joel looked to be a good six inches shorter than some others, but from the starting bell he was quickly in the top three for his heat. An impressive performance throughout against significantly taller and heavier opposition. He was 4th in his heat and 8th overall.
Next up was James Robson, defending a Silver medal from last year as a Year 9. He was in the last wave of three to compete; his starting pace was a blistering 1,489 m in 5 minutes. He was on track and in top slot for the first 3 minutes; however, the lad in second place had paced himself well and managed to pull level with James, meaning James rowed an enormous 1,514 m, to become the British Silver medallist for his year group: he had smashed his personal best.
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The last of our morning racers was PJ. You might think that given he was just using his back and arms, a shorter time might of been appropriate, but PJ competed over the same time as James Robson. To give an insight into the stamina required for this physical test, try doing 30 sit ups a minute for 5 minutes, (which does not take into account the hard pull back required). A massive 1,039 m won PJ a well-deserved Gold medal.
After a long interval, the Year 7s and 8s raced. In practice Josh Barnes and Rafael Quinn had shown good potential with very little between them. Abigail Forgenie and Poppy Spense were also producing good results. All four raced for 2 minutes and scored extremely well. They were all in the top 12 for their event, but special mention goes to Josh Barnes, rowing 501 m, and took Bronze medal.
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Last, but far from least, came the Year 8 squad with Oscar Black for the boys and four girls: Olivia Fyfe, Milly Hopkins, Christina Baxter, and Emily Downing. In the boys race, Oscar Black began very fast and in pole position, but lack of time on the erg meant by half way (1:30 min ) the field had started to catch him up; he just needs more time with the squad to medal in years to come. The Year 8 girls performed in the last event. In training, Emily Downing had been just ahead of the others and started on erg 1 at the top of the list. As the race got under way, she did not move from that top slot for the first 20 strokes, but dropped just one place to 2nd. Just below her was Christina Baxter. For most of the three minutes duration both girls were right in the mix for Bronze. In the end, Emily came 4th: 6 m off Bronze, with Christina in 5th position, just behind. Olivia Fyfe also finished in the top dozen. This is definitely a year group to watch in the regattas over the next few years.
Wallingford 4 & 8s Head - Sunday 25th November
Win-Win-Win
On Sunday 28th October, 40 GMS rowers raced at Henley. All who participated enjoyed their rowing races, but special celebrations occurred, more than once, in the GMS riverside camp when some of the team rowed strongly enough to come first.
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The Year 10 Quad won: these boys have now won on both outings to date.
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The Year 11 Quad crossed the line in the winning place.
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The day saw one more top level success when the sixth formers, Thomas Rhodes and Blaise Ivers-Dreux, won the Double. It seems they are following in the footsteps of Toby Lassen and Robert Petrea, who were unable to race due to being away at a GB training camp.
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The girls in the Year 11 Quad rowed strongly, too, to cross the finish line in 3rd place, just behind Henley and Marlow rowing clubs.
UTAH – 28th October
GMSBC Rowathon – 18th October
1,201,078 m (1200 km) Rowed in the Rowathon!
Mr Murison, his team, all the students and GMS are delighted with the outcome of the Rowathon. In total an impressive 1,201,078 m or 1200 km was rowed. CONGRATULATIONS, there is huge admiration for all the rowers.
Reading Small Boats Head & Bluefriars Head – 13th October 2018
Major Wins in Rowing on First Outing of New Season
On Saturday 13th October GMSBC competed at two events: half the squad went to Reading Small Boats Head, while the rest travelled to Bath to compete at the Bluefriars Head.
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Congratulations go to the Sixth Form Girls Quad of Devon De Winnaar, Jessie McAuley, Tabi Collins and Chloe Gosnell, who won their event by a substantial margin.
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Further congratulations go to the Year 10 Boys’ Quad, who came joint 1st with St Pauls School’s top boat.
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Praise for both Devon De Winnaar and Blaise Ivers-Dreux, who, in the Single Scull Event, came in the top five in their respective races.
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Praise for the Year 11 Double Scull, namely Hannah Clayton and Natasha Stewart, who were first were reported as winning a very competitive event, but, after consideration by the judges, came well placed in the top 10 of a competitive field of rowing doubles.
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Meanwhile at Bath, sadly, all of the races for the Year 8 and 9 crews were cancelled due to the high winds: therefore only three GMS quads raced.
Congratulations go to the Year 10 Quad of Aila Hollows Butwell, Robin Pendlebury( Yr 9), Evie Fryer and Brooke Gosnell, coxed by Krish Misra, who won their event. To cement the win, the Year 11 Girls’ Quad and Year 10 Boys’ Quad both came second.