With the sun rising over the clear calm water of the Great Ouse the stage was set for the BGS girls to hit the water for their first race of the 2018 season. This was a very special event for the BGS girls, following the passing of one of the most influential and inspirational coaches Mick Deards. The girls wanted to perform in the way that Mick had taught them. The girls all raced with black ribbons on their left sleeves and the stern of the boat had a BGS Damson flag flying in memory of all the positive energy and contribution Mick has given the girls.

The girls in Years 11 to Upper Sixth have been mixed up in coxed fours for development of all squad members. The focus has been distance per stroke with the aim of pushing the boat a greater distance for each stroke taken. At this stage in the season we are focusing on low rate, to enable this to happen. As the season progresses the rate will inevitably come up with the idea that the distance per stroke is kept the same, making the boat move quicker over the racing distance.

Mixing up Years 11 to Upper Sixth and having the boats matched enables the stronger rowers to be challenged with the weaker ones being given the scaffolding required to show improvement. Research suggests that this type of training yields a greater rate of progress due to rowers being able to take greater risks in a safe environment.

This weekend was a first stamp on the #2018MakeTheDifference campaign showing all our boats being very competitive against the competition at a lower rate. With 8 seconds covering our four crews, the coaching staff was very pleased that they had managed to get four very competitive coxed fours.

In every event we will intend to have a Junior (Years 9 and 10) and Senior (Years 11-Upper Sixth) Girl of the match. This will be a girl who has gone beyond what was expected and performed exceptionally well. The girl of the match this time was Bella Trobe (Year 11), she continued her hard working ethos in training through to race day and showed an aggressive attitude to driving her crew on. 

Racing Crews