Mr Wells (Director of Rowing)
On a beautiful flat calm dry morning, 21 BGS senior rowers took on the 5km head of the river course on the Thames at Kingston.
The Kingston Head was run over 5200 m in a processional time trial. This is one of the longer races, with the girls rowing up to the start and then racing back. This term we are trying to ensure that all girls are racing in closely matched boats. This means that each of the girls had to step up to ensure that they were making their boat go faster.
The Sixth Form quad set off on a very solid pace and built through their race finishing a very strong second in the event. In the Year 11 fours, 11 seconds split the three boats for a 22 min race, which is exceptional and shows strength and depth. The three fours finished first, second and third in this event. The coxed four had a good race and was closer than expected a very strong field. Overall, this shows we have exceptional depth to our squads this year.
Again, it has been hard to decide on a Sixth Form and Year 11 Girl of the Match, which are awarded to the girls who have been standout performers at this event. This time, for superb steering, this has to go to Olivia Ames (Lower Sixth). In Year 11, Jaya Chambers takes the Girl of the Match for not only steering a superb course but also leading her crew down the whole course, using the knowledge from mistakes of the previous training session to form a solid race plan, leading her four to win their whole event.
The next race is a match at home on the Great Ouse in Bedford on Sunday 2nd December, when the Year 10 and new Year 9 girls will be competing. I hope you will come down to support!
