Mr Wells (Director of Rowing)
On possibly the hottest day of the year, the Years 9, 10 and Sixth Form rowers took to the water on the Thames at the Reading Town Regatta (Saturday 29th June).
The day started out exceptionally well with back-to-back heat wins from the Year 9 WJ14’s quads. These boats and results set the tone for the rest of the regatta, where in each event except one, we finished first or second.
Following the heat win, the Year 9 WJ14 4 (A) quad sculled extremely well in the ‘Band A’ category, dominating very strong opposition from Great Marlow School. This win gave them the overall lead in the category and the trophies to prove it. In the ‘Band B’ category the Year 9 WJ14 4x+ (B) quad sculled well in the first round. However, they found the final challenging, but still managed to finish a credible second in the overall event.
The senior boat comprising of Sixth Form rowers raced in a coxed four in the women’s open division against university and club crews. They dispatched the University of Oxford lightweight second in the first round. In the final, they found the Oxford lightweight first crew a little bit too hot to handle; but to stay within two seconds of the winner was a fantastic result.
The Year 10 quads were all up against an exceptionally strong four from Henley Rowing Club who are the reigning National Schools champions. The BGS girls were unphased by this and had a real go at this very strong crew. The crew were fantastic and the hard work that they had put in during training has really paid off.
Emily Baker (Upper Sixth) raced in the single as well. She dispatched one of the Oxford Blue lightweight women’s rowers with ease in the first round. In the final, she came up against a good Oxford sculler who managed to gain the upper hand.
As always with these events, we pick a Junior and Senior Girl of the Match. It is often difficult to single out one individual who has made the greatest contribution, this time we gave it to the Year 9 WJ14 4x+ (A) quad - Hannah Russell, Tess Garrett, Anna Beckmann, Emily Coughlin and Saffy Oakley-Holton.
The Senior Girl of the Match goes to Emily Baker, who has embodied everything about BGS rowing, never giving up and never holding anything back.
This was the final regatta of the BGS calendar and the girls performed superbly, both off and on the water. We have been especially impressed with how the girls from every year group help and support each other whilst they are competing, they are an exceptional team.
