By Mrs Reeves (Head Rowing Coach)
It was a busy bank holiday weekend for rowers at BGS, with two of our main regattas over the course of the weekend both held at the London 2012 Olympic Venue, Dorney Lake. On Sunday 30th April, our Senior and Year 11 squads travelled to Dorney to compete at Wallingford Regatta.
Wallingford Regatta is one of the largest multi-lane regattas that we attend in our build up to National Schools at the end of May, and attracts crews from schools, universities and clubs from across the UK. Our Year 11 squad had a very busy day of racing, competing in fours in the morning division and coming together in their eight in the afternoon. Both the J16 IV and J16 VIII made the final in their respective events, finishing in 5th and 6th place respectively overall in the competition. With the best crews from across the country competing these are promising results as we continue this main part of our regatta racing season. The afternoon division also saw one of our senior IV’s take to the water, in a very tough field the four of Alice Toone, Francesca Davis, Olivia Smith and Sienna MacFarlane, coxed by Tatyana Stockwell, put in a solid performance and continue to gel as a crew in these early stages of the regatta season.
On Monday 1st May, the BGS minibus was back on the road to Dorney. This time with our Year 9 and 10 squads. First to take to the water was our Year 9 octo, in their first ever side by side multi-lane regatta they put in an impressive row in their time trial to progress through to the afternoon’s finals. In a very impressive field from across the UK our octo rowed an amazing side by side race with a fantastically close finish taking second place in their final. A huge well done to Zena Breed, Sarah Wood, Kara Farquhar, Rosemary McGregor, Charlie Duce, Rebecca Lock, Ellie McCutcheon and Rosie Palmer, coxed by Olivia Danks for an absolutely brilliant first regatta. Next up were our Year 10 quad of Elizabeth Julyan, Bella Moretto, Gracie Beech and Jemima Searle, coxed by Sophia Baugh. Again, this crew put in a solid row in their time trial to progress to the finals. They again competed in a very closely fought final to finish in second place in their final. A brilliant day that indicated there is a bright future ahead for rowing at BGS.
The Boat Club now looks forward to Bedford Regatta this Sunday 7th May, one of our favourite days of the year! This year we look forward to seeing over 80 rowers from BGS compete on home water in what looks to be a fantastic day of racing, made extra special this year with the combined Coronation celebrations.
