By Mrs Reeves (Head Rowing Coach)

On Saturday 1st July, BGS Boat Club gathered with their friends and supporters to celebrate our year of rowing at the annual Boat Club Ball. This event provides a fantastic opportunity for the whole of the BGS Boat Club community to come together to celebrate and reflect on the year of racing, as well as raising funds for the purchase of new equipment for the club.

Rowers, parents, coaches and supporters enjoyed listening to Emily Baker (BGS 2019) our guest speaker, a former BGS rower who is now studying in Texas on a rowing scholarship. It was fantastic for our rowers to hear about life beyond BGS rowing, and to hear Emily’s advice to them as current BGS athletes.

Then came our awards for the 2022/2023 season. We award a Most Improved Rower, ‘Oarsperson’ and ‘Club Person’ to each year group, as well as celebrating the successes of each squad as a whole over the course of the year. Finally, the Batts Ford prize for coxing was presented to Licia Cacioppo for her fantastic commitment to coxing at BGS over the year, and the coveted ‘Mick Deards Cup’ was awarded to Alex Gentry for her huge contribution to all things rowing at BGS, both in and out of the boat.

Congratulations to all of our award winners:

- J14 Most Improved: Rosie Palmer

- J14 Oarsperson: Zena Breed

- J14 Club Person: Sarah Wood

- J15 Most Improved: Jemima Searle

- J15 Oarsperson: Eva Blake

 - J15 Club Person: Sophia Baugh

- J16 Most Improved: Martha Ibbott

- J16 Oarsperson: Jessica Wiggs

- J16 Club Person: Charlotte Peck

- Senior Most Improved: Francesca Davis

- Senior Oarsperson: Chloe Howe

- Senior Club Person: Emily Pinkney

- Batts Ford Prize for Coxswains: Licia Cacioppo

- Mick Deards Cup: Alex Gentry

To conclude our rowing season for 2022/23, I would just like to extend a huge thank you on behalf of the coaching team and all of our BGS rowers for the commitment, support and enthusiasm of parents, friends and supporters for all things rowing at BGS over the past year. We have had one of our most successful seasons as a club for a number of years and this is down to the hard work of each and every rower that represents BGS on the water. We now wish all of the BGS rowing family a well-deserved summer break, and look forward to returning to the water at the beginning of next season.