It’s been another busy week for the Boat Club, with the 1st VIII training at Henley for the Qualifying event on Friday. The weather turned from hot to windy, making for some tricky rowing conditions, but the crew had some great training outings  and boated confidently for the qualifying time trial on Friday evening. They produced a committed row from start to finish, then had an agonising 20-minute wait for the results. There was a great sense of achievement and relief as Blue Coat were announced as having qualified for the main regatta on Wednesday, where they’ll be racing a familiar and formidable rival in Abingdon School, multiple winners of the event.

The following day was back to racing on our local stretch for the more junior members of the club. The J15 squad raced in IVs and VIIIs with some very tight racing in both semi finals and finals, although no event wins on this occasion.

The J16 squad raced in IVs and VIIIs, with both IVs losing their finals, and the VIII just losing to Abingdon School in the final. They also raced each other in the final of the Coxed Quads, with the crew of Matt Peters, Luke Marino, Harry Hayes, Ben Freeman, and Tom Bryce proving triumphant.

The J14 squad had another busy regatta, rowing Doubles and Octos in the morning, all falling at the semi final stage. In the afternoon they raced in four coxed quads in  two events with 32 crews. The crew of Ben Hitchen, Seb Ruston, Will Peters, and Pavandeep Chadda, coxed by Ross Penny, won two races before just losing in the B final. The A final saw a great win over two quick crews from Abingdon School, for Barney Thompson, Ed Bindoff, Will Mackean, and Harvey Roper, coxed by Sid Komathukattil, a fantastic result after a long days racing.

The 1st VIII raced again with Matt Janes and Louison Thepaut sitting in, and put in a dominating performance over Norwich School to win their event. Also half of the VIII, Matt Rees, Ryan Jones, Matt Shimmin, Max Ashwanden, and Freddie Bryce, raced in the junior IVs event, winning the final over two crews from Canford School.

It was great to see so many pupils representing the school at the regatta, and we look forward to the 1st VIII racing Abingdon School at Henley Royal Regatta on Wednesday.

Mr Edmondson, Head of Rowing