Over the first weekend of half term the Great Marlow School boat Club (GMSBC) competed at Eton Dorney in the National Schools Regatta.
The first day of the regatta saw the Year 9s and 10s racing over 1000m. The weather was fair and calm making racing conditions excellent. The Year 10 Girls’ Quads was an extremely competitive event with 85 crews entered. GMSBC A and B crews both finished well up in the top half. The B boat beat the A boat by under 1 second.
The Year 10 boys had an excellent series of races. In the semi finals they were lying 4th at 500m a length off a qualifying position, but with a blistering last half pulled ahead to make the final. In the final they had a poor start and were lying in 5th: a length and half off the medals. Another storming last half saw them push those in front of them hard to the line, but, sadly, not enough to earn themselves a medal.
In the big event of the day, the Year 9 Boys’ Octo, there was some great racing. GMS crew earned themselves a place in the final. The line up for the final was Great Marlow Lane 1, Radley Lane 2, Norwich Lane 3,St Pauls Lane 4, Abingdon Lane 5 and Windsor Boys School Lane 6. Four top independent schools sandwiched between the two rival state schools. Lanes 3 and 4 took an early lead, while the four remaining crews were tightly packed. At half way, there was less than two seconds between 3rd and 6th place ( 2/3 s of a length). In a nail biting finish of frantic pushes from all crews, GMS came in 5th but only feet off the medals. A strong start for the GMS regatta.
On Saturday there were races over 2000m, and the weather was not kind. A strong cross head wind made the lane allocation very unfair. The time trial, to determine lanes, was key to success. Both the Senior Girls F’our and the Boys’ Eight qualified for the semi finals, but, in the boys’ case, in particular, with a rather poor time, giving them bad lanes for the side by side races. The girls having just missed the A final in the semi finals, were placed in Lane 2 for the B final, and this preferred lane gave them the platform to storm through the half way leaders at 1000m to win the B final well ahead of the field. A great result for the girls. To give you some idea of the unfairness of the lanes, the girls were nearly 30 seconds faster in Lane 2 in the final, than they were in Lane 5 in the semi-final.
The boys’ poor time trial put them in Lane 8 for the semi final and in the prevailing conditions there was not much they could expect from there.
Sunday was the final day of the regatta and rain was forecast, with thunder storms. As on Saturday there was a nasty cross head wind, later in the day. Even more than the previous day, the time trials looked to be the key to success. GMS had a Year 11 Boys’ Pair, a Year 11 Girls’ Pair, two Sixth Form Girls’ Pairs, and in the Blue Riband event of this last day, our top Boys’ Coxed Four. In the Year 11 pairs, both boys and girls came 7th in the time trial, which were strong results, however, the rigours of Saturday’s racing, particularly fighting the elements in the outside lanes, proved too much for either pair to make the A finals.
The Boys’ Coxed Four, however, put down a very good time in the trials coming second, just ahead of the favourites, St Paul’s. Attached is the results for their time trial, which may interest some in the crews they left behind them.
In the semi – finals, St Pauls took an early lead, with Bedford School, close behind. The rest of the field were quite tight, but by half-way, 1000m , GMS had overhauled Bedford and was ahead of the rest by about a length. The top four went through to the A final. So although Radley had a huge push in the last 500m, to just edge in front of GMS, we were through to the A final.
The forecast proved wrong and racing continued in benign conditions. Lining up for the final in this the top event of the day, the boys were in rarefied company. To put this in context, a significant percentage of the Great Britain under 18 squad, going to the world championships this summer, were lined up alongside them. Many of the coaches waiting at the start wished us luck, which is unusual in what is an extremely competitive group.
In the final, Eton took an early lead, while St Pauls seemed to struggle a little, although still second. From third to sixth place was under a length at each of the 500m markers. The fight for Bronze saw leaders come and go, with GMS in 4th through one marker, then fifth through the next. In the end the boys’ legs could not find enough over the last 500m to edge into the medals, but a great race and a great result, one they and we are rightfully proud of.