Henley, Dorney and Thames Valley Park Rowing Competitions

The weekend of 20th/21st June was another busy and successful weekend for Great Marlow School Boat Club (GMSBC).

Henley Women’s Regatta
The first crews to race were our top two Girls’ Four at Henley.

Henley Women’s Regatta is an international event with crews from USA, Canada and across Europe competing. GMS’s WJ16 Coxed Four did really well to make it through to the quarter finals, where they met their nemesis, Henley Rowing Club. The Henley Rowing Club crew went on to win the whole event.

Year 10 Boys at Marlow Regatta – Dorney Lake
Later on Saturday the Sixth Form Boys’ Quad and the Year 10 Boys Quad raced at Dorney against a top class field. The older boys have been improving quickly in recent weeks, from a disappointing early season. They rowed a beautifully professional race in their final, keeping calm and moving well, despite falling behind the leaders early in the race. Once into a strong rhythm they moved relentlessly through the field to put their bows out in front 50m from the line taking first position, the best result of their season todate.

The Year 10 boys were pitched against the Gold and Silver medalists from National Schools Regatta (NSR), where for various reasons they had not quite made it. They were hungry to prove themselves and establish their standing as one of the top crews in the country. Again, they were not the fastest out of the blocks and lay third or fourth for the first minute or so, but as the race moved through 1000m the lesser crews started to feel the pace a dropped steadily behind. By the finish line GMS were 6 seconds ahead of the Gold medalists from NSR and 10 seconds ahead of the Silver medalists. They had also just smashed the National Schools record by 3 secs, in calm conditions.

Thames Valley Park
Sunday took 16 crews to the Sprint Regatta at Thames Valley Park, where we made numerous finals. The morning division ended with GMSBC winning the two Eights events in consecutive races. First, the senior girls crews won School First Eights and then the Year 10 boys won their Eights event.

These were are only outright wins but a very enjoyable days racing was enjoyed by all by a lovely stretch of river.