Henley Long Distance Sculls

On Saturday 6^th November, the Rowing Club took their rowers to Henley to compete in the Head Race. This was the first time GMS had competed in this particular event, and the crews expected a high quality of competition. With over 500 crews, every event was well contested and a strong head wind meant racing was tough.

Racing was spread over two divisions, with the wind strengthening as the day progressed.

In Division I, our Year 11 boys (Owain Meredith, Joe Cogan, Jack Clark and Will Clayton) had a great race, overtaking some crews to finish second behind City of Bristol. Two Coxed Quads competed, from the GMS’s strong Year 10 Boys’ Squad, they were racing for the first time this season, so it was fabulous that the faster quad of Ethan Hunt, Rafael Quinn, Sam Terret, Leo Chapman, Coxed by Monty Todd, who looked very impressive from the start, took third place behind Wallingford and City of Bristol. Well done Owain, Joe, Jack, Will, Ethan, Rafael, Sam, Leo and Monty.

The Sixth Form girls sculled well, given they had not been out in this line up at all recently, but were not in the top three in this very strong field. The two Year 10 Girls’ Doubles found the head wind challenging, but Charlotte Greening and Abi Forgenie raced hard to earn a great 5th place in a large field. Well done Charlotte and Abi.

Finally, the last competitor for this Division was Sal Dunn, who had been off ill at the start of the week and was still recovering.  He raced as a Single for the first time at a public event. Sal put in a strong performance in a top-class field of 24 scullers, coming 10th,  well done to him.

Division II saw the Sixth Form boys off in the early crews and although they had spent no time in this crew before hand, With steersman Henry Gavin not having sculled since August, they put in a outstanding result coming second behind Leander Club. The Year 11 Girls’ Quad ( Ocean Dove Peyton Nugent Hannah Angiledes and Olivia Fyfe), who came 2^nd last timeout, had another good race and their fifth place was verey impressive given the size and quality of the field. Well done, Ocean, Peyton, Hannah, and Olivia.

In the Year 10 Girls’ Quads, there was a large field and the wind became stronger. A number of the crews looked to be struggling in these tough conditions but the GMS girls attacked their race and timed their overtaking of one crew to coincide nicely with the supporting parents on the bank. They secured an impressive third place behind two crews from Sir William Perkins and ahead of the Henley Rowing club Quad. This Quad was made up of Sophie Wharf, Abi Forgenie, Poppy Spence , Charlotte Greening and Coxed by Emeilia Deering. Well done Sophie, Abi, Poppy, Charlotte and Emeilia.

Last, but definitely not least, we had Emily Downing in her single.  The wind was now at it worst and, sadly, Emily had an equipment failure which impeded her ability to really race at her best. However, she still finished well in the top half of a very strong field and beat the two sixth formers from Borlase who hope to go to GB trials.: well done Emily.

Another great weekend of racing for GMSBC.