Wins at Dorney

On Sunday 12th March, GMS Boat Club took 8 crews of rowers to compete at Dorney for selection to represent the Thames Upriver Region at the Junior Inter Regional Regatta on 22nd April. There are twelve regions across the UK and, not surprisingly, Thames Upper Region wins this Championship more often than not. It is, therefore, an extremely tough level of competition for selection. Of the 8 crews we sent, a talented 5 won their event and the other 3 came 2nd: a marvellous outcome. 

The winning Year 10 boys had the toughest time; they came second in the time trial by just 0.2 seconds and had to go into a race-off in a side-by-side format, to determine who would go through. Neither crew had done any racing starts in a sweep boat, as it is still early days for them progressed from sculling boats. The other crew, from Hinksey, looked neater and were awarded a higher rating in the time trial. We expected them to take a lead from the start; but that GMS would be able to come back over the rest of the race. Sure, enough with 500m gone we were down by just under a half-length, but cox Luke Reynolds called for a big push and the GMS crew squeezed in front. The rest, as they say, is history. Our boys won by a rather comfortable 6 seconds. By having 5 selected crews GMSBC will see the joint most representation for Thames Upriver alongside the Windsor Boys’ School.  

For this event, you can double up at the trials to ensure your best chances of qualification but if you are successful in both events, you largely have to select one event to compete in on the 22^nd April. 

GMSBC WON the following time trials/races: 

• Open Water, Under 16s, four rowers : (Op J16 4+)
• Open Water, Under 15s, four rowers: (Op J15 4+)
• Women Junior, Under 14s, two rowers (WJ14 2x)
• Open Water, Under 16s, two rowers: (Op J16 2x) 
• Open Water, Under 15s, one rower: (Op J15 1x) 

SECOND PLACE  in the following races: 

• Women Junior, Under 16s, two rowers: (WJ16 2x )
• Women Junior, Under 14s, two rowers: (WJ14 4x+) 

The confidence is running high amongst the squad, and we are excited to compete at the following:

• Schools Head of the River later this week
• Junior Sculling Head at the beginning of next week. 

Well done to all our GMS rowers: such marvellous results. Many thanks to Mr Sloan for this update and a big thank you to all the coaches for their dedicated work.