WINS at Regatta Weekend

Mr Murison says, “A Great Start to the Regatta Season”.

Following the very successful sporting challenge on Thursday and Friday ( see here )  GMSBC raced at Dorney on both Sunday and Monday of the Bank Holiday Weekend, While Sal Dunn was away in Munich competing for GB.

Sunday – Wallingford Regatta

In the morning division we only had our top 6th form girls racing in Women’s School Quads. There semi-final was in glorious sunshine with a light straight head wind. They raced off the blocks fast and took a very early lead but Pangbourne on the far side of the lake pushed hard to take a half length lead by 500m. Both crews pulled away from the rest of the pack but the margin remained the same through the 1000m mark. The GMS girls looked to have a smoother flow and as they pushed on into the third 500m, Pangbourne’ s lead was gradually eroded and by 1500m there was a few feet in it, but it was equally clear which crew was moving faster. An amazing finish from the GMS crew saw them win their semi and head straight into the final. The final was a tough race where they competed well but were a bit off the pace of the top crews.

In the afternoon GMS raced in the Junior Schools’ Quad.

• Our Year 10 Girls’ Quad, who were entered in the WJ16 4x (Year 11 Quads).
• The Boys’ A Quad
• The Boys’ B Quad

The Year 10 Girls’ Quad continued their dominant streak, racing in a straight final which included the Borlase Year 11 Quad that had won Gold at the inter- regional regatta. The girls powered of the start line and took a clear water lead by 500m. From there, it was no looking back and they rowed a dominant race, they were never challenged the win at this major early season regatta.

The Year 10 Boys’ A Quad had a disappointing race while the Boys’ B Quad were on good form and came in only 2 seconds behind the leaders.

 

Monday – Junior Sculling Regatta

The format of this regatta is a time trial followed by A, B and possibly C finals based on the time trial result.

The two Boys’ Quads had much better races and the A boat was comfortably in A final; while the B boat just missed the B final and raced in the C final, but still the fastest second crew.

In the A final the GMS crew had a strong start and at 500m they were in second place behind Molesey, with Leander in third. This order was maintained through the halfway point , but then both Leander and GMS put in a strong third quarter, overhauling Molesey. Leander had a little more to give in the last 500 just overhauling the GMS Quad. Silver medal in a great high quality race was very exciting for this young crew who are all back next year.

The Year 10 boys, who have not been out in a Quad for a long time, due to river conditions, and mainly rowing in a four when they can train, had a good time trial. They started behind RGS Wycombe, yet overtook them just after halfway. They came 10th in the TT putting them in middle of the B final.

In their final, their target was to move up at least one place and to pick a crew that they were out to race and beat. By 500m it was fairly clear that the front two boats were going at a faster pace, but Wallingford along side us had a half length lead and the two crews looked very comparable.

The GMS boys had been beaten quite comprehensively in the head season by Wallingford, so to be up alongside them was encouraging progress. The boys pushed at 750m to try and eat up some of the deficit and hauled back to ¼ length, which gave them huge encouragement: they held this for the next 500m when they put in another push to move into the lead. The opposition did not respond, from then on GMS was in medal contention and came home third – objective achieved.

The Senior Girls’ Quad had another good time trial but due to a couple of their crew feeling under the weather, they did not race their final.

The Year 9 Octos both raced well. The girls qualified for the B final, which was great. In that final they held close to the crew beside them for the first 750m, but lack of water time took its toll. They did beat the Headington crew on their nearside convincingly though.

We had three Doubles racing. The Year 11 Double of Will Allen and Alexander Eldridge put in a very strong race, but again without any water time to train together, they missed out on the final by one place. The WJ17 Double of Jess Rhodes and Sophie Wharf came 8th in the TT and had an exciting final but could not quite match their time trial ranking.

Saving the best for last.

The Year 10 Girls’ crew, tired from racing on Sunday and a hard week’s training running into this weekend, still came in at the top of the TT. In the final they were a bit messy off the start and local rivals Marlow Rowing Club took an early lead. These two crews moved away from the field and by halfway it was clearly a race just between GMS and MRC. The GMS crew despite being down for the first time this year held their rhythm and looked very solid in the water. Over the third 500m the pace started to tell on the MRC girls and GMS moved relentlessly level then into the lead with no seemingly extra effort. When they did eventually turn up the rating pace to go for the line they moved fairly rapidly away to take Gold– Again!.

Munich

Sal Dunn had a successful weekend as part of the GB Sculling Squad being in the fastest GB Double in the Saturday Finals. In the Quad on Sunday, in a very impressive final, they came 4th, just out of the medal by less than 1s.

The result of the GMS’s Boys’ Quad in his absence is hugely encouraging both for this summer but also the years ahead.