The Boat Club
The 1996/97 rowing season in many respects was a successful one with wins achieved by all age groups, both boys and girls. The final tally was 19 head and regatta wins overall, including a pennant at the Schools' Head. In addition we gained silver and bronze medals at National Schools, gained a second place in the Inter-regional Championships and had a coxless pair make it through to the National Junior Squad Easter Assessment. During the same year we were lucky to be able to purchase another Eton Racing Boats coxless pair/double scull, a second-hand Janousek coxed four and a new set of blades for the 1st VIII. All this equipment was used to a great extent through the season, though it did put a lot of strain on other areas of the rowing budget!
Despite these successes however, it is likely that the year will be remembered by many as a season full of disaster, disappointment, and missed-opportunity! Certainly a major problem throughout the Boat Club was the lack of experienced coxes, especially in the older age groups. I am grateful for those who decided themselves, or were persuaded, to switch to coxing, but it was indicative of the problem that we ended up having a third-year pupil coxing the 2nd VIII. In January, Girls rowing at the School was thrown into confusion by the announcement that the remaining members of last year's girl's 1st eight were dropping out of the Boat Club. This included the then Girls Captain. In April, a member of the Boy's 1st eight suffered a nasty accident while at the training camp in France, which took him out of rowing until the beginning of June. In May there was the suspension from school of four members of the successful J15 VIII, thus putting this age group into disarray. This was soon followed by the head-on-collision between the top two eights in the club, resulting in the sinking of the 2nd VIII boat! Later in the same month a member of the 1st VIII decided that socialising was more important than rowing and dropped out of the crew the night before the National Schools' Regatta. June was a comparatively quiet month until a form of viral meningitis hit a number of pupils in the Boat Club, including four of the 1st VIII squad just before they competed at Henley Royal Regatta!
With hindsight it is possible that some of these unfortunate situations could have been avoided and certainly in some cases lessons have been learnt. Even so, it should be stressed that for most of the year all crews were training and racing hard and the final tally of wins at the end of the season was a tribute to both the determination and ability of the pupils and the dedicated efforts of the coaching team.
David Conington
The Boat Club
The 1996/97 rowing season in many respects was a successful one with wins achieved by all age groups, both boys and girls. The final tally was 19 head and regatta wins overall, including a pennant at the Schools' Head. In addition we gained silver and bronze medals at National Schools, gained a second place in the Inter-regional Championships and had a coxless pair make it through to the National Junior Squad Easter Assessment. During the same year we were lucky to be able to purchase another Eton Racing Boats coxless pair/double scull, a second-hand Janousek coxed four and a new set of blades for the 1st VIII. All this equipment was used to a great extent through the season, though it did put a lot of strain on other areas of the rowing budget!
Despite these successes however, it is likely that the year will be remembered by many as a season full of disaster, disappointment, and missed-opportunity! Certainly a major problem throughout the Boat Club was the lack of experienced coxes, especially in the older age groups. I am grateful for those who decided themselves, or were persuaded, to switch to coxing, but it was indicative of the problem that we ended up having a third-year pupil coxing the 2nd VIII. In January, Girls rowing at the School was thrown into confusion by the announcement that the remaining members of last year's girl's 1st eight were dropping out of the Boat Club. This included the then Girls Captain. In April, a member of the Boy's 1st eight suffered a nasty accident while at the training camp in France, which took him out of rowing until the beginning of June. In May there was the suspension from school of four members of the successful J15 VIII, thus putting this age group into disarray. This was soon followed by the head-on-collision between the top two eights in the club, resulting in the sinking of the 2nd VIII boat! Later in the same month a member of the 1st VIII decided that socialising was more important than rowing and dropped out of the crew the night before the National Schools' Regatta. June was a comparatively quiet month until a form of viral meningitis hit a number of pupils in the Boat Club, including four of the 1st VIII squad just before they competed at Henley Royal Regatta!
With hindsight it is possible that some of these unfortunate situations could have been avoided and certainly in some cases lessons have been learnt. Even so, it should be stressed that for most of the year all crews were training and racing hard and the final tally of wins at the end of the season was a tribute to both the determination and ability of the pupils and the dedicated efforts of the coaching team.
David Conington