Novices
This year‘s novice rowing started during the Michaelmas term, as it did last year, with a third of the first, second and third form rugby players coming down on Fridays and Saturdays. After Christmas, the time had come to choose Hockey or Rowing and.... well, hockey won as only 7 pupils chose to row. Thus there was not going to be any chance of an octuple scull. However there was the chance that one of the third form girls could be coaxed into coxing if another boy could be found. When Jack Nicolas left hockey, and golf to join the aspiring crew, this became possible and so Anne was introduced to the river. Unfortunately the work load frightened one off, so it was to be a season of quads doubles and sculling.
We now aimed towards our first Head of the River at Henley and our valiant 5 practised and practised and .... well, the river was rough, too rough according to the NRA, and the event was cancelled so we went to Pangbourne, (the same river!) to practise some more and lost alarmingly. Undaunted, we practised for Avon Schools' Head where the quad came second and the double of James Binns and Dan Whiting, the only J14 entered, beat the J15 double, a great result. Then to the Schools Head, and a lovely day beckoned; but, being the most junior crew, we had to boat first, without even enough time for our cox to accompany JMB on the familiarisation trip. The whole crew now had time to familiarise themselves and so they went over the whole course and then back to the marshalling point and...... no other J14s. We investigated and yes "due to the conditions" all J14 events had been cancelled! So it was back to the boathouse, to wait and wait and...... everyone else was still boating. We had to wait over one hour, with flying sandwiches, (yes oarsmen can throw and catch sometimes!), to keep hunger at bay. So ended a........ frustrating term.
Easter came and the double of Matthew Wordsworth and Tristan Saunders practised, their holidays permitting, for the inter-regional competition at Poplar. When term started one boy left the squad for cricket, but eight more arrived and by the end of term we were seventeen! The first regatta was Poplar and the double steered their way to second in the inter-regional and a first in the JU14s - an excellent start to the term. At this point that it was realised that three of our number, James, James, and Michael, were in fact JU15 and so they were ineligible to row in the quads. Unfortunately James Curry's knee problems also ruled out a double, though their skills at coxing, and coaching, soon came to the fore and they proved very useful. Next came Avon County at its new venue and ....... the weather intervened again and they arrived to find that their events had been cancelled. Were we ever to compete? Perhaps the National Schools' would provide more success. Friday and the long trip up came as did our first outing on the lake. This went well and after a few practises even the start was settled and ready. So to the hotel and a very good meal and bed, though it is possible that the quantity of sleep left something to be desired. (The bridal suite did cause quite a lot of comment with its four- poster bed!)
The big day dawned .... and for once the weather (even at Nottingham) was favourable. We had a great start and were up but after a couple of crabs, caused partly by the reflected washes from the launches, we were down fought back and only just failed to qualify for the next round. Still it had been a race, in fact a good race, and we were happy. Sunday was to be even better as the double managed to come second and so a Silver had been won. Next came Bridgnorth and, with Barnaby as a substitute for Paul, Pangbourne "B" succumbed to us in the first round. We had won and were in the semi-final. Here a starting umpire who failed to see we were not ready, caused an appalling start and, though we never lost touch, Pangborne "A", the eventual winners, beat us. The double managed to keep up our spirits with another win though. After this we were set to produce two quads and a double for Thames Valley Regatta and, before you ask, no it was not cancelled despite the rain. Instead sickness struck and substitute after substitute was needed until the "B" quad had to be abandoned and so the new double of Dan and Tris and the "A" quad, Anne, Dan, Tris, William, and Paul, set to on the day after Midsummer at Monkton (and its disco!) and the day before the internal examinations. Unhappily the double‘s steering did not take into account the bend in the river, the opposition took their chance and we were disqualified. The quad also failed to make the next round and it was with some despondency that we arrived back in Monkton. However, during a year of some real highs and great anticlimaxes, fun has been had by all and much experience gained for the future. Thanks to all for staying cheerful!
PGB
Novices
This year‘s novice rowing started during the Michaelmas term, as it did last year, with a third of the first, second and third form rugby players coming down on Fridays and Saturdays. After Christmas, the time had come to choose Hockey or Rowing and.... well, hockey won as only 7 pupils chose to row. Thus there was not going to be any chance of an octuple scull. However there was the chance that one of the third form girls could be coaxed into coxing if another boy could be found. When Jack Nicolas left hockey, and golf to join the aspiring crew, this became possible and so Anne was introduced to the river. Unfortunately the work load frightened one off, so it was to be a season of quads doubles and sculling.
We now aimed towards our first Head of the River at Henley and our valiant 5 practised and practised and .... well, the river was rough, too rough according to the NRA, and the event was cancelled so we went to Pangbourne, (the same river!) to practise some more and lost alarmingly. Undaunted, we practised for Avon Schools' Head where the quad came second and the double of James Binns and Dan Whiting, the only J14 entered, beat the J15 double, a great result. Then to the Schools Head, and a lovely day beckoned; but, being the most junior crew, we had to boat first, without even enough time for our cox to accompany JMB on the familiarisation trip. The whole crew now had time to familiarise themselves and so they went over the whole course and then back to the marshalling point and...... no other J14s. We investigated and yes "due to the conditions" all J14 events had been cancelled! So it was back to the boathouse, to wait and wait and...... everyone else was still boating. We had to wait over one hour, with flying sandwiches, (yes oarsmen can throw and catch sometimes!), to keep hunger at bay. So ended a........ frustrating term.
Easter came and the double of Matthew Wordsworth and Tristan Saunders practised, their holidays permitting, for the inter-regional competition at Poplar. When term started one boy left the squad for cricket, but eight more arrived and by the end of term we were seventeen! The first regatta was Poplar and the double steered their way to second in the inter-regional and a first in the JU14s - an excellent start to the term. At this point that it was realised that three of our number, James, James, and Michael, were in fact JU15 and so they were ineligible to row in the quads. Unfortunately James Curry's knee problems also ruled out a double, though their skills at coxing, and coaching, soon came to the fore and they proved very useful. Next came Avon County at its new venue and ....... the weather intervened again and they arrived to find that their events had been cancelled. Were we ever to compete? Perhaps the National Schools' would provide more success. Friday and the long trip up came as did our first outing on the lake. This went well and after a few practises even the start was settled and ready. So to the hotel and a very good meal and bed, though it is possible that the quantity of sleep left something to be desired. (The bridal suite did cause quite a lot of comment with its four- poster bed!)
The big day dawned .... and for once the weather (even at Nottingham) was favourable. We had a great start and were up but after a couple of crabs, caused partly by the reflected washes from the launches, we were down fought back and only just failed to qualify for the next round. Still it had been a race, in fact a good race, and we were happy. Sunday was to be even better as the double managed to come second and so a Silver had been won. Next came Bridgnorth and, with Barnaby as a substitute for Paul, Pangbourne "B" succumbed to us in the first round. We had won and were in the semi-final. Here a starting umpire who failed to see we were not ready, caused an appalling start and, though we never lost touch, Pangborne "A", the eventual winners, beat us. The double managed to keep up our spirits with another win though. After this we were set to produce two quads and a double for Thames Valley Regatta and, before you ask, no it was not cancelled despite the rain. Instead sickness struck and substitute after substitute was needed until the "B" quad had to be abandoned and so the new double of Dan and Tris and the "A" quad, Anne, Dan, Tris, William, and Paul, set to on the day after Midsummer at Monkton (and its disco!) and the day before the internal examinations. Unhappily the double‘s steering did not take into account the bend in the river, the opposition took their chance and we were disqualified. The quad also failed to make the next round and it was with some despondency that we arrived back in Monkton. However, during a year of some real highs and great anticlimaxes, fun has been had by all and much experience gained for the future. Thanks to all for staying cheerful!
PGB