It was a fairly mixed season overall for both individual year groups and the Boat Club as a whole, including some major disappointments. Despite this, however, we won nine head races and reached eleven regatta finals, winning five of them in total.

The J14 group contained a good, competitive squad, which was buoyed up by a number of second formers. The mixed octuple scull showed a lot of guts at the Schools‘ Head Race, where they survived a boat-stopping crash to beat Kingston Grammar School. It was also great to see Monkton‘s first ever J14 Girls quad scull, who showed their potential for the future by beating Bryanston in their last regatta of the season.

The J15 boys took a while to get the balance and cohesion needed at this level, but they possessed plenty of determination and spirit. They continued to progress throughout the season with their best race being their last, at Reading Town Regatta. Here they beat Clifton College easily and lost only narrowly to Abingdon School‘s top outfit. I am sure we will see them continuing to go from strength to strength next year.

The J16 girls showed lots of early promise, but examinations and other commitments made training difficult for many. As a consequence the crew boat never quite got the regatta win they were looking for, though we will have some experienced senior girls next year. In the single, Sarah Coates certainly trained hard and this was reflected in consecutive wins at J15 level. Her withdrawal from the semi-finals at National Schools because of illness was a cruel disappointment after what until then had been a highly successful season.

The boys J16 four finished second in the J16 novice coxed four division at the Schools Head Race. They continued to progress and just missed out on a win at Coate Water Regatta. By National Schools, the main aim of the season, they were possibly medal potential. Unfortunately, their event was cancelled because of poor weather - a real blow to both crew and their coach AG. These boys will be a welcome addition to the Senior Squad next year.

The 1st VIII have had their moments with two wins, a number of second places and a great race in Championship Fours at National Schools. However, they have suffered a bit from lack of depth and experience, but it is great to know that eight (including cox), of the Henley crew will be back in 2001.

The Captain of Boats, Henry Bailhache, always led by example in training and racing, but his individual performance away fromthe Monkton squad has proved to be somewhat of a revelation. After gaining an invititation to the GB Easter Trials, rowing with a partner from Emanuel School, he went from strength to strength during the pairs matrix and seat-racing, resulting in his selection for the Munich team. He then proved that this was no fluke by finishing second-ranked on strokeside at Final Trials and was selected for the Great Britain coxed four at the World Junior Championships in Zagreb, Croatia. This is a superb achievement by Henry who closely follows the exploits of Alex Partridge, despite their quite different approaches. We are now looking for the next Monkton oarsman or oarswomen to continue this run of international success next year!

As ever, all the achievements are brought about by the enthusiasm and dedication of the Boat Club coaches and in particular I would like to record my thanks to P G Bossom, D R Jameson, J H J Penny, D M Merricks, B Bathe-Taylor, A Grant and R. Cunliffe, for all their hard work.