The Senior girls' squad had a mixed year of success and illness. They showed real promise of a bright future. We had an extra coach to help out, Gordon Reay a bright, always smiling, Irish gap year student who wanted to get stuck in right from the start.
Gordon took on the girls‘ 1st coxed four which had performed well the year before. We had two extra girls for the squad, Elle Coates and Sophie Searight, with Sarah Coates and Barbara Girard also joining in when not sculling. We sent crews to some new events for Monkton such as the Fours Head in London where they finished 13th out of 30 crews in their event and the girls‘ 1st IVs at the Schools Head where they rowed with style and guts to finish 10th. They also raced at the Bristol Head which they won in a fast time. The squad settled down to a group of seven girls — Lydia (cox), Esther, Gaby, Camilla, Ali, Sophie and Elle. They went to Nantes and trained hard under Gordon‘s watchful eyes, looking forward to the summer regatta season. Wins at Birmingham, Coate Water Park and Stratford, plus good performances at National Schools‘ and Women‘s Henley showed what this squad was really capable of, enjoying success at a level which a Monkton girl‘s crew had not seen before. All the girls raced hard and won at least one pot during the year. Well done!
Barbara Girard was sculling well until injury struck and she had to pull out for at least a month, but this still didn‘t stop her winning easily at Birmingham Regatta. Sarah Coates‘ year went from good to bad, back to good and finished with bad. The promise of last year started to show early on with hard training and good racing. Sarah‘s national profile was improving, she competed at National Trials and was up with the best in the country, before deciding to take a step back to concentrate on other commitments. Unfortunately at about the same time Sarah became ill, though as she got better we increased the training and performances started to improve. Unfortunately Sarah could not shake off the bug and after two fantastic performances at Coate Water Park regatta and a medal beckoning at National Schools, Sarah had to stop due to illness. Sarah definitely deserved more this year, her commitment to training was very impressive and she produced some very good races and showed her class in a very tough sport. I am sure she will go on to great things at Oxford. All the girls leaving this year will be greatly missed and I hope that they will have a great future whatever they do. Some good memories have been: Camilla‘s blonde hair being the only way I could tell the Monkton crew out of a fleet of boats rounding a corner at Worcester Head; Ali‘s fighting spirit when the crew is in a tight race and her never-say-die attitude; and Sarah‘s graceful sculling and commitment even when she could not breathe. I will miss you all, thanks.
The Novice Girls Squad started small and expanded throughout the year. Rowing is a time-consuming sport to master, but most of the girls showed good progress and good humour in trying to take on board hard work, boat control and timing. The more senior novices (4th year and up) worked as a four with Jess coxing and Abi, Jen, Becky and Hannah showing good improvement. They raced at one head race and two regattas with Stratford Regatta being the best result, beating Cheltenham Ladies College, but losing the final to Stratford. The crew demonstrated the pace it had shown in practice but lacked racing experience. With more competitions I am sure this crew can win.
Persephone Johnstone-Burt came back to sculling this year and got hooked straight away. She improved rapidly and showed good technique and pace. With time and training she should do well.
The Third Form girls had some fun this year with 9 girls rowing regularly. Competition for a 1st quad was strong, but we selected a crew which raced at Coate Water Park and Tewkesbury. They raced well and talked lots and when they stop falling out quite so much they will be good scullers!
Overall the girls worked hard this year and it has been pleasing to see so many new faces at the river. However, if we are to maintain a good level of racing, the training will have to be kept up. Many thanks to you all.