My work as Head Coach Girls Rowing started in September 2003 with a meeting of 12 potential Girls 1st VIII oarswomen. From my list of what have you achieved in Rowing, it soon became obvious that the squad spanned the full spectrum of never having been in a boat, to having competed at Womens Henley and the GB National Championships. My first thought was, this will be a big challenge to produce a fast VIII from such a small squad, with such diverse experience. However, I was very impressed with everyones enthusiasm and positive attitude and my pep talk of I want you to enjoy the next season, but rowing is much more enjoyable when youre winning some Regattas in the summer seemed to go down quite well.
September went quickly, and the squad settled into training very well, not too hard yet, give the two beginners a chance you know, but general fitness levels were reasonable. Our first race in early October was the Upper Thames Head of the River Race held over the Henley Royal Regatta course. As I expected we took a bit of a beating from top girls rowing schools, such as Haberdashers', Monmouth. The good result from the racing was that the two beginners, Sophia Whitworth, and Nina Harwood raced really well after only five weeks of rowing. The other crew to do well was the very competitive Junior 16 double scull comprising of Vicki Davies and Emma Laws who were narrowly beaten into second place by a very good Henley RC double. No wins, but a fair start to the season for the whole squad. The wind-down meeting before training on the following Tuesday took the form of Well done everyone, good effort, but next time we race I expect some results, as the training gets harder immediately.
The squad trained well both on the river in small boats and in the gym with 2,000 metre ergo test times improving dramatically by our next race at Wycliffe Head in early December. The first coxed IV received gold medals for winning their division and the Second IV received silver medals for finishing second in theirs. The double scull also won silver medals. All the girls in the squad had won their first event of the season as had both our coxes, Mike Knight and Hugh Searight.
The Christmas holidays were soon over, and the January ergo test told me that all ten squad members had trained hard during the holidays, to keep their fitness, well done. We went back to Wycliffe to race again in early February, this time entering the School VIIIs event as well as the IVs race. The VIII showed good pace and were leading after 10 minutes of racing but the coxs speaker system stopped working and the crew lost their discipline and the race in the last five minutes, still managing to finish second in their division of Womens School J18 VIIIs behind Gloucester RC. The harsh lesson that fitness and strength without good technique and discipline in the boat is not enough I hoped had been learned, albeit the hard way. I was assured by all the crew it would not happen again, gold medals are always better than silver, and they were all very upset with themselves. The next event for the squad was the Womens Head of the River Race, raced over the University boat race course of four and a quarter miles on the Tideway, a very tough challenge.
Monkton had no girls VIII entry in this race the previous year so the crew had to start right at the back at No 262, a massive disadvantage as by the time they start, the stream has all but disappeared and conditions are slow. This race was undoubtedly the best performance of the VIII during the season as they finished at No 150 overall in a field of 278 crews, that included Club, University, National Squad and good foreign crews. This result really placed the Monkton girls in the top ten girls school crews in the country. The squad also recorded a win in Womens Senior 4 coxed IVs at the Avon County Head of the River Race.
The Regatta season started with Avon County Junior Regatta, held at Coate Water Park in early May and raced over a distance of 700 metres. The Womens J18 Novice VIII beat Haberdashers' Monmouth School easily in the final to record our first Regatta win. The Womens J18 School coxed IV again beat another Haberdashers' Monmouth School Crew by half a length in the final in a very good race. The third win of the Regatta for the squad was Womens J18 Novice coxed IV who raced very well and narrowly beat Oundle and Bryanston in the final. This was a tremendous achievement for the crew's stern pair of Nina Harwood and Sophia Whitworth and cox Hugh Searight, all of whom had only started rowing the previous September. The Regatta was a fantastic start to the season as all ten members of the squad won at least one event.
Two weeks later we raced over the same course at Coate Water Park Regatta. The eight moving up a status to race Womens Senior 4 eights. Here they defeated two Oxford College Womens VIIIs, St Peters by 1 length and a good St John's crew by three-quarters of a length in the final, another good win for the VIII. A first IV of Elle Coates, Sophy Searight, Julia Groos and Emma Laws entered the elite event of Womens Senior 3 coxed IVs and lost in the final by 6ft after a tremendous race with Bath University 1st Womens four.
The same crew steered by Hugh Searight had a very close race at Womens Henley Regatta with the Haberdashers', Monmouth 1st IV eventually losing out by 1 length. The same Monmouth crew went on to win J18 GB National Championships IVs at Nottingham in July. At Womens Henley I was asked by the Head Coach for Junior International Rowing if the four would be available for the National Squad selection next season as he was impressed by their rowing; sadly three of the crew have now left Monkton. The squad of ten oarswomen recorded four Head of the River wins. They also won two VIIIs events and two IVs events at open Regattas. The top events they represented the school at were the Womens Head of the River Race, Henley Womens Regatta, The National Schools Regatta, competing in Championship VIIIs and IVs, both top events, and the G B National Championships. Every member of the squad recorded at least one win. The squad members were:-
Elle Coates, Julia Groos, Emma Laws, Sophy Searight, Vicki Davies, Kate Hanna, Sophia Whitworth, Rebecca Young, Hannah Giles, Nina Harwood and coxes Michael Knight and Hugh Searight.
I have thoroughly enjoyed coaching this dedicated squad of oarswomen, who can all be very proud of what they have achieved during the last ten months, both for themselves and the school. I wish the seven that have now left Monkton well, keep rowing at University and enjoy your sports. Never forget L.H.S.! I promise next season's squad some of the same success, as long as they are as dedicated and determined as their predecessors.
The training camp held in Nantes in April was a massive boost to the whole squad and tremendous progress was made, if only we had a similar stretch of river to train on.
Many thanks to the coaches who have looked after the younger oarswomen, some of whom should graduate to this year's 1st VIII squad. Winning seven open events with a squad of ten oarswomen is a good achievement; it requires total commitment on their part and also from the support team of coaches, boatmen etc, and also from the school. Other top rowing schools spend at least 2530% more time training than we are able to, so we have to make the very best use of the limited time available if we are to compete with them at the very top level.
Wycliffe Small Boats Head
WJ18 4+ Silver Medal : Bow E Coates, K Hanna, S Whitworth, S
Searight, Cox H Searight.
W4 4+ Silver Medal : Bow E Coates, S Searight, N Harwood, J Groos, Cox M Knight
Wycliffe Big Head
WJ18 8+ Silver Medal : Bow E Laws, K Hanna, S Whitworth, S Searight N
Harwood, J Groos, E Coates, N Davies, Cox H Searight
WN4+ Winner : Bow E Laws, V Davies, N Harwood, J Groos, Cox M Knight
Avon County Head
WS4+ Winner : Bow E Coates, K Hanna, N Harwood, S Searight, Cox H Searight
Avon County Junior Regatta
WSch/JN8 Winners : Bow R C Young, H Giles, K R Hanna, S R Whitworth, N
F Harwood, J A Groos, E Laws, Str V S Davies Cox H Searight
WSch/J4+ Winners : Bow K R Hanna, R C Young, S R Whitworth, Str N F
Harwood Cox H R R Searight
WJ 4+ Winners : Bow E Coates, SCJ Searight, J A Groos, Str E Laws, Cox H
R R Searight
Coate Water Park Regatta
WS48 Winner : Bow E Laws, K R Hanna, S R Whitworth, S C J Searight, N F
Harwood, J A Groos, E Coates, V S Davies Cox H R R Searight
TOTAL OF WINS
Heads : Two Gold Medals; Three Silver Medals
Regattas : 2 VIIIs Wins and 2 IVs Wins