Junior wins Spring 2019

Henley Rowing Club juniors race at the Henley Fours and Eights Head 16th February 2019

Held in two divisions and raced over 3000 metres from the Management College to the Regatta Finish. Times for the afternoon division were slower due to increased wind and stream but other than being overcast the weather stayed fair for the event.

The morning division saw four wins for the the Club.

The WJ16 8o of Sophie Underwood, Gina Segrt, Holly Thompson, Riley Butcher, Della Luke, Izzy Cotton, Georgie Pollard, Emilia Fulford Dodson, Ava Reineke cox had a narrow 3 sec victory over two crews from Headington School.

In the top event for women’s coxless fours the crew of Charlotte Rowley, Holly Cookson, Emma Berry, Georgia Brown secured a seven second victory over a University Of London crew despite a collision with bank coming up the Island.

In Junior girls coxed fours Hannah Hills, Carla Russell, Daisy Bellamy, Pheobe Snowden with cox Ella Nolson beat a Kingston Rowing Club four which is thought to be the first time the Kingston Boat has been beaten.

Mia Vickerman, Laoise O’Donohue, Natalie Schoenmakers, Josie Sawbridge, and cox Amelia Sterjo had a significant 46sec victory in girls under 15 coxed fours over Wimbledon High School.

A further four wins came in the afternoon division.

The WJ18 8o of Holly Cookson, Maddy Pollard, Georgia Brown, Carla Russell, Pheobe Snowden, Daisy Bellamy, Pheobe Fletcher, Hannah Hills, Ella Nolson won their category with the Henley 2nd eight finishing just behind them and ahead of two Headington Eights. The girls time saw them third fastest women’s eight of the day behind Leander and Cambridge University eights.

In WJ16 coxed fours Holly Nave, Gina Segrt, Sophie Underwood, Poppy Wilson, and Ava Reineke cox had a convincing 44 sec victory.

The WJ 14’s had three boats race in the coxed quad event. All crews steered well against a fairly strong stream, with the boat of Lilly Hoogenberg, Lucy Jones, Nonnie Luke, Gabby Chaplin and cox Caitlin Emery taking first place in a time of 14min 11sec, they were followed 16sec later by their team mates of Ailish Harkin, Georgia Chaplin, Hannah Boddy, Caitlin Swinburn and cox Fran Whittle who took second. The third crew came home 5th.

The J14 boys coxed quad ‘A’ crew of Pascal Giret, Connor O’Shea-James, Matthew Provoost and Louis Swinburne-Johnson with Charlie Williams cox stormed to a minute-and-a-half victory. They had an outstanding row to take J14 coxed quads. The ‘B’ crew, half of which were J13s competing in the older age group, managed a creditable third place.

Burway Head 23rd February 2019

Last Sunday Henley rowing club had crews from the Masters and younger juniors entered in several divisions of the Burway Head, which takes place on the Staines section of the Thames over a 3000m course. On what couldn’t have been a nicer day the girls quad of Tabitha Hall,Freya Weiser, Gwennie Hunter ,Florence Lenthall and cox Katia Loggie won the WJ13 event beating the Henley B crew of Emily Simmons, Ella Dickson, Ella Presswell Evie Bell and cox Esme Davis into second place who in turn had a decisive margin over third placed Guilford Rowing Club. In WJ14 double sculls Amelia Sterjo and Ava Timms in only their second race had a good row to finish third in category that had one of the largest entries.

Reading University Head 9th March 2019

Last Saturday saw Henley Rowing Club crews racing at the Head organised by Reading University Boat Club and run over a course of about 4500 metres from the old Roebuck Hotel to just below Caversham Bridge. Despite the strong winds and stream the course is relatively sheltered which allowed all crews to race in testing but safe conditions.

Racing in the morning division the senior men’s quad of Nathan Hillyer (str), Andy Pettican, Stan Admiraal, Alastair Harsant (bow) battled their way to the top of their group beating strong local rivals to win the Open quads (band 3) category. They had a good race and managed to pass several boats. The next race for the men will be Kingston Head towards the end of the month where two quads are entered. The Master E quad Shaun Paice, Mike Hornsby, Jeremy Sidgwick and Rob Berrington rowed over with no opposition as did the Womens Master E quad of Janet Mehers, Margaret Hall, Julia Lock and Helen Davies.

In the afternoon Division the WJ15 eight of Rose Mcewen, Bea Bethell, Mia Vickerman, Ella Mckay, Mia Roullier, Laoise O’Donohue, Nat Schoenmakers, Josie Sawbridge and cox Daisy Rolstone won their category comfortably ahead of Marlow whilst also beating a number of senior eights.

The Club’s J16 – 18 Junior boys squad were out in strength coming fresh from a very successful day at the GB February Assessment at Boston, where on Saturday 23 February in 1x over 5k, Henley had 6 boys (Balthasar Issa, Seth O’Connor, Joe Long, Ed Roy, James Swinburn and Luke Marshall) in the top 20, significantly more than any other club or school. 4 quads were entered at Reading in J18 . Unfortunately the only entered opposition withdrew, but the Henley crews raced strongly in fast tail wind conditions to post some quick times. Henley’s A crew of Balthasar Issa, Seth O’Connor, Ed Roy and Joe Long came home first in a time of 14:05.3. They raced immediately behind and were only 12 seconds slower than a high quality under 23 crew including 2 silver medalists from last year’s GB quad at Worlds.

Winning WJ15 8

Schools Head of River 15th March 2019

Storm Gareth played havoc with last weekends rowing fixtures, Friday was the Schools Head of the River the major head race for juniors and in particular sweep rowing. Given the forecast for Friday the organisers had no option but to take out the fours and quads and the younger and less experienced crews and the event was reduced from an entry of over 300 crews to 100. From Henley all the boys crews who had been going to race in fours and quads lost out as did the girls J15 eight. The three top girls eights, Championship Eight, First eight and J16 eight all got to race in very blustery conditions but relatively benign water. The Girls Championship Eight of Bow Holly Cookson, Carla Russell, Georgia Brown, Sophia Hahn, Phoebe Snowden, Daisy Bellamy, Phoebe Fletcher, Hannah Hills and cox Ella Nolson where under pressure starting favourites and looking to retain last years title. The girls proved more than up to the challenge again winning the Head Pennant but with top girls school Lady Eleanor Holles just 1.8 secs behind after the 18 plus minute row. The girls first eight, Bow Maddy Pollard, Charlotte Rowley, Milly Guida, Riley Butcher, Issie Bird, Amber Weller, Emma Berry, Charlotte Williams cox Maddison Sturgess also secured a victory with a slightly more comfortable margin of 4 secs over the Putney High School top boat (no championship eight). The WJ16 eight, Holly Nave, Gina Segrt, Holly Thompson, Darcy Smith, Della Luke, Izzy Cotten, Georgia Pollard, Sophie Underwood , cox Ava Reineke finished second 8 seconds behind a very classy Headington Boat but a significant 16 seconds ahead of third placed Glasgow Academy. All three crews where then due to compete again on the Saturday in the Women’s Head of the River but the organisers of this event cancelled the whole event as the shift in storm Gareth’s wind direction would have made parts of the course un-rowable.

Junior Sculling Head 18th March 2019

Following success at the Schools Head for sweep boats Henley Rowing Club juniors headed to Dorney Lake on Monday 18th March for the Junior Sculling Head. The format for this event is slightly different than normal head races in that it is run in two legs using 1900metre of the 2000 metre course with the time for each leg aggregated for a total time. Winning four golds, two silvers and a bronze made the club the most successful at the event with the Girls also picking up the Victor Ludorum.

The girls received two medals in the top event J18 quads where the A boat (Hannah Hills,Sophia Hahn, Daisy Bellamy and Georgia Brown) picked up Gold and the B boat (Izzie Bird, Emma Berry, Maddy Pollard and Phoebe Fletcher), the Bronze. In the J18 boys event Luke Marshall, Grant Taylor, Joe Long and Issa Balthasar won the silver behind Leander. In the J17 events both the Henley boys (Euan Turnell, Edward Roy, Seth O’Connor and James Swinburn) and girls ( Phoebe Snowden, Charlotte Williams, Charlotte Rowley, Carla Russell), took the gold medals. At J16 the girls won the silver behind Tideway Scullers.The J15 girls quad took 4th place by beating 62 other crews in the event with the largest entry. The HRC WJ14 girls have been training hard since September, for this biggest and their final head race of the winter. The octo, which has eight scullers in, was up against 34 other crews in their division. They sculled well, and finished with a very respectable sixth place.

The quad, of bow Lucy Jones, Ailish Harkin, Nonnie Luke, Stroke, Eyla Wild and cox Fran Whittle, had one of their best rows of the season so far. In a field of 46, they powered their way over the coarse to win by a margin of 36 seconds, also placing them 36th overall.