National Schools Regatta

Last weekend saw Henley Rowing Club Junior crews competing at the National Schools Regatta the largest regatta for Juniors in Great Britain and returning with four golds two silvers and a bronze . This year the event returned to the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham having been held at Eton’s Dorney Lake for the last few years. It is held over three days with events for J14s and 15s on Friday and events for J16 and 18s on Saturday and Sunday. J14s race over 1000meters all other age groups race the full 2000 meters. Unfortunately Sundays racing had to be cancelled due to the high winds and Saturdays racing rescheduled to accommodate some of Sundays finals and all races going straight from a processional time trial format to six lane finals.   

On the Friday the J14 and J15 squads came home with the remarkable tally of three golds and two silver medals in large highly contested fields.

In Open J15 1st boats 4x+ for the Creber Cup, the Henley crew of Diego Petrosillo, Flynn Burrow, Franco Bigmore Wallace, Miles Vann, cox Emma Groat laid down the strongest possible marker in the time trial with an unusually large gap to the second crew of some 12 seconds in a field of 37 boats. They certainly didn’t fail to follow up in the A final, surging to a 6 second lead by 500m gone. Sculling with great technique and commitment, they held the chasing pack at bay, winning by a length of clear water from Windsor Boys School, 2nd and Hereford Cathedral School, 3rd.

In Open J15 2nd boats 4x+ for the Jubilee Cup, Henley’s crew of Oliver Rowley, James Weeks, Samuel Byerley, Theo Berry , cox Aryaveer Kotwal demonstrated the strength in depth of the club’s J15 year group qualifying strongly in 2nd place in the 20 boat time trial. In the A final they fought all the way down the course with the Windsor Boys School crew, narrowly losing out by 3 seconds to win a strong silver, 16 seconds ahead of the crew in third place, also from Windsor.

In girls J15 4x+ for 1st boats Jess Beazley, Issy Hughes, Camilla Barlow, Juliet Len cox Elise Pindoria qualified second in the field of 37 boats just 0.2 sec behind Headington and well clear of third placed Durham. The final proved to be a tight race between Henley and Headington, with Henley having a 2sec going into the last 500m but a determined fight back saw Headington eating into this lead with the Henley girls taking the Gold by just 0.46 secs from Headington and Marlow in third.

In girls J15 4x+ for 2nd boats Emily Robinson, Erin Goodall, Polina Bezuhlyi, Emeilia Scott and cox Issy Davies dominated the event winning the time trial by a whopping 15 secs and taking an early lead in the final which they increased at every marker to win by a convincing 7secs over Grange school in second and Nottingham and Union in third.

In J14 4x+ for the Canterbury Cup, Henley’s A crew of Rohan Shanker, Henry Featherstone, Ethan Taylor, Charles Chapman, cox Aryaveer Kotwal, qualified 2nd in a huge field of 42 boats. In the A final they renewed their ongoing tussle with a 4x from Abingdon School, 1st in the time trial by 3 seconds ahead of Henley. Back at the Junior Sculling Head in March, the Henley boys had been 16 seconds behind Abingdon, narrowing to 5 seconds in the A final at the Junior Sculling Regatta in early May. Racing over a short 1000m course, the Henley boat was down 3 seconds by 500m, surged back in the last 500m but just ran out of lake, down at the finish on Abingdon by the narrow margin of 1.5 seconds gaining every stroke - a valiant silver.

In the same J14 4x+ event, Henley’s B crew of Noah Cotton, William Askin, Oscar Mackenzie -Smith, Jonathon Paine, cox Emma Grout , as with the J15 2nd boat, demonstrated the J14 year group’s strength in depth by being the fastest B crew in the 42 boat time trial, so qualifying for the C final.

On the Saturday, Jonty Stanbridge-Bennett raced in Championship 1x . Conditions were far from ideal with a strong gusty headwind . Despite this, Jonty finished in 11th place in the time trial in a large field of 51 scullers, so qualifying for the B final where he finished 4th, giving him a highly creditable 10th ranking overall.

Saturdays Gold came from the girls Grace Haldane, Ella Butler, Lauren Pollard, Emma Floyd, Sophie Floyd, Daisy Millard, Holly Jackson, Scarlett Hyde and cox Elise Pindoria, racing in J16 eights for the Steve Gunn Bowl. In the time trial they finished 1.5 secs ahead of old rivals Surbiton. In the final the Henley girls had a small lead by 500m but by halfway had increased this to 2.5 secs, nearly a length, and went on finish with clear water between them and second place Surbiton High School.

In Championship event for coxed fours the girls Evie Meeks, Lillian Graham, Jemima Butterworth, Molly Hall cox Anton Otenko coped well with the worsening conditions to finish second in the time trial. In the final Kingston Grammar School took an early lead leaving Henley and Shiplake College fighting for silver and bronze in the end Shiplake took silver and Henley the bronze.

Jess Mack, Charlotte Tong, Chloe Hughes and Nicollette Pagdin, finished 7th in the time trial for Championship Girls quads, and should have raced the B Final but an injury to a competitor in the A final saw the girls promoted to the A final and a chance at the medals. In very difficult conditions the girls could never quite hit form and had to settle for fifth.