Strong Wallingford Showing Sets Up Regatta Season

Wallingford Regatta brought a useful benchmark for RSSBC as we progress into the Regatta season.

In both the boys and girls’ squads, we had medal finishes and strong results which will aid the club significantly as the squad moves towards the peak of the season. The club raced eight crews, with the boys 1st VIII racing a coxed and coxless four before returning to the VIIIs in the afternoon. 

One of the standout performances of the day was in the boys coxless four, who stormed to victory 8 seconds ahead of Great Marlow School, beating crews in the final such as those from Latymer Upper School, Kew House School, and The King’s School, Chester.  Their earlier heat had produced a commanding success with a 12 second margin over Latymer Upper. This crew was the same that won the boys coxed fours at the Junior Four’s Head earlier in the season, showing the strength in the squad that will be transferable into the VIII towards National School’s and Henley Royal Regatta. 

The second coxed four that was produced from the 1st VIII also had a successful run in their morning category, coming 2nd in their heat and progressing to a tightly fought final and coming 5th overall, beating The King’s School, Worcester and coming in just behind a crew from St. Edward’s School.  

Moving back into the VIIIs, both the 1st and 2nd Boy’s VIII’s had strong runs in the highly competitive Junior/School Eights category.  

The Boy’s 2nd VIII was drawn into a strong heat- in which they were the only 2nd VIII- and came 5th, ahead of a crew from Claires Court School, and just behind Latymer Upper School’s 1st VIII. Unfortunately, this meant they did not progress to a repechage or final, but they raced incredibly well in a toughly fought heat against strong 1st VIIIs.  

The Boy’s 1st VIII had a well-raced run, reflective of the success they had achieved earlier in the day in the fours. In their heat, the crew came second- just 4 seconds behind a tough Bedford School crew and beating last year’s Henley Royal semi-finalists (and 2024’s PE winner) St Paul’s School by 7 seconds. This progressed them into the repechage, with a narrow 3rd place meaning they unfortunately didn’t make the final, but they raced extremely well, giving them a solid foundation to move through the rest of the season. 

On the girls side, RSSBC produced 3 crews off the back of a successful Spain Camp over Easter- a WJ18 1st 4x-, a J16 4x- and a WJ18 VIII.  

Both J18 crews raced in 2 events each- both the Junior/School’s events and the Challenge events in their respective categories.  

The WJ16 Quad event was a prominent performance for the club, with the crew winning their heat over crews from Tideway Scullers and Rowing South Africa’s Development Squad. This put them in a strong position for the final, with the crew putting in an excellent row and reaching a 2nd place position overall. 

The WJ18 Quad also had a strong day of racing, coming 2nd in their heat and storming 7 seconds ahead of Sir William Borlase’s quad in third place. This placed them in the final, which was tightly fought and ultimately concluded in a 3rd place result for the crew, just behind two strong crews from Marlow RC. The quad then also raced in the Women’s Challenge Quads, an event which placed them against senior women’s crews from across the country. They raced very well, especially against a high calibre of British women’s rowing, coming in 5th in their heat, 25 seconds ahead of a crew from City of Bristol RC.  

The girls VIII’s races were a benchmark to see where the newly formed crew places within the highly competitive Women’s Junior Eights. In this event, the crew put in a strong effort, coming in 6th in their heat, just two seconds behind a crew from Bedford Girls’ School. Unfortunately, this result concluded in not making the final, but  the Women’s Challenge Eights gave the girls an opportunity in the afternoon to reset and race against a fresh opposition. This event saw the VIII take on various crews, including those from Leander, Thames and last year’s Henley Royal winners, Headington. Whilst the girls didn’t manage to progress to the finals in a highly stacked field, they were able to knock 6 seconds off the time they had achieved in the morning category- a commendable achievement!  

Overall, this race was positive across the squad, and gave us a clear picture of the opposition faced as we move into the next few weeks before National Schools Regatta.

Beatrice C (UVI, G)