King’s certainly don’t mess about on the river

Last weekend saw many members of the Boat Club in action, with our efforts spread over three different regattas. 

Henley Women’s Regatta started on Friday evening, with the Fifth Form Girls’ Coxed Four racing for a qualification spot and the right to race on Saturday. The girls raced well, just missing out on qualifying for the main event. They were inspired by the regatta and will certainly be back next year. The Senior Girls’ Eight of Posie F, Ellie N, Emilie C, Issy G, Millie D, Freya D, Catherine R-B, Rosie S and Archie S rose early on Saturday and headed to the course for their qualification race. The time trial was fiercely fought out among the 19 hopefuls, with just 16 places available in the regatta. Our crew raced superbly well and took one of the coveted places, which was a thrilling result for the crew that saw them drawn to race Aberdeen Schools’ Rowing Association in the heat of Saturday evening. A great race ensued, but the girls were beaten by a stronger crew on the day. It was a great experience for the crew and, with all but one being in Lower Sixth, they will be a real force to be reckoned with next year.

Three crews of Fifth and Sixth Form boys attended Marlow Regatta, held on Saturday at Dorney Lake. All crews raced a time trial early in the morning, progressing to finals in the middle of the day.  These were contested by eight boats, making for very exciting action. The Boys’ Eight came fifth in the D-Final, the Fifth Form Boys’ Quad Scull rowed up as J18s and placed fourth in the F-Final, whilst the Senior Boys’ Quad raced in the E-Final. Once again, they lined up against local rivals RGS in an exciting race, which resulted in our boys prevailing. It was very satisfying for the boys to finish ahead of RGS in the last side-by-side event of the season.

Seventy Remove and four Sixth Form rowers raced closer to home at the Stratford Junior Spring Regatta. The close racing and challenging course brought plenty of action and incidents to entertain the many families spectating along the banks . It was our last major regatta for the Removes; they were certainly out in force, with five Lower Remove boys’ quads and three Lower Remove girls’ quads. They performed admirably, with many crews progressing through the rounds and reaching finals; indeed, some of these were contested by two of our crews.  Ultimately, only one crew could be crowned champions for each event, and King’s took four trophies for the day. Winning crews were: Charlie M-W and Toby A in the J15 Double Scull, Emily E and Issy S in the Girls’ J14 Double Scull, Darcy W, Jess M, Issy B, Sophie E and Sonali P in the J15 Girls’ Quad Scull, and Alex M, Tom S, Will M, Freddie G and Ted S in the J14 Boys’ Quad Scull.

The seniors now head back to Henley on Thames to race for qualification at the prestigious Henley Royal Regatta.