King’s Boat Club Wins Raft of Medals at British Indoor Championships

Members of the King’s Boat Club enjoyed an incredibly successful weekend at the prestigious British Rowing Indoor Championships. The event, held at the NEC in Birmingham last weekend, drew competitors from across the country and as far afield as the Faroe Islands.

On Saturday Florence V, (FF), was in devastating form, taking on both the Year 11 Girls, six minute and 500 metre events. In the six minute event she started strongly and was challenged by the Hartpury College competitor, but she moved slightly ahead in the second minute and the fight continued for the remainder of the race. With a fast-finishing competitor from Kingston closing in the dying moments, Florence maintained her composure and took victory, her first gold medal of the weekend.

Her rivals from the first event also raced alongside Florence in the 500 metre sprint and were desperate for revenge. Florence got a quick start and was able to keep the narrowest of margins over the course of the race, as they dashed for the line nothing separated them; the results flicked up to show Florence had crossed the line two tenths of a second ahead, to secure her second gold for the event.

On Sunday, three of our Fifth Form boys raced the 1000 metre event, again with an international flavour as they were flanked by boys from the Faroe Islands. Perry A took an early lead with a chase from two boys from the Faroe islands. One of the boys steadily crept into Perry’s lead, making the final sprint extremely exciting as the tiring lads pulled incredible splits. Perry fell just short, eventually taking a well-earned silver medal, 0.9 seconds behind in the just over three minute race. Matt P and Nathan S were splendid in their efforts finishing in fifth and sixth respectively.

Later in the afternoon, over forty of our athletes descended on the event, keen to be part of the action and show their winter form – they were not to be disappointed!

Our relay teams were stunning in their execution of their changeovers and the power in their strokes, as they set about demolishing the fields in many of their races, despite an illness taking out a number of our rowers.

Our three mixed crews of Fifth and Sixth Form pupils were determined to retain the title from 2024, and the intensity from the start left the others in their wake. It soon became apparent that the podium could be filled with our three crews as they fought among themselves for the honours and pride. Ultimately, the team of Jasmine S (U6) Freddie B, Lucas C (L6) and Florence V took the gold medal, travelling 2677 metres in the eight minutes, some 30 metres further than last year’s winners. This was also Florence’s third gold medal of the weekend.

The silver medal went to Oliver R (U6) Oliver Y (L6), Henrietta V and Issy W (FF), while Tom P, Rowan C, Sophie E and Jess M (U6) secured the bronze medal. Our Year 10 girls team of Molly W, Caitlin S, Hermione H and Issy T-J came sixth in their relay.

Due to some absences, several of our rowers went straight into the very next race filling spots in our next wave of relays. The internal rivalry also continued with the Fifth and Sixth Form boys’ crews fighting for supremacy in the Senior Boys relays. In one of the most exciting races of the day, the lead changed on almost every changeover, see-sawing between the Sixth and Fifth form units. As the seconds ticked down, the Sixth Form boys of Felix T (U6) Alex M, Freddie G and Lucas C (L6) took the ascendency and swept across the line with 16 metres to spare and secure the gold medal in front of Perry A, Matt P, Nathan S and Patrick D (FF).

Our second Year 11 boys’ crew of Alessio M, Hugo M, George Y and Ed C were beaten into fourth by Maidstone Invicta RC. Meanwhile, our Fifth and Sixth Form girls’ crews were fighting for the minor medals with an epic battle, eventually giving Ava T, Emily E, Issy S (L6) and Hattie T the bronze over the fourth placed finish crew of Emelia S, Sophie E (U6) Evie G and Grace M (FF).

It was all King’s in the Year 10 Mixed relays with Evelyn R, Ed S, Max C and Henrietta H taking gold, with Eddie U, Henrietta H, Oscar S-H and Imogen B in silver and the bronze for Molly W, Alice W, Aiden A and Ryan W.

It was a terrific day out for all out rowers where they all excelled. Special mention must go to Florence V with two individual golds and a relay gold medal, Lucas C with two relay gold medals and Perry A with an individual silver and relay silver medal.

The event marked the final competition before the annual Boat Club Charity Challenge, held on the 12^th and 13th December, where this year the rowers will row and cycle for a distance of two million metres to raise funds in aid of Motor Neurone Disease.

For more information about this year’s Charity Challenge, or to make a donation, please click here.