Rowers Reign at National Regatta

Over the May Bank Holiday long-weekend, our crews competed in the premier event of junior rowing, the National Schools’ Regatta 2024, and met with outstanding success. 

Thousands of competitors from over 150 clubs and schools descended on the Olympic venue at Dorney Lake for the 77th annual National Schools’ Regatta. The standard was extremely high, and competitors and spectators alike had a magnificent time at this awe-inspiring event. 

Our Upper Remove (Year 10) rowers started the action, with four crews competing on Friday in the Junior 15 events for First and Second Coxed Quad Sculls. All four crews raced well over 1900 metres amongst large fields of scullers from all over the country. Our Girls’ First crew narrowly missed the cut, but the others progressed into the finals, raced over 2000 metres. Our First Boys’ crew went on to win their C-Final, ranking them 13th in the country. Our Girls’ Second crew placed fourth in the C-Final, with the Boys’ Second crew taking the same place in their B-Final, which is an outstanding result in their first ever event at Dorney Lake and multi-lane racing. 

Saturday morning saw some of our older rowers take to the water, with the Championship events of Single Scull and Quadruple Scull spread over two days, and others completing their event in just one day, with both time-trials and finals. 

Time trials for the Championship Single Scull and Quad Scull saw both move to the repechage, where the Single Scull qualified for the F-Final on Sunday. The Quad Scull had an excellent race in the repechage, achieving a strong second place and qualifying for the A/B Semi-finals on Sunday. 

The Girls’ Coxed Fours from the Fifth and Sixth Forms (Years 11, 12 and 13) both qualified for the C-Final and went onto take fourth and fifth respectively in their finals. The Sixth Form Boys’ Coxed Four also went through to the C-Final of their Championship, and they dominated the race, securing the win. 

Our strength in numbers of Sixth Form Boys enabled us to boat two crews in the Second Quad Scull event. The First crew progressed to the A-Final, with their eyes clearly set on a medal. The race was incredibly competitive, and ultimately a medal was just beyond their grasp, as they had to settle for fourth place. The Second crew contested the B-Final and raced extremely well to take second place.   

Sunday saw a change from the glorious weather of the previous day, but this did not dampen the spirits of our rowers or supporters. Our Fifth Form Boys’ and Girls’ Quad Sculls started the day with their time trials, with the First crews both progressing to the D-Finals. The Boys went on to take second, and the Girls were sixth in their respective finals. The Second Boys’ Quad progressed to the A-Final and fought well, but just missed the podium, securing fourth place. 

The Sixth Form Championship Girls’ Pair and Coxless Four secured a place in the D-Final and A-Final respectively, while the Championship Boys’ Quad Scull raced well in their semi-final to move into the B-Final in the afternoon. Nick D went on to win his Single Scull F-final, moving out quickly from the start and holding off the chasing pack. The Girls’ Pair also had a fantastic battle throughout their race and broke the opposition to win their final. The Championship Girls’ Four and Championship Boys’ Quad both raced fiercely in their incredibly high standard events, taking sixth and seventh places respectively. 

All in all, this was a great event for King’s Boat Club, and it was fantastic to see so many of our crews make it through to finals and perform so well at this level. The rest of this this season promises much, and we wish all our crews every success.