King’s Ely Boat Club enjoyed a splendid weekend at the National Schools’ Regatta (NSR) – achieving places in more finals than ever before, and doing themselves and the whole school proud!
Fifty of our Rowers competed in what is the UK’s premiere Junior Rowing event, attracting more than 5,000 students aged 14-18. The prestigious event took place at the 2012 Olympic Rowing venue, Dorney Lake, from May 24th-26th.
Mr Craig Ward, who is Head of Rowing at King’s, said: “What a weekend! Our crews made more finals than ever before, and with some very impressive results, King’s Ely Boat Club’s rowers, coaches and families left Dorney positive and proud.
“Friday saw the Year 9 boys and Year 10 girls race the course, with the J14 boys’ quad finishing 22nd out of 48 crews in 1st quads. They qualified for the D Final, in which they finished 4th. The Year 10 girls’ quad raced well, with the A quad unfortunately not progressing. The second girls’ quad qualified for the D Final, and went on to produce an amazing row, finishing 1st and securing 19th place overall.
“The race of the day on Friday came from the Year 9 boys’ octo, who narrowly missed out on the A Final (top 6) by 0.5 seconds! They re-grouped and stormed through the field winning the B Final, meaning a 7th place finish out of 29 crews!
“Saturday saw our J15 boys and Senior Championship crews take to the course for morning time trials. The J15 8+ raced well, securing a place in the D Final, in which they finished 3rd. The J15 4+ produced probably the result of the weekend, qualifying into the top 6 for the afternoon A Final, which is an excellent achievement. The boys 4+ finished 5th in the A Final against 31 other crews.
“The championship boys’ and girls’ quads navigated time trials, finishing 29th and 18th, respectively, with the girls’ quad missing the A/B semi finals by 0.3 seconds. Mollie in champ girl’s single produced a strong row, finishing 22nd in the time trial.
“Sunday saw the continuation of the championship events alongside Grace and Inga in WJ16 doubles, and Nell and Heather in champ girls’ doubles. The WJ16 double produced a great row in difficult conditions, finishing 23rd and qualifying for the D Final, in which they finished 6th.
“The girls’ and boys’ quads raced through the C/D semi finals, with the boys making the D Final and the girls making the C Final. In the last races of the weekend, the crews stepped up in unfavourable lanes, with the boys 5th in the D Final. The girls’ quad, fired up by a disappointing morning semi final, stormed away from the field and closed the door on their opposition, winning their C Final and finishing a very impressive 19th overall.
“Congratulations to all Rowers for their fantastic achievements and efforts. Thank you to all Rowing staff and Miss Mortimer for their huge efforts in making the weekend happen, and thank you to the parents for their brilliant support!”