Over Easter holidays, the Norwich School Boat Club travelled to Brive, France to take part in their annual training camp. With Nationals just around the corner, it was the perfect opportunity for all crews to gain vital time on still water and to develop as a squad. Pupil, Kit Whitaker (M5R) reports on the trip. 

"From waking up at six in the morning with the surreal mist rising off the water, to a beautiful evening session with the sun setting over the hills, Brive has once again proved an essential part of our training. Side by side racing between four year groups provided a valuable insight into the boat speeds we’ve been developing through the year, and after two days of intense training, everyone was already feeling the Brive Burn in our legs and on our hands!

The J14 Squad continued to develop their sculling technique which came a long way over the week. J15 Squad saw a big shift in their boat power over the course of Brive with a useful race, towards the end of the week, against Dulwich, who was also there on training camp. The J16s had an intense week of training with the pinnacle being the very tough seat racing endured on day three which racked up to a total of nearly 45KM. The Seniors continued to work hard, in preparation for Henley Royal Regatta in a few months time, whilst battling revision.

With all the intense training came downtime and a lot of fun. There is nothing more friendship-forging than a week of hard, hard work! Although we were completely knackered by the end of the week, there’s nothing else we would’ve rather done and Brive remains one of everyone’s main highlights of our school years.

Brive, for us, is one of the main highlights of the rowing year."

Photographs below by Norwich School pupil, Kit Whitaker.