The Olympic Rowing Lake at Eton, Dorney, lay host to the National Schools Regatta where schools and clubs from across Great Britain compete in the largest 3 day sports event for pupils aged 13-18. Norwich School entered crews from each year group; well done to the A final medallists from the J14 Octopule (Silver) and the Sch 4+ (Gold).
The following report on the National Schools Regatta was written by Mr Barrell, Head of Rowing at Norwich School.
Friday 25th May 2018
On Friday 25th May the J14 boys raced the 1000m course in an Octopule and two quad sculls. commencing with a time trial to determine which final (A, B, C or D) they would be racing in.
The highlight of the day was the octuple who showed fierce competitive form and won the time trial with a very tight margin over St Pauls School to place them in the A final. Lining up for the 6 lane final to decide the fastest J14 Octopule in Great Britain (from 23 other boats) is a nerve wracking experience and one that our youngest members of the boat club seem to take in their stride.
There is no room for error with 1000m of water between start and finish line. The start proved fast with Norwich School taking an early lead but only by half a length. Through the 500m mark St Pauls were moving through and with only 150m left both boats were level. In the last 15 strokes St Pauls snuck in front by the closest of margins to leave NSBC in the silver medal position, in a time that equalled the record. Despite being disappointed by the result, the boys have been left with a burning desire to come back stronger next year. This result is by far the best result the boat club has recorded by a lower 5 year group in the history of the club.
A summary of Friday’s results are as follows:
J14 4X+A - A McCabe, M Murray, T Thornton, B Scott and D Collins (6th D Final)
14 4X+B - M Mohammad, F Robbins, K Whitaker, A Dixon and T Finch (DNQ)
J14 8X+A - S Gotto, S Cooper, J Catmull, C Tasker, R Sargent, M Doyland, F Arkle, B Tremelling and T Finch 2nd in A Final (Silver)
J15 4+ H Dickerson, J Kohler, J Kirby, A Hampsheir, J Lynne (3rd in C Final)
Saturday 26th May
In front of large crowds and beautiful sunny conditions the stage was set for some serious 2000m racing. This year the rule change meant there were no ‘First Eight’ categories, only ‘Championship’. This meant facing the challenge of competing against the top rowing schools in Great Britain .
All boats have to race time trials to establish whether they are good enough to race in the A/B semi-finals or face a direct C or D final, and all racing was in the 6-8 lane format.
The highlight of the day was produced by the Norwich School sixth form rowers, who raced in the School 4’s event and had shown great form recently at Bedford Regatta and during some training pieces against the J16 8+.
Composed, powerful and quietly confident, the crew of Oli Udy, Harry Hook, Declan Bacic, Will Tremelling and cox Angus Toms took the field by storm winning the time trial convincingly, setting themselves up for a semi final which again they won with ease, even taking their stroke rate down for the last 250m and winning by 5s.
The A final saw the crew line up against Tideway Scullers, St Georges, Winchester, Walton and Monkton Combe. With a blisteringly quick start, the crew eased out a comfortable lead early on and with no serious threat from any of the opposition took the race by storm winning by 3.5 lengths in a very respectable time. Great to see the trophy back in the School, previously won 8 years ago.
A summary of Saturday’s results are found below:
J15 8+ A Creasy, R Parsons, H James, A Chitre, C Hulbert, C Gray, A Nolan, J Baker and C Hempsall (3rd in B final)
J16 4+ B Collins, M Baker, E Bacic, G Ferguson, and G Prior (6th in B final)
J16 8+ D Steel, M Tremelling, J Elliott, H Hempsall, K Erdodi, E Collinson, J Gray, M Sexton and S Clarke (1st in B Final)
Sch G4+ C Coventry, I Shaw, M Cruickshank, A Herrmann and H Dobson (3rd in C Final)
Sch 4+ H Hook, O Udy, W Tremelling, D Bacic and A Toms (1st in A Final - GOLD)
Sunday 27th May
On another still and sunny day at Dorney, a select team of rowers competed in small boats with the following results:
J16 2- E Collinson/J Gray (1st in C Final)
J16 2- M Sexton/K Erdodi (1st in B Final)
J16 4- D Steel/M Tremelling/J Elliott/H Hempsall (6th in A Final)
J16 G4X- O Holdcroft/S Udy/I Shaw/C Coventry (20th in time trial)
Ch 2- O Udy/H Hook (6th in A Final)
All the boats racing showed huge determination, courage and competitiveness and with many A and B finals, National Schools 2018 has been the club's finest yet. Well done to all the rowers, a big thank you to the support of the parents on the bank and all the hard work and time put in by the coaching team.
All pictures below by Kit Whitaker (L5R)
