The Chronicle, No. 669, January 2016

30 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Rowing By Peter Rudge, Master i/c Rowing

Our first event of the year, Wallingford Long Distance Sculls, saw a fantastic debut win for new Lower Sixth pupil Siobhan Mottram ( The Misbourne ) in the U17 single sculls category while our second event, Reading Small Boats Head, saw the winning streak continue. The boys were successful with the four of Ben Sthamer ( New College ), Karl Rieger ( Rothesay Netherwood ), Jamie Johnstone ( The Beacon ), Noah Phipps ( The Marlborough ), and Jamie Galbraith ( St Hugh’s ) winning their event. There was a win for the girls’ double of Siobhan Mottram and Eloise Kiely ( Windlesham House ) while Siobhan Mottram also won again in the afternoon with our GB international, Tilly Catlin ( Esher CofE High ). Other impressive results at Reading included Rupert Singfield ( Cherwell ) coming second in his single event while the boys’ quad of Charlie Smith ( The Beacon ), David Willcox ( Wallingford ), Charlie Gosling ( Eaton House The Manor ) and Hugh Reilly ( Davenies ) also came fourth overall on the day beating Leander in the process and only behind crews from Reading University. Finally the Boat Club had an extremely busy day at Pangbourne Junior Sculls. In the morning the senior boys raced in both a quad and a coxed four. The coxed four came second behind Winchester but ahead of crews from Eton, Shiplake, Canford and Bedford

School while the best result of the day was the quad of Hugh Reilly, David Willcox, Felix Obholzer ( Hampton) and Charlie Gosling beating Eton’s top boat to win their event and finish as the fastest crew of the entire day. In the afternoon the boys raced again and split down into pairs and singles. Highlights here included Hugh Reilly coming fourth overall in his single while David Willcox came eighth overall. In the pairs, Charlie Smith and Rupert Singfield excelled to win the junior coxless pair event and were also the fastest pair of the day into the bargain. On the girls’ side the quad of Siobhan Mottram, Tilly Catlin, Kirsten Pearce ( Dr Challoner’s ) and Molly van der Heiden ( Farmor’s ) raced well finishing third in their event in the morning. The standout performances were in the afternoon when the girls raced in singles. Siobhan Mottram continued her run of great results to come second in the junior 17 event while Tilly Catlin came second in the junior 18 event. With two wins, four seconds, a third and a fourth it was a very successful day for the Boat Club. Finally, at the very end of term, it was great to see 54 rowers prepared to give up part of their holiday to prepare for this term with a training camp at School that will undoubtedly have set them up for more success in the coming months.

Last term’s focus for the Boat Club was on pre-season land training and we had more girls and boys working hard in preparation for this term than ever before. On the water the emphasis was on quality rather than quantity but our elite rowers, both the boys’ and girls’ senior squads, were busy and raced at several events. Tilly Catlin ( left ) with one of the three silver medals she won at the Coupe de la Jeunesse in Hungary last summer (see page 7). Swimming By Rebecca Clark, Head of Swimming Swimming at St Edward’s continues to develop; the sport was oversubscribed owing to its popularity last term. There were beginners, intermediate, advanced competitive swimmers and triathletes in the pool at any one time. Catherine Phillips was an invaluable addition to the coaching team. A swimmer herself, she brought a wealth of knowledge and expertise to poolside. First team swimmers competed successfully in galas against Stowe, Bromsgrove, Bedford, Oundle, Abingdon, Bradfield, Cranleigh and Cheltenham College in our biggest fixtures programme since the re-establishment of competitive swimming. There was a real team spirit and vibrancy on poolside with increasing numbers either in the development group or in the squad. School records were broken by Casper Sunley ( Cheam) , Amélie Waters ( Lycée International de Valbonne ) and Sascha Clark-Jones ( Christ

Casper Sunley

Frank Wates ( Cottesmore )

Church Cathedral ). Swimmers who have put in excellent races in competition this term are Ademide Adewunmi ( British International, Lagos ), Amélie Waters, Amber Walkinshaw ( Dragon ), Maddie Catchpole ( Dragon ), Antonia Lewis ( Marlston House ), Lizzie Dorey ( Cherwell ), Hannah Monks ( Headington ), Alexia Demetriou ( Kampala International ), Natalia Elezovic ( Fulham Prep ), Millie Tozer ( Banda, Nairobi ), Gong Limsong ( Chulalongkorn University Demonstration School ), James Bazeley ( Cottesmore ), Ben Hutchinson Kurczij ( The Beacon ), Frank Wates ( Cottesmore ), Matt Thornton ( Wheatley Park ), Louis Wright ( Caldicott ), Vladimir Farenkov ( Moscow Education Centre 1239 ), Pasha Tinkov ( Anglo

American School of Moscow ), Gleb Izmaylov ( Bishopstrow ), Misha Kirillov ( Elstree ), Fike Adebiyi ( Day Waterman College ), Felix Parr ( Christ Church Cathedral ), Casper Sunley, Sascha Clark-Jones, Paul Beckers ( Lycée Français Victor Hugo ), Martin Ho ( Yuen Long Merchants Association Secondary ), Maximilian Heil ( Cherwell ) and visiting Australian swimmer and exchange pupil Ciaron Loh ( The King’s School, Parramatta ). The team gained an overall win against Cheltenham College in the final fixture of the term and are looking forward to meets against Abingdon and Oratory this term as well as the prestigious Bath Cup and Swimming Relays at The London Aquatics Centre, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.