The Chronicle, Summer 2019

37 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

Barnaby Singfield, Arun Grewal, Alexander Gowans and William de St Croix at Henley, with Thibby Mulot, Nicolas Farah, Nicholas Sawyer, Felix Abel and cox Alexander Byas out of shot

Seniors With the J16 boys being kept separate, the decision was made that the senior boat for the Schools’ Head and National Schools’ Regatta would be a four. The crew picked up several wins throughout the season including Kingston and Hammersmith Head, and were favourites going into the Schools’ Head but unfortunately the weather caused their event to be cancelled. The Easter camp showed signs of what the crew were capable of over the shorter distance and a strong race at Wallingford Regatta in the open coxless fours, as well as a win at Nottingham City Regatta, demonstrated the boat was picking up speed nicely. At National Schools’ the Championship 4- event was of the usual high quality and the boys put together two good races and made the A Final. This proved to be one of the races of the day and, with a margin of just four seconds separating 1st to 6th, the crew can be proud of their 5th place finish, just one second off a bronze medal. With the National Schools’ Regatta over for another year, attention turned towards Henley Royal Regatta. With just three weeks to get an Eight together, we managed to go one better and put two Eights out! With a 1st VIII and 2nd VIII selected we set off to

Reading Regatta wondering how these crews would fare with such little time together. The 2nd VIII lost against Southampton University 1st Eight in the opening heat but, for a crew with an average age of 16, they had plenty to be pleased about and continued their learning experience by racing at the HRR qualifiers in The Temple Challenge Cup – an event primarily for university students. At the Reading Regatta, the 1st VIII had drawn King’s College School Wimbledon who were in the A Final of the Championship Eights at the National Schools’ Regatta and were an established A crew. Our worries were quickly quashed when the St Edward’s VIII won the race by a length and a half and progressed through to round two against Reading Blue Coat, who were also quickly dispatched. On to the final against Abingdon School who had also spent most of the year in this boat class and with high hopes for Henley Royal Regatta. The 1st VIII led from the front and with a winning margin of half a length, were crowned victorious – not a bad start! They moved on to Wallingford Regatta and made the final of Senior Eights, finishing 5th but demonstrating good speed in the second half of the race against Eton and Shrewsbury.

Both of these results meant that when the draw was done for Henley Royal Regatta, the 1st VIII found themselves to be one of the eight seeded crews, a great achievement for a crew only formed three weeks prior. Round one against King’s School Canterbury went as planned and allowed the crew to gain valuable experience of racing down the course and they controlled the race throughout. Round two saw them up against King’s College School Wimbledon again, out for revenge after the Reading Regatta. Once again, our 1st VIII led from the start and showed incredible maturity throughout, winning by almost two lengths. A quarter final place was achieved and a showdown with 2018 winners and 2019 National School Champions, St Paul’s. This race demonstrated that we still have plenty of work to do before we can break back into the top three and, although the 1st VIII put in plenty of effort, we could not match the efficiency and ruthlessness that St Paul’s showed. It will be sad to see our Captain of Boats, Barnaby Singfield, depart after five years of commitment to the Boat Club. With 17 of the senior group back next year, however, there will be a clear aim of breaking back into the top end of British junior rowing.