Henley Thursday

Today saw another good day's racing for our crews.  You had to be in Henley early to catch the warm-up act, the 'B' quad consisting of three boys from the 3rd VIII and one from the 2nd.  In the good conditions that blessed the early morning this crew raced well against Windsor Boys' 'A' crew.  Windsor Boys' took an early lead, and had around a length by Fawley.  However, our boys pushed hard past Remenham, and kept them under pressure down the second half of the course, partly through excellent steering (commented on by umpire Matt Pinsent no less) keeping them out of the stream as much as possible.  Windsor Boys' have been a strong sculling school for many years,  and to keep their top boat honest down the course was a good achievement.

The VIII raced in the afternoon and had a comfortable victory over Bedford School.  The verdict was just short of 'easily' and the boys were again quick out of the blocks, posting good times to the Barrier and Fawley.  This was another row to build on the confidence engendered by yesterday's win.  Henley campaigns are a bit like Wimbledon fortnights; it is a long haul, and there is much to get right.  Seeing off the more straightforward looking fixtures effectively is an important part of this, and adds to the resources to be drawn on later in the week.  Tomorrow will see a sterner test in the form of Scotch College, Australia at 1620.  The evidence suggests that this will be a close encounter, but it is certainly a winnable race.  The towpath chatter is starting to suggest that some of the hype around this Scotch crew may not be entirely justified...

Elsewhere in today's races there were some results to put a couple of our defeats yesterday in perspective.  The Canadians from Victoria (again on Bucks) saw off Conestoga High School of the US, who are a selected crew, by a greater margin than they managed over our 'A' quad yesterday. The Star crew who beat the Vikings saw off Agecroft with ease and look a good bet for the final of the Brit.

OE interest is now mostly centred around Harvard.  Josh Bernstein rows in their Temple 'A' crew at 1030, and Caspar Jopling will row in their varsity boat as it starts its campaign in the Ladies' Challenge Plate at 1520.  Henry Goodier is going strong with Imperial College in the Prince Albert Challenge Cup and will race next on Saturday.  Chris Snowden was in a Goldie four which went out on Wednesday, and Will Kenworthy was in a UL four which went out today.

 

Henley Wednesday

A good day for the club overall today, with strong performances, but mixed fortunes.

First ECBC race of the day saw the Temple Challenge Cup composite of Colts A and the 2nd VIII going out fairly comfortably to Reading University, but we knew that this crew was around the same speed as The VIII.  This crew had done very well to qualify for the regatta (there were only 3 school crews in the Temple, which is a university event) and this will have provided invaluable experience for some of our up and coming oarsmen.

Next came the 'A' quad in the Fawley, against good opposition from Canada (Victoria City RC).  Today was not the day to be giving away a stone and a half per man, into a strong stream and with the headwind unhelpfully strengthening a couple of races ahead of ours.  The  boys went down off the start (costly when on Bucks) but put in a considerable effort to come back to just a third of a length down at Fawley.  Unfortunately you really need to be up by then on Bucks, and the enclosure advantage of Berks took the Canadians away to just over a length.  This was a gutsy row, and a keen contest; a credit to the boys.

The 'B' quad provided our most exciting race of the day.  Oundle (on Bucks) took an early lead and were out to close on a length at one point.  However, the base speed of both crews through the middle of the race proved the same, and Oundle held a lead of half a length for much of the course.  Our boys kept their nerve creditably, and took full advantage as they came into the enclosures, taking the lead as they hit the crowds at the mile and the eigthth, and pulling away to win by almost 2 lengths.  This was a really mature row for boys from the 2nd and 3rd VIII.

After lunch came The VIII, who pulled out to a (perhaps unexpected) early lead against Phillips Exeter from the USA.  These were opponents who deserved some respect for their results in the US this season, and the manner in which The VIII pulled away from the start was both pleasing and impressive, not least as this is an area of their race on which they have been working recently.  After moving out to a lead of 2 lengths, the boys were able to relax into the row a little, and build that vital early confidence so crucial to a good Henley campaign.  The final verdict was 3 lengths.

The Eton Vikings coxed four in the Britannia Challenge Cup was beaten by Star Club.  Although the HRR has this as one of its headlines and one of the upsets of the day, I think that those in the boat thought that this would be their sternest test of the week ahead of the weekend, and probably the final.  Star won Elite 4+ at the Metropolitan Regatta, and quite why they aren't selected is a bit of a mystery.  The crew is drawn from those who made the final of the Thames Challenge Cup last year, where they met the newly revived (possibly by ABH) Upper Yarra of Australia.

 

Tomorrow the 'B' quad will race Windsor Boys' at 0945; The VIII race Bedford School at 1545. 

Henley draw

Wednesday will be a day for the early riser.  We get underway with the second race of the regatta, at 0835, when the Temple crew will race Reading University.  We know that Reading are slower than The VIII, but this will be a stern test for our Colts and 2nd VIII boys.

At 0945 the selected Eton Vikings crew will race Star club, who have put out some good crews this season, so this could be a close race.

We then move to the quads, with the A crew first, facing Victoria City RC, Canada at 1050.  These folk are a bit of an unknown quantity, and one would normally expect foreign crews to be strong, but it is not always the case, and they have not been selected by the Stewards.  The B crew race Oundle at 1220 and the pre lunch billing suggests that the hope is that this will be a close fought schoolboy clash.  It is certainly a winnable race.

After lunch, at 1440, The VIII will race Phillips Exeter from the USA.  This will again be a good race I suspect, with Phillips Exeter having placed 3rd in NEIRAs, five seconds behind Tabor who are a selected crew.  The draw has given what should be a more straigtforward race on Thursday as a reward for coming through this tough early encounter. 

Four boats at Henley

Today has been an excellent day.  All the deliberations about boats for Henley have paid off, and it is a great achievement that all our boats will now be rowing at the regatta.  It would be very interesting to know when a school last had four crews rowing at the regatta, and I am fairly sure it hasn't happened since entries in the Princess Elizabeth were limited to one eight per school.  In addition to The VIII in the PE and four of the 2nd VIII in the Fawley, our 2nd VIII/Colts A composite will row in the Temple and our 2nd/3rd VIII quad will also row in the Fawley.  Details of the crews are below.  Conditions were very demanding (a stiff headwind and a fair stream) and this may well have helped our boys to get the better of some less well-drilled university crews in the eights' event.  The quad had the pleasure of overtaking another crew in the qualifying race.  Credit must go to SPH and Sam Grant for moulding these crews together in such a short period of time. 

We have entertained all sorts of Henley ideas in the past, but this plan has really paid off; there have been many days to treasure for the club over recent years, but today is up there with the best of them.

Henley crews, Marlow news

Yesterday saw Marlow regatta run in very testing conditions, with a persistently strong crosswind throughout the day.  Unfortunately this meant that the regatta could not run to time, and IM3 8+ was axed as a result, putting paid to racing in eights for the 3rd VIII and Colts A.  However, that aside it was a very good day for the club.  Two wins were had, in J15A 8+ for Junior Colts A, rounding their season off in some style, and in IM2 4- for half of Colts A, who will be strong contenders for the coxless four spot in the GB France match.  The VIII raced very well in reaching the final of Senior VIIIs, where they were very  much in the race with some top class university and club crews.  With a much better race profile, this was just the sort of confidence boost that the boys needed in the run up to Henley.  Junior Colts B and the 2nd VIII both had to step up and race above their usual categories owing to early season success, but half of the 2nd VIII reached the final of Junior 4x, reinforcing their NSR result and securing prequalification for Henley.  Junior Colts C and the 2nd/3rd VIII quad kept Mr Cross busy, the former leaving their fin and rudder in the warm-up lane, and the latter splitting a sculling blade clean in half...

 

Crews for Henley (other than The VIII in the Princess Elizabeth) will be as follows:

 

Jordan	Fawley A
Metcalfe OS	Fawley A
Scott, C	Fawley A
Zaboronsky	Fawley A
Durini di Monza OS	Fawley B
Klebnikov	Fawley B
Lawson	Fawley B
Strong ma	Fawley B
Bruce ma	Temple
Cornelissen	Temple
Fisher mi	Temple
Friend OS	Temple
Goble	Temple
Jhaveri	Temple
King, L	Temple
Peters	Temple
Thurston mi	Temple

Difficult choices

At this time of year thoughts always turn to how best to serve those boys not in The VIII with regard to Henley entries.  With only one crew allowed in the Princess Elizabeth (the school event for eights in which The VIII always compete) the options for other crews are either to try to qualify in the Temple Challenge Cup (the eights event for universities) or the Fawley Challenge Cup (the event for school quads).  This year the decisions have been particularly difficult.  To qualify for the Temple you really have to have a 2nd VIII or Colts crew which is a little way clear of the field.  Back in 2008 our Colts A fulfilled this criterion.  In the last three years the 2nd VIII have done so.  No other school has consistently qualified crews for the event.  However, if we did nothing differently this year, the gut feeling of the coaches was that we would be putting our chances at 50/50 for the 2nd VIII, worse for Colts A.  We could have had just one boat rowing at the regatta.  As a result we have done something a little different this year and we have done some extensive testing over the last couple of days to back up our decisions and choices.  This testing has also confirmed that there aren't any boys in these crews who have come on and deserve to challenge for a seat in The VIII for Henley, so we can be sure that we have explored all avenues.  The boys from the 2nd VIII in Champ 4x at NSR will race in the same crew in the Fawley.  Having come 7th at NSR they will hopefully prequalify, but if not they should certainly get through the qualifiers.  One or two boys have shown that they are on a par with boys in this crew, but not faster.  A mix of 2nd and 3rd VIII boys will form a B quad in the Fawley (last seat still to be confirmed) and should have a decent chance of qualifying, having only been a few seconds behind the A quad at NSR.  The Temple eight will be a mix of boys from the 2nd VIII (3 oarsmen and cox) and Colts A (five oarsmen).  This should form a crew which is faster than Colts A, and hopefully one which is faster than the 2nd VIII too (it has some strong sweep oarsmen from the 2nd VIII in it).  If the rowing gods smile upon us we could end up with four crews at the regatta, but one can never take anything for granted.  How the Stewards will run the qualifying races if the weather keeps on like this is, for example, something of a problem...

Parents of boys in crews for the regatta will get an e-mail about tickets for the Stewards' Enclosure shortly.

National Schools

A meteorologically grim Sunday could not take the edge off what was an excellent weekend for the club as a whole in Nottingham.  Whilst there were some near misses, which might so nearly have gone the other way, the club came away with three golds and four silvers.  This put us 4th in the medal table (headed up by Headington as almost always at the moment), and highest placed of the boys' sweep schools.  More importantly, I think, this was the first time for a number of years when success was spread across all the age groups (with gold and silver medals at all three levels).  This is great testimony to the strength in depth of the club, and bodes very well for the future.

In more detail, The VIII rowed through the field in their heat to finish second, and so go straight to the final.  There, they narrowly missed doing the same, missing out on taking bronze from Radley by just half a second (Abingdon won in a new record time).  This was always our realistic aim for this season, in what was always going to be a very strong year for Hampton and Abingdon, so it was a good performance from The VIII, not least considering there were two boys in the crew for whom this was their first NSR final.

The 2nd VIII progressed easily at the head of their semi-final, but allowed Abingdon to take a little too much of a lead around 500m gone.  In a tailwind, this was hard to take back and to Abingdon's credit they held off two strong challenges, to win the event. In an unusual regatta season, we had not seen Abingdon for five weeks, and had to remind ourselves that, until recently, our target of medalling was looking tricky; this crew had come a long way since March.

The 3rd VIII rowed a great race to win the West cup.  It was nip and tuck all the way with Hampton, and again this was a race which was won in record time.  Many boys in this crew had had a difficult season (through illness or injury) and the result was all the more pleasing for that.

At Colts level, both A and B crews won silver in the eights.  Both crews finished strongly, but had left themselves with a little too much to do in the closing stages, missing out to fast starting crews from St Pauls (A crew) and Hampton (B crew).  Four boys from the A crew got the chance to put this right on the Sunday with a win in the Windsor Cup for J16 coxless fours.

At Junior Colts level this was our most successful regatta for a number of years (probably since 2004).  The A crew won silver, missing out by two thirds of a length to Latymer, and so having closed the gap on them since Wallingford.  The B crew built on their success at Wallingford, this time beating all comers to take the Monkton Bluefriars' Cup by clear water.