The Lent Term has proved to be sunnier and much drier than the Michaelmas term, enabling all races except Hampton Head to take place.
The Girls and Boys 1st VIIIs raced at Quintin Head in January to get some valuable Tideway experience ahead of the Head of River Races in March, and have since used those results to push and overturn some results in subsequent races.
Bedford Head in February saw 60 rowers racing throughout the day and with wins in the J15 Squads and some 2nd and 3rd places it was a good set of results. Many of the J14s had their first racing experience having only been rowing for 4 weeks!
March is a busy month in the rowing calendar and the first National race was the Girls 1st VIII at Women's Head of the River. On International Women's Day, the crew finished an impressive 143rd out of 323 crews, as well as placing them 26 out of 41 in a competitive Junior category and in amongst the high performance schools. This was over 50 places higher than our result in 2023.
The following day, the Boys 1st and 2nd VIIIs travelled back to Putney for a fixture against Dulwich College. A 3/3 win for the 1st VIII and 1/3 for the 2nd VIII. This was the first Tideway experience for the 2nd VIII and was a valuable lesson in how the conditions can vary along the course.
The Easter Region Junior Trials took place at Peterborough Rowing Club. A quick change to standing starts and 1000m racing saw the J16 Boys Pair, Girls Pair and Single and J15 Girls Coxed Four gain selection for the Inter Regional Regatta in April. Well done to all those selected.
The Schools Head of the River and Scullery Head are the highlight of the Head race season. With 4 8s racing at Schools Head, the weather was on our side with still conditions to race in. The Boys 2nd VIII and Girls J15 VIII finished 14th and 8th respectively in their categories. The Girls 1st VIII had a fantastic race and finished 4th. The Boys 1st VIII, despite feeling there is more boat speed to come finished 12th in Championship 8s, giving our highest overall finish ever.
The Scullery Head, at Dorney Lake, saw another sunny and near perfect conditions. The J17 Quad finished an impressive 5th place and the J14s had their first national race. The Girls Quad were 31st and the Boys Octos 22nd and 36th respectively. A great end to the Head season for Norwich School Boat Club.
Throughout all these races, the GB U19 Trials have been ongoing. With Daniel White and Nicholas Conway both progressing to the Spring Trials in April. Nicholas was also selected to go to the Spring Assessments for the top tier of athletes with Munich Junior Regatta selection being the focus there. Lily Nguyen has been selected as one of the 12 coxes to progress through to the next round of coxing selection. We wish them all the best as the trials process continues.
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