LRGSBC: National Schools Regatta 2014

The National Schools Regatta is one of the top three rowing events in the junior rowing calender. The others being Henley Royal Regatta and the National Rowing Championships of Great Britain. This prestigious event attracts the best juniors in the UK. This year, for the first time, LRGSBC entered crews at Junior 14 level. LRGSBC crews only start rowing in September of the same academic year and by this time have only had a couple of races. It had been very much in the mind of the coaches to enter our younger oarsmen for a while, the mission had being hatched around Christmas. After the performance of both J14 coxed quads at Strathclyde Regatta earlier in April, it looked like we were on track.

The regatta spans three days with the younger crews racing on Friday. The number of entries into events means that the first round is a time trial to reduce the number of crews that go on to race in multi-lane races. This takes place at the start of the day's racing. So, it was an early start, again. Meet at 04:40 and on the motorway by 05:15. ETA at the National Watersports Centre at Holme Pierre Point, Nottingham by 08:30.

All went well until we got stuck in traffic on the road leading into Nottingham due to road works and rush hour. A nervous 30 minutes passed and we arrived a little later than planned at 09:00. Time enough to assemble boats, gather boys together who had traveled with parents, get coxes weighed and introduce everyone to the procedures at such a big event.

There are two boys J14 coxed quad (4x+) events, the "Nautics Cup" for School second crews and the "Canterbury Cup" for School first crews. Each event had about 23 entries which had to be reduced to 12 crews after a time trial. First up, were the J14 'B' crews. LRGSBC started behind Windsor Boys' School 'B' crew. Windsor Boys', one of the very few state rowing schools, had entered 'A','B','C','D' and 'E' crews in this event. There was not a lot of time to prepare for the race, the landing stages were busy and managed to get the B crew afloat and on there way in time for them to paddle up to the start, turn whilst still warm and prepare for their race. They raced well over the 1000 metres on flat, near perfect conditions. Their time of 4mins 10.5 seconds was not good enough to get through to the next round but placed them beside Bradford Grammar School and just being our other 'local' rivals, Yarm School Boat Club. The fastest non-qualifier was Bryanstan School with a time of 4mins .05 seconds.

Results of Time Trial J14 4x+ 'B' event.

Club Name Time
WBS Windsor Boys A 3:45.41
NSC Norwich Sch 3:46.73
WBS Windsor Boys B 3:47.95
WES Westminster A 3:48.40
WBS Windsor Boys D 3:49.66
ORA Oratory 3:50.86
CCS Claires Ct 3:52.57
WTN Warrington 3:53.56
WES Westminster B 3:53.68
WBS Windsor Boys E 4:01.62
YRM Yarm A 4:02.48
LOS Lon Oratory 4:04.74

Non-qualifiers
BRY Bryanston 4:05.42
WBS Windsor Boys C 4:08.33
DUL Dulwich 4:09.16
WIN Winchester 4:09.98
BRG Bradford GS 4:10.05
LRG Lancaster 4:10.48
YRM Yarm B 4:11.23
MNK Monkton 4:15.11
MNS Monmouth Sch 4:23.04

LRGS BC 'B' crew's time beat 5 crews in the 'A' competition and in the top 40 crews in the country that entered. Crew: L.MacPherson (stroke), J.Murfitt, S.Gelder, J.Morphet, T.Bolton (cox).

J14 B crew at the finish

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The 'A' event was after the 'B' event and boys had slightly more time to compose themselves. The big debate was whether to do a regatta style start or a rolling head race start. The decision was to be kept flexible until conditions at the start could be witnessed. DY would follow on his bike down to the start to sort this out.

The 'A' crew time trial went well with LRGSBC qualifying and going through to the semi-finals.

Results of Time Trial J14 4x+ 'A' event
Club Name Time
WLT Walton 3:33.00
RAD Radley 3:33.24
HEN Henley 3:35.72
WBS Windsor Boys 3:36.25
STK Trentham 3:39.54
NSC Norwich Sch 3:41.23
CAN Canford 3:43.03
WES Westminster 3:43.10
WIN Winchester 3:43.31
BRY Bryanston 3:46.29
WTN Warrington 3:46.90
CCS Claires Ct 3:47.07
LRG Lancaster 3:47.74
BRG Bradford GS 3:50.33
HWG High Wycombe 3:50.83
YRM Yarm 3:53.34
LOS Lon Oratory 4:00.11
MNK Monkton 4:02.44

Non-Qualifiers
MOC Monmouth Com 4:03.39
MNS Monmouth Sch 4:08.60
KCA Kings Canterbury 4:08.61
DUL Dulwich 4:11.02
BDS Bedford Sch 4:14.59
HCS H'ford Cath 4:19.03
ORA Oratory 4:25.89
HIN Hinksey 4:29.29

Crew: T.Kerr (Stroke), C.Whittaker, W.Burrow, B.Heseltine, C.Hopkinson (cox)

The semi-finals were in the afternoon. LRGSBC got lane 6 which indicated that we were not the fastest of the qualifiers and potentially had the roughest lane conditions. The crew then experienced the wait for the race. They managed themselves extremely well and professionally prior to the race as well as during it. They gave it their all, coming 5th in their semi-final (see results below).

getting afloat

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LRGS BC 'A' crew finish

Results of Semi-finals and final - A event

After the race

LRGSBC came 5th in their semi-final in a time of 3 mins 50.01 seconds. The eventual winners were Radley College in a time of 3 min 36.55.

The whole J14 squad performed very well in their first year of racing. Their target was for both crews to go and experience the event. Anything else was a bonus. The results show that LRGSBC have great potential to do well in the forthcoming years with this age group and have strength in numbers to develop a good squad. An eight for Henley Royal Regatta in a couple of years?

LRGS BC 'A' Crew

It was a long but enjoyable day. Those of us in the minibus getting back to Lancaster and unloading by 22:00, a 19 hr day but well worth it. Many thanks need to go to the parents who have supported at each and every event and to DY and RGT encouragement and time at weekends and in the gym.

Full results can be found at:

http://www.nationalschoolsregatta.co.uk/

Photos can be found and ordered at:

http://rowingphotography.photoshelter.com/