In perfect conditions at the fantastic venue of Dorney Lake, the Wallingford Regatta provided all Shiplake College crews with a great warm up to the regatta season.
The J15s continued their undefeated season so far by winning the J15 B Event in fine style beating Eton College B, Hampton School B, Emanuel School, London Oratory School and Kingston Grammar School. The result shows the potential that this group has as they build towards the J15 First Eights event at The National Schools’ Regatta at the end of May.
The 1st VIII also had a productive regatta with the VIII breaking down into two IV+ in the morning division and racing in the J18 and Club event. The Club IV+ easily qualified for the final but they faced a much tougher ask in the final finishing in 5th behind some established club crews. The J18 IV+ raced well in their final leading the race for much of the course but they were just beaten by Winchester College with Shiplake finishing in 2nd.
The 1st VIII raced in the Club event and they comfortably qualified for the final with a controlled race in the heat but the final was once again a much tougher race. The VIII really took the race to their opposition but they could not quite hang on and ultimately they finished in 5th.
The girls continued to have a strong season as although the girls double struggled in the WJ18 2x event they performed much better in the IVx finishing in 4th with a determined row against some very quick opposition.
The J16 and J18 IVx gained some valuable racing experience but they were left knowing that they will have to increase boat speed if they are to be racing amongst the top crews this season.
With The National Schools’ Regatta now only three weeks away all crews will be working hard towards this with races at Bedford Regatta, Thames Ditton and Nottingham City Regatta in the coming weeks.
