The Shiplake College Regatta took place over Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 June, and the Shiplake crews were ready and raring to battle it out for first place. The Shiplake Regatta is a whole Boat Club Regatta, where all Year 10, 11 and senior rowers join forces and compete alongside each other in eights. Eight crews raced in the regatta, and four octuplets. A special invitational race was issued, between the female teachers and the girls.
Despite the strong wind, the sun was shining and spectators were out in full force to witness the ‘pinnacle’ of the regatta season. The internal event is a fantastic way to raise the morale of the rowing crews ahead of Henley Regatta, keeping the competitive spirit alive and kicking in the run up to the big day.
After three gruelling races over 300m, the crew of Harry Berkley, Seb Newman, Oli Potter, Luke Sherman, Felix Hearnden, Sunny Pong, Lucy Walker and Alex Webster came out on top, just managing to win the coveted first place.
The octuplet crews were made up of four mixed ability members of the J14s. The crews were named Apollo, Zeus, Pontus and Nemesis. Each rower performed exceptionally well, using the event to pull together as a team. However, for some, the added effort and enthusiasm just wasn’t enough, and Apollo became the eventual winners. Ethan Caldeira, Sam Hargreaves, Dan Anstey, Ben Daniels, Charles Dodd, Marcus James, Isaac Neale, Dillon Sichel and Robert Whitfield made up the crew, and were all delighted with the result.
In the hotly anticipated race of the day – the female staff against the girls 4+, the girls 4+ just managed to scrape the top spot, winning by a narrow margin of a quarter of a boat length.
Director of Rowing, Mr David Currie, has said of the event that he hopes ‘all crews were inspired, and want to train hard in the forthcoming year to come back stronger at the next Shiplake College Regatta.’
