Shiplake rowers have shown immense skill and determination across the past season; the 1st VIII in particular have committed whole-heartedly to training and events. Seb Newman, who will be going into Year 13 this September, is one of those rowers who has continually impressed, and was selected to represent Great Britain for the Junior World Championships, racing in the Coxed four. Thank you to Director of Rowing Mr David Currie for providing the following report:
‘Over the course of a year’s worth of trailing rowing events, a team of 32 under 18 rowers were selected to make up the Great Britain Junior Team racing in Rotterdam. It has been a significant 18 years since a Shiplake College pupil had been selected to row at the Junior World Championships, which goes to show what an incredible achievement it is to be selected to represent Team GB. Due to it being an Olympic year, the World Championships were held later in the summer than usual, with the finals finishing on Sunday 28 August. This made for a long and difficult summer of training camps for Seb, in which his crew was formed. Seb rowed in a Coxed four, alongside pupils from St Pauls, Wesminster, Shrewsbury and Eton, and was coached by Mark Woodcock from Pangbourne College.
The crew met some challenges in the early rounds, meaning that they were to race in the B final, in which they finished third. Although a little disappointed with the result, Seb had a fantastic time and is fully motivated to use his international experience next season, when he will once again challenge for a place on the Junior team. The GB Junior team, coached by Shiplake’s own Director of Rowing Mr Currie, came away from the Championships with a silver medal in the Men’s Coxless four, Women’s Coxless Quad and a Bronze medal in the Men’s eight.’
