On Saturday 3 March, Shiplake College’s 1st VIII rowed to success at the annual Hammersmith Head of the River.
The 1st VIII delivered an outstanding performance, winning the whole event and finishing as Head of The River. To do this, they achieved the quickest time out of the 300 crews that competed, including all the top schools in the country. A great result and one that will boost the crews’ confidence leading into the SHORR, where they will start in second place behind St Paul's.
Hammersmith Head is held on the same course, but rowers finish at Hammersmith Bridge instead of Putney Bridge; where they will row to at the Schools' Head of The River (SHORR). All crews did very well and will be highly motivated leading into the next two weeks of training.
The second VIII had a good race, finishing fifth overall and just 0.3 seconds behind Eton. This crew has had limited time together and I suspect they will pick up a lot of speed over the next few weeks. A big mention must go to Year 11 Harry for doing a fantastic job in the crew, as this was Harry's first ever race.
The J16 VIII also had a good race and finished third of 22 crews in their event. Only Westminster and Eton were in front of them and they look forward to trying to close the gap over the next few weeks.
The J15 VIII have had limited time together since they started rowing in January and this was their first ever sweep oar race. They finished a commendable 11th out of 26 crews. The experience they gained from this race will be vital for their training over the next few weeks.
The girls’ 4x also enjoyed their first race of the season and now know where they rank. The race will have given them great experience and confidence and will now be motivated to push on to SHORR. They finished 10th in their event.
This event is a great warm up for one of the country’s biggest rowing events; the Schools’ Head of the River in two weeks’ time. Next weekend the boat club will race at Reading University Head before getting ready for the SHORR on 15th March.
