During the Christmas break, 45 of our rowers across Years 11, 12, and 13 flew to sunny Seville for a week-long training camp. It provided them with the perfect opportunity to escape the gloomy conditions here and ramp up their preparations with some training and racing.
The following report of the trip comes courtesy of Captain of Boats, Emily Over:
The first two days were spent racing in Andalucia's 17th International Regatta against UK schools such as Dulwich College and St Edward's School. We also had the opportunity to go up against a variety of Spanish rowing clubs. We took advantage of the opportunity to practise racing and get the best out of each other.
We finished the weekend with excellent performances across the board. The highlights were the senior and junior boys winning twice in the 8-, while the senior girls' top quad also won in their category. After a close race against St Edward’s, the girls’ 8- placed second.
As a result of our performance, Shiplake finished 7th out of the 43 clubs that took part, which is an incredible accomplishment.
The camp, however, did not end there!
Over the following four days, we trained up to three times a day. We had the luxury of long paddle sessions in the sun, fuelled by the amazing Sevilla oranges and lots of tomato pasta. Not taking our foot off the gas, we continued in the evenings to experience Seville's vibrancy by doing some night rowing sessions into the town centre.
Before heading back to the gloomy weather in England, we spent some time exploring Seville’s architecture and food, giving us a taste of Spanish culture.
Thank you to Mr Currie, Mr Safdari, Mr Mackworth-Praed, Miss Kenyon, Mr Elliott and Mr Morgan for making this trip possible.
