Saturday 21st and Sunday 22nd June
Marlow Town and Thames Valley Park Regattas
Marlow Town Regatta
After the unfortunate series of events at the National Schools Regatta at the end of the last half of term, both of these regattas were a chance for some of our junior crews to recover from the disappointments of being unable to win medals and prove to themselves that their continued training right up until the end of the academic year was worth the effort, and thankfully we were able to come away from both regattas with silverware.
The first regatta, Marlow town, is a 900 metre race and town festival mixed into one, meaning a lot of spectators and a lot of noise to contest with. This did not disrupt the concentration of our girls’ crews however, several of which did very well to come away with some good wins. The first win of the day came from Anastasia Chitty, racing in the J14A 1x event, who overcame the nerves of knowing some of her friends from home were racing as well to claim a comfortable victory after a strong push in the middle of the race. Cat Battson and Verity McCann then claimed their first win of their season in their J15 2x and they were extremely pleased to beat Sir William Borlase School as they had previously lost to them at Nat Schools. Finally Isabella Cartwright rounded off the afternoon with a win in her J16 2x with Alex Pearson of Christchurch, who despite their unfortunate lack of training together showed their potential should they be able to get some more water time.
The boys were not quite so successful this weekend however, the J15 A8+ suffering from a poor row in their first event only to take Radley right to the wire in their second race as they looked for a win, but fortunately they would not have to wait long to claim some tankards…
Thames Valley Park Regatta
Thames Valley Park is a somewhat shorter regatta, coming in at around 500 metres and therefore involving a straight forward sprint start followed by a sprint finish, but unfortunately once again the weather reared it’s ugly head and so a strong head wind was blowing for most of the day, making some of the starts rather tricky as the larger boats were frequently blown off course. Thankfully all of our crews and coxes managed to deal with this extremely well, and though there were fewer wins than the previous weekend, we can still claim to have done well.
Anastasia Chitty again got off to a winning start, leading strongly in her heat before crashing into a buoy and re-starting her race to win comfortably, therefore lining up once again against two of her old friends from home. Despite the onset of nerves she took the lead well after the start and held on for the finish to secure a good win. As mentioned before this was the last chance for our J15 A8+ to prove themselves and they did it in style, beating St Paul’s School in the heat before racing for all their worth against Eton and claiming an extremely pleasing victory. Our Senior 2nd 8+ also did well in their last race of the year despite an extremely turbulent few weeks of training due to exams and the like, and after progressing to the final were unfortunate to not quite beat off the advance of Eton College and had to settle with second place, though thankfully as this crew is almost entirely comprised of members of the Lower Sixth they will have more chance next year to look forward to. We hope that all of these crews will start next year with the dedication they have show throughout this term.
Sunday 8th June
Wessex Junior Regatta
Although a relatively small event by some standards this regional regatta held annually at Bryanston is nonetheless a welcome addition to the calendar. It always has an extremely friendly atmosphere, giving all of our junior ‘B’ crews a good chance to race several times in one day and hopefully come away with prizes. Looking at the results, this was an opportunity almost all of our crews grasped with both hands, winning either tankards for 1st place or medals for 2nd or 3rd, as we came away with an extremely impressive haul.
Going through the year groups and starting with the shell girls, our sculler in the ‘A’ category, Tikvah Sugden, did well to finish 4th but sadly just outside the medals, while in the ‘B’ category Misha Pinnington managed a fine win before later medalling with Aurelia Hibbert in the double as they finished 3rd. The quad also did extremely well, finishing 1st to round off the day for this year group.
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Our shell boys meanwhile also won several categories, the best result coming from the ‘B’ quads event where the ‘B’ crew prevailed just ahead of the ‘A’ crew and ensured we would come home with both tankards and medals. Freddie Lickiss, having only just started this term, was given the hard task of racing in the single sculling ‘A’ event but proved his talent as he managed to finish in 3rd place while in the ‘B’ event Alastair Chamorro also came 3rd despite some rather suspect steering as he beat Tom Symmonds into 4th place. Our J14 doubles sadly did not make it through the first round, also suffering from some dodgy steering, something which would later plague our J15 doubles.
Moving on to the J15 events, our girls quad showed their competitive streak (especially Lizzie Bishop sitting in the stroke seat) as they won their event after a storming series of rows. The boys also did extremely well, two crews racing twice each in both fours and quads, winning three separate events: the J16 fours, the J15 fours and the J15 quads, the ‘B’ crew also coming 2nd in the J15 fours event.
Although we sadly did not do quite enough to win the Victor Ludorum, this performance was extremely promising given that none of our ‘A’ crew athletes were present and we hope this will inspire all of our ‘B’ crews to carry on and try their best next year. Our thanks must go to all those parents who came and supported, also providing a wonderful barbecue for all of our boys and girls.
Sunday 1st June
Metropolitan Regatta
In stark contrast to the horrendous weather endured at the National Schools' Regatta recently, London rowing club's Metropolitan Regatta with 4 mile an hour winds at the international rowing lake at Dorney was the ideal setting for perfect rowing. Canford's 1st VIII, entering into S3VIII’s with the first two through to the final, secured second place. With a six boat final on the multi lane course, Canford rowed to a high standard finishing fourth.
Senior 3 Eights
Race 95
1 Southampton University BC (A)
2 Oxford Brookes University BC (A)
3 Molesey BC
4 Canford School BC
5 University of Limerick, Ireland
6 Leeds University BC (B)
7 Curlew RC.
Canford school girls sculling is still on the up with Brianna Stubbs being invited to a potential world junior training weekend at Dorney. With some of the best junior girls in the country, three quads sculls were set and the training weekend began with the junior girls racing in composite crews at the Metropolitan regatta. Stubbs also competed in the Women’s senior double sculls with Emma Corless from Staines Rowing club finishing third at the ‘The Met’.
Women's Senior 1 Double Sculls
Schuster Cup
Race 109
1 Durham University BC
2 Henley RC
3 Canford School/Staines BC
4 Agecroft RC/Mortlake Anglian
Saturday 24th May
National Schools' Regatta
Leaving with a full trailer of boats and minibuses full of athletes for several days of racing, everyone was hopeful on the Thursday before half term that the school would come away from the National Schools Regatta with a few medals to our name. Unfortunately however few could have predicted just how bad the weather was to become as the weekend continued, and ultimately on Saturday just as our medal chances had started to come to light the regatta was cancelled due to the extreme weather that was running its way down the course; with high waves, crews sinking and the threat of oars hitting swimming oarsmen during the 1st 8’s race, the organisers had to take the decision to cancel the event before anyone was hurt. Their decision was undoubtedly the correct one.
Thankfully that is not to say the whole weekend was ruined. Many of the crews learnt a lot from their races, and a full day of racing was had on Friday in which many of our junior crews managed to perform well. The J14 crews are obviously still learning from every regatta they go to, and having raced very few straight sprints they all managed to do well. Both of our crews first had to go through a time-trail before the side-by-side racing started, and this can be extremely tricky if not approached in the right manner. Thankfully both our J14 crews managed to progress, though the girls admitted they did not start quite as well as they should have done. Coming 9th out of the 12 crews that did go through, they unfortunately came 5th in a tight semi final. The J14 boys octuple fared similarly, coming 11th in their time trial with just 10 seconds dividing them from the leaders, they too came 5th in their semi final but showed real strength of character to produce a strong sprint for the finish.
The other crews to race on the Friday were our J15 girls doubles, an event that was extremely competitive this year with 30 crews entered and only 25 seconds separating first from last in the time trial. Though one of our crews did well to qualify in 14th place, our other double sadly failed to proceed after a row in which eventual winners Latymer unsettled them by racing just in front of them. Hopefully they will learn from this not to let outside influences affect their own performances. The ‘A’ crew carried on to row an extremely difficult semi-final and despite the sudden dramatic downpour and the stroke girl, Verity McCann, accidentally pulling a foot out of a shoe did well enough to earn the praises of their coach even if they did not manage to make the final.
With Friday over Saturday morning greeted our crews like something of a nightmare – from the minute boats hit the water the conditions were dreadful, but this did nothing to dampen the spirits of crews, which meant business. Our boys’ 1st 8, J15 8 and J16 girls’ double all had high hopes of medals and knew that the time trials might be their only way to win them if proper racing were to prove impossible later in the day. Our J16 girls’ composite double of Isabella Cartwright and Alex Pearson of Christchurch were justifiably happy with their row, ultimately finishing 4th and just one second off a bronze medal. The J15 boys did not row quite to their ability however, finishing 5th in their time trial though they knew a medal would certainly have been within their reach had racing continued. Sadly for our 1st 8, it was during their race that the weather really hit home, sinking three other crews and therefore bringing an end to racing. Though unofficially finishing in 3rd place they would not be receiving a medal for their efforts. We must say well done to all of our crews for coping so well with the weekend however, all the coaches agreeing that we finished on a high.
Sunday 11th May
Poplar Regatta
Gathering at 6am on a Sunday morning to leave the school and travel up to London is never an easy task for the oarsmen and women of the boat club, but nonetheless the exceedingly clear and sunny sky certainly helped lift spirits as a good day’s racing was had by all of our crews. A strong tailwind picked up throughout the day that would lead to some extremely fast times providing the crews could cope with the choppy conditions.
The first of the Canford crews on the water was Brianna Stubbs in her single, racing in the relatively high Women’s Senior 2 division. However with the aim of making GB crews this summer, she needs as much experience as possible. Qualifying with relative ease in her heats in 3rd place, she produced an extremely strong row in her final to finish 3rd again in a good time of 8.25, just ten seconds behind the winner. Racing in the supposedly easier Senior 3 division in the afternoon, she unfortunately came 4th in her heat and therefore did not make it into that final, despite an extremely good row in what had by then become very difficult conditions.
Next out was the women’s J18 4x, racing in what was supposed to be a straight final against two other crews. Only the quad from Lady Eleanor Holles School turned up to the start line however, and, after Hannah Bowell experienced some problems with her seat coming off her slide at the start of the race, this event was over very quickly. This was a shame for the quad who had been training with enthusiasm since their win at Nottingham City, and which also included two J15 girls as a tester due to crew regulars being unable to race.
The men’s 1st 8 had a busy schedule, with both their races taking part in the morning just an hour apart from each other and both races being straight finals, they had to be as switched on and prepared as possible. Due to some illnesses and injuries within the crew, a couple of oarsmen were switching in and out of the crew each time and this may explain the differences in the races, or it may have simply been a case of first race nerves. Either way, their first row in the J18 8+ final wasn’t as good as they had hoped, finishing fourth to a strong performance from other schools, but they had a far better row in the Senior 3 8+ final afterwards, coming third by less than half a second after a blisteringly fast last 500 metres and finishing with a time of 6.04.
Next out to race with the morning division over and the second fleet of minibuses from the school arriving was our J14 8x, coming to their first regatta with high hopes of a good performance. Theirs was also a straight final, racing against some extremely strong crews from Hampton and Kingston Grammar schools, and they finished in 4th place. Though this was a decent performance, hopefully they can learn from this performance to produce a better result at the National Schools regatta.
We finished the day with our men’s 2nd 8 racing in the Senior 4 division, and having automatically qualified for the final after only three crews turned up for their heat they were anticipating the need for a fast 500 metres to gain what advantage they could over the other crews. Having recently won at Notts City at the start of term they were full of confidence and this showed in their racing. They rowed hard and well in the very last race of the day to give all the coaches something to smile about, managing to beat Emanuel School’s 1st 8 and come within seconds of beating St Paul’s 2nd 8, a crew which had also managed to beat several other first boats this year. If they can keep this up they should have the chance of claiming another regatta win before the end of the term.
26th - 27th April
Girls 1st 4x Wins at Nottingham City Regatta
The Women’s Quadruple Scull event had particularly tough competition against crews from Loughborough University, Nottingham Rowing Club and Kings School Chester. From the start, Kings Chester and Canford were leading the pack, with the Kings Chester crew leading the Canford crew by a length at the 1500m mark, but Canford managed to pull their way back level by 1000m. After that, there was no stopping them. The Canford crew kept putting more clear water between them and the Kings Chester crew so that just before the finish, they were around 4 lengths ahead. About 10 metres from this nail biting finish, the Canford crew caught a succession of crabs and just managed to bring it over the line a length ahead of Kings Chester. With the start delayed due to a strong headwind and wavy conditions, both school crews rowed extremely well, however it was a pleasure to see the Canford crew sculling very hard all the way through the race and winning!
Monday 3rd March
National Junior Sculling Head Of The River Race
On Monday 3rd March the school’s quads and octuples travelled up to Henley to take part in their National Sculling race, and, having being given the day off lessons, were keen to enjoy the day as much as possible. The weather was sunny but cold with a strong wind that would prove the undoing of many crews without the necessary expertise. Thankfully most of the Canford crews held themselves together well to come away with some good results though unfortunately no wins.
Compared to many of the clubs and three term rowing schools who have been training for much longer it is often difficult for our teams to compete so early into their training programme but nonetheless our 1st quad, comprising of two sixth formers, one fifth former and one shell, did well to finish 9th in their WJ18 division, especially once Brianna had been forced to steer a line which took them onto the opposite side of the river to avoid both the other crews around them and the stream. Unfortunately our 2nd quad did not do quite so well, though this was at least partially due to the mistakes of the marshalls at the start line, who having told them to start racing then told them to stop, only to go back on his orders and tell them to go once they had wound down over the start line! Shocked by this sudden change of calls they were unable to find any sort of rhythm for the first 1km, and ultimately they finished in 21st place.
Our next quad was the WJ15 coxed boat, holding high hopes of a good finish position having trained well this term with their endless amounts of energy. Unfortunately however their inexperience and nerves got the better of them, not racing to their full potential as they too had some steering issues. They finished 24th out of 31 crews in their event and they must ensure that next term they live up to their potential in the regatta season. Our Shell girls were hoping more to gain from the experience than anything else, and with the quad and octuple finishing 25th and 14th respectively they all agreed at the end they had thoroughly enjoyed the day and had learnt a lot from it. The shell boys, racing in two octuples of mixed ability, did do well to finish 16th and 20th out of 33 crews and just under 20 seconds apart, and now if they can just find the right combinations they will undoubtedly move into higher positions.
National Schools Rowing Head Of The River Race
The day after the Henley races our rowing boys made the trip up to London to compete in difficult conditions, the wind having stayed from yesterday to make the water very choppy around the notorious bends of the Tideway. The difficult decision was therefore taken to shorten the race and to start at Chiswick, meaning the race would last around 10 minutes and be far more of a sprint than the usual full course. While this clearly affected the mind set of some crews, others were clearly able to profit from it, with some very close finishes from all of our boats.
The 1st 8 unfortunately found themselves in an awkward position at the start of the race due to another crew forcing them out of the stream, and so when they crossed the start line they were in slow water. They therefore didn’t get quite the sprint start they needed, and though their finishing position of 13th in Champ 8s is not bad it certainly doesn’t reflect the ability of this crew. Hopefully they will remember not to let outside influences affect their own performance. The times do show just how tight this race was however, the overall winners being just 25 seconds ahead. Our 2nd 8 finished in a time of 10.46 and 12th in their division, while the 3rd 8 did extremely well to come 6th in their event and only 8 seconds behind the 2nds, ensuring all our senior boats finished comfortably within a minute of each other and showing the depth in our senior boats this year.
The best result of the day however was our J15A 8, who raced along the short course and produced a strong time of 6.44 to finish in joint 1st place with Hampton in the J15 1st 8+ event. There are clearly good things to come from this crew next term and in the following years with hard work and dedication as there is certainly the potential, and a win like this will clearly add to their confidence. Meanwhile in the J15 2nd 8+s our B crew finished just 29 seconds behind the As, coming 7th and showing they are much faster than their previous race suggested. This is clearly a year group to watch.
Concept 2 Indoor Rowing School’s League – fourth and fifth round
The good news for our junior teams continued on Tuesday as our shell boys found out their latest results from the national ergo competition they have been competing in. Now convinced they can win a round, they were disappointed with their previous result having come 3rd in the fourth round of the year 9 races with a clearly lacklustre performance, with many falling-off-seat incidents and 500 metre split times not quite up to their usual standards. They were therefore given a chance to redeem themselves in the fifth round and they did it in style. Racing over 4,000 metres they finished in an extremely good time of 13.26 and beating last year’s winning time by over 30 seconds. They then faced the agonising wait to find out if they had won and sure enough they did, their main rivals finishing all of 1 second behind them. There is now only one more round to go with no reason why they should not win that one too.
Saturday 9th February
Exeter Head
This weekend the boat club travelled over to Exeter for the Regional Head Race. The conditions on the day were absolutely perfect, a hot sun shining overhead and a very slight tail wind ensured there would be some fast times.
The 1st 8+ recorded some impressive times, finishing the first division in 11.29 and the second in 11.23, winning both divisions ahead of other crews such as Exeter University. Most of the competitors would agree the second division was better, and whether this was down to crew re-shuffles, slightly improved conditions or the normal settling down of pre-race nerves is up to the coaches to decide. The 2nd 8+ therefore accordingly clocked a large 42 second improvement between their first and second races, finishing their second race in 12.11. The 3rds were much more consistent, doing their best to upset the 2nds with 13.03 and 13.04 finish times, but were unable to hold off the advances of the J15A 8+, who won their Senior C event in a strong 13.02.
Out of the girls’ teams racing, Brianna Stubbs won her WJ18 1x event despite what she described as an average performance and our WJ18 4x+ managed a good time of 14.32 but sadly did not have enough competition to come away with a pot, as was the case with our W4x-. Our WJ16 4x+ learnt an important lesson by going off far too lightly in their first division, but then raced well in their second division to finish just 7 seconds off the eventual winners improving their time by just under a minute.
Also worth a mention is that on Friday 8th a Regional Indoor Rowing event was held for local schools in our Sports Centre, and though the timing of the event was awkward for our own boys and girls, several shells still attended. Having been given 20 minutes to digest their lunch before racing, the results were still impressive and Hamish Clifton won a bronze medal for his age group, managing over 1100 metres in 4 minutes while Jamie Robinson finished just behind him in 4th place.
Saturday 1st February
Wycliffe Head
The weekend saw the first 'real' race of the year. Even though the boy’s crews who travelled to Wycliffe were mixed in order to give all oarsmen a fair chance at being selected for the top boats, there were still some decent times taken at Wycliffe ‘Big Head’. The Shells and the girls remained at Canford, to undertake further training and experience on the river.
Four VIII’s were entered in each division, with some close results between the crews. There were 3 senior boats, two of them in particular recording close results in Division 1 and their times of 15.41 and 15.43 indicate there are clearly some tough decisions ahead for their coaches. In addition, there was also a J15 crew which raced hard to come 5th out of 15 other crews in their event.
In Division 2, the mixed boats were separated in an attempt to begin the selection process towards final crew line-ups. The Canford ‘A’ crew came 7th out of 20 in the Senior 3 event with a decent time of 15.17, though there is plenty of boat speed still to come from them and the other crews too.
Saturday 12th January
Concept 2 Indoor Rowing School’s League - third round
At the end of last term we again entered teams into the Concept 2 Indoor Rowing School’s League and both teams did extremely well. This was now ‘Round 3’ of the competition, running as it does on a monthly basis, and though we missed the first month we are quickly catching up on the leaders. Having come 4th in ‘Round 2’, our U14 boys’ team (named ‘Concept Canford’ by Jamie Robinson) managed a brilliant time of 6.59 for their 2,000 metre trial, securing a 2nd placed finish and taking themselves into the new year with good momentum.
We now must wait until February for the next time trial where we hope to finish victorious. We additionally entered a girls’ team and although it was technically an U15 team it included two U14s, both new to the sport but neither letting the team down. Calling themselves the ‘Dream Girls’, they raced primarily for the experience any team effort can bring, but they still managed to finish 6th.
Saturday 1st December
The Scullers Head, raced over the full 4 mile long Championship course in London is one of the hardest rowing races in the country. The race was approached with a certain degree of trepidation by some of the Canford boys and girls who made the trip up, especially as illness had caused withdrawals from Will Robinson, Ed Hackett and Will Hetherington. Nonetheless, three boys and two girls did manage to finish the race. John McCann finished 9th in the Junior Men division in a time of 22.48, coming just 30 seconds behind the category winner but he admitted after the race he was far from happy with his performance. Luke Dorey came 25th in a time of 23.27, while Ed Johnson came 28th in a time of 23.53. Out of the girls, Brianna Stubbs came 3rd in the Junior Women’s division, just a second off 2nd place. Meanwhile Izzie Cartwright came 5th in 24.34, and was extremely pleased to hold off the scullers behind her throughout the second half of the race.
Saturday 3rd November
Fours' Head of River
On
Saturday 3rd November three Canford quads arrived early in the morning
to prepare for the Fours' Head of the River, having only started their
preparations for the event a couple of days earlier when half term had
finished. Expectations were, therefore, low, and the event was more of
a chance for the crews to gain experience for the decisive end of
season Schools Head, which is still a good few months away and takes
place on the same course, the 4 ½ miles from Chiswick to Putney.
Fortunately,
this lack of pressure ensured that the mixed crews went out on the
water in a very good mood. There were ‘A’ and ‘B’ boys’ quads entered
and also a mixed girls’ crew, consisting of two J17s, a J16 and a J14.
The youngest, Anastasia, had learnt to row on the Tideway and so was
equipped with valuable experience despite her age. The boys would be
directly competing against 36 other men’s junior quads, the girls 21
women’s junior quads, and they would all be competing indirectly
against the other 507 crews entered on the day.
The
‘A’ quad came 18th in their division, bang in the middle of the pack
and 124th overall and so can come away with their heads held high. The
‘B’ crew were extremely unfortunate as they were hit by several crews
right from the start, one of which managed to catch a rigger on their
rudder and tear a large hole in the boat. They were therefore left
taking on water from virtually the start of the race, and did well just
to finish. They came 36th in their division, but still a very
respectable 146th overall. The girls finished 16th in their division
and 418th overall, and with their broad range of ages this can
certainly be called a good result as most other crews would certainly
have comprised mainly of J18s.
Also
worth noting is that Canford for the first time entered a team into the
Concept 2 Indoor Rowing Schools League, which consists of a series of
monthly distance-based trials. The Shells organised themselves into a
team of 8, rowing two short sprint distances each before their times
were entered into the second month of the competition, and the result
was extremely promising. They managed to finish 4th in the country out
of a total of 36 teams in their year group, and so with some more
practice they may well find themselves in a medalling position before
too long.
Saturday 13th & Sunday 14th October
Head Race - Bryanston School
It
was a busy weekend for Canford rowers. On Saturday a team of junior
scullers made the short trip to Bryanston school and took part in a
short time trial'head race', comprising of three divisions of 900
metres. The results, as with a few weeks ago, showed a clear victory
for Canford. John McCann finished as the fastest sculler, averaging a
time of 3.33, while Brianna Stubbs averaged as the fastest girl with
3.15, just one second quicker than Izzy Cartwright.
Small Boats Head - Reading
The
next day a team of ten met up to make the journey to Reading for their
'Small Boats Head' with two divisions of 3.2km, each with over one
hundred boats competing. There was a large contingent of other schools
and so the J18 competition would prove to be quite fierce. For the
boys, the Canford 'A' quad managed to finish 3rd in the J18 event,
while the in J18 1x McCann was again our fastest sculler (despite a
crash), finishing 2nd in 15.01. The girls proved their worth in doing
well, Stubbs winning the WJ18 1x event and teaming up with Cartwright,
who came 2nd in the J16 1x, to win the WJ18 2x in a time of 14.59.
Saturday 22nd September
On
Saturday, Canford Boat Club hosted a small practice head race against
opposition from local rivals, Bryanston School. Though their club is
smaller and less competitive it always makes a welcome change to be in
a bit of a race, knowing the pressure is on to win whatever the quality
of the opponents.
The
race format involved pairing off each athlete in order of their ability
against another athlete from Bryanston, each boat taking off one after
another and racing for a time. Everyone raced in single sculls bar a
novice Canford girls' quad that raced for a time only. The course would
be completed three times, with an average time being calculated at the
end.
The
result was a resounding success for Canford, something which had become
obvious as the races had progressed with most of our scullers looking
to over-take their respective opposition. The competitive drive became
obvious as most scullers achieved similar times on each lap, only small
issues such as steering causing some issues and that, at this time of
the season, is encouraging. John McCann achieved the fastest time of
the day, averaging 04:11 over the course, while the fastest Bryanston
sculler achieved 04:48, a time which all of our scullers beat. Briana
Stubbs was the fastest girl as expected, averaging 04:30, and Izzy
Cartwright was only 5 seconds slower, Bryanston's fastest girl clocking
in almost a minute slower.
Overall
it was an enjoyable day, the atmosphere of friendly rivalry and the
post-match tea in particular providing a good opportunity for some
sociable scenes
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