A group of our King’s Ely Prep pupils had a fantastic day at the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships (NJIRC) in London.
Twenty-four students from Years 7 and 8 attended the high-energy event at the 2012 Olympic venue, The Copper Box Arena, on March 1st.
First hosted in 2007, the NJIRC are organised by London Youth Rowing (LYR), a charity founded by Jim Downing in 2004 in the hope that young people across London would have access to an otherwise traditionally niche sport and in turn help the rowing community become a more diverse, more inclusive environment. Like in previous years, the 2024 competitions in London and Leeds were supported by British Rowing, Concept2, Inc. and the Henley Royal Regatta Charitable Trust.
In London, more than 2,300 junior rowers from across the UK competed in 130 different categories. Our pupils raced in the three-minute Year 8 individual event and the 2,112-metre team relay (the distance of the Henley Royal Regatta course).
With more than 260 pupils competing in each of the Year 8 boys’ and girls’ races, King’s achieved some very impressive results, including Sunny Y placing 17th, Jun L placing 41st, and Alexander M placing 49th – all out of 263 competitors. In the girls’ races, Beau W placed 27th and Emily S placed 67th – both out of 274 competitors.
Kudos too to Jacob D and Oscar W for “racing up” in the Year 8 category and recording very respectable scores.
In the afternoon, the race floor was converted into the team relay layout, and each of our teams were made up of four rowers. Despite again racing with Year 9 and Year 10 pupils, King’s crews recorded impressive finishes, with the boys coming 31st out of 100, and 35th out of 84.
Well done to every pupil who competed, and thank you to Mr Craig Ward and Mr Edward Davis for leading the trip!