It was another fantastic weekend for King’s Ely Boat Club – and there is plenty of fun to be had this weekend coming!
On Saturday 17th June, four of our Senior students – Mary Garrod, Xenia Marshall, Mollie Chamberlain and Elizabeth Boutwood – travelled to Oxfordshire to compete in the internationally-renowned, Henley Women’s Regatta.
Craig Ward, Head of Rowing at King’s, said: “In Henley, our two doubles of Mary Garrod/Xenia Marshall and Mollie Chamberlain/Elizabeth Boutwood competed in the Junior Double Sculls, over the 1,500m course. After pre-race briefing and boating, the girls stormed down the course and steered a tricky event very well. Mollie and Elizabeth placed 20th out of 28 crews, which is a fantastic achievement at an event like this.
“Mary and Xenia produced a high tempo row to make it through the time trial and into the top 16! Again, a brilliant achievement and testament to how hard the girls have trained this year. Just before 1pm, Mary and Xenia took to the water, this time for their side-by-side race in the last 16 against a classy Wycliffe College crew, who had previously won the National Schools Regatta.
“The girls flew out the blocks and held Wycliffe to half a length within the first 500m. Wycliffe then started to slowly pull away as the taller, more powerful crew to take the victory by just over 3 lengths. Mary and Xenia produced a fantastic row to wrap up the performance element to the season – they were a testament to the School and the Boat Club.”
Whilst the girls were storming down the Henley course, more than 40 of our Rowers were competing in the 550m sprint course at the St Ives Rowing Club Regatta!
Mr Ward said: “As always with St Ives, steering proved challenging for some of our Rowers who were testing themselves out in small boats for the first time! As the day progressed, our Rowers shone in the beautiful sunny conditions and took wins in J17 1x (Alex Keene), J14 4x+ Band 1 (Thomas Strudwick, Theo Logan, Seb Thompson, Oliver Biggs and James Allen) and J14 4x+ Band 2 (Clara Torlesse, Dylan Grisby, Henry Haigh, Gabriel Woodman and Noah Drew). With lots of finals and narrow losses as well, it was a great day out for the Boat Club! A special thanks to Mr Foster and Mr Sellers for running St Ives in my absence and to all of the parents and families who made the day so special.”
On Saturday 10th June, Mollie Chamberlain, Elizabeth Boutwood and Mary Garrod were on equally fine form at the Star Club Regatta in Bedfordshire. Mary won the WJ18 Singles, and Mollie and Elizabeth won the W17 Doubles. The day was wrapped up by the Senior Boys’ Quad of Alex Keene, Yanki Ertem, Raphael Bisson and Aron O’Connor winning the J18 Quads!
Looking ahead, on Saturday 24th June, our Year 9 and 10 Rowers will be competing in the Peterborough Junior Championships, and on Sunday 25th June, Mary Garrod and Pippa Giles will be heading to Nottingham to give it their all in the Great Britain v France J16 trials. Good luck everyone.
Also on Sunday 25th June is our annual Old Eleans Regatta (10am start) and ‘Parents Have A Go’ fundraising event (2pm start). Both events are highlights of the Summer Term, and we look forward to seeing lots of you at the Boat Club throughout the day. For more information, please email: craigward@kingsely.org