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News Archive Jan-Jul 2009Beginners Rowing Course : 27th - 29th July
Another RSS Feed : Rowing Update - 23rd July Thanks to Mr SS for the update below: Great Britain rowing: Will Perham has been selected in the top boat, the coxless four, for the Junior World Championships in Brive (France) 6-9 Aug. Colin Greenaway is coaching the GB junior Eight. Diana Llewellyn narrowly missed out on the last lot of GB trials, despite having got into the top 20 girls there were only 10 places allocated. As a consolation, Diana has been selected to row for Wales In the Home Countries International, in both the eight and four. These crews raced last weekend at the National Championships (representing their individual clubs, inc KGS) where she stroked the eight to an emphatic gold medal victory over LEH and the Scottish eight. The other end of the spectrum - 18 beginners have signed up to spend 3 days learning the basics next week, with many of our existing rowers helping to teach them. Coaches : Two Medals and a Ring
KGSBC Barbeque and Henley Picnic KGS Pothunting continues ... Also at Egham the J15 boys scored their first pot of the Regatta season storming to victory in the quads event: congratulations to Robbie, Patrick, Tom and Freddie who won the J15 IV category, recording what we hope will be the first of many for a large and promising squad. Many of the U14 girls also raced. The crew that came closest to a win was the double of Ella and Fenella. At the Peterborough J14 Regatta, the Boys J14 A Octuple took the bronze medal behind winners Hampton and second placed BMS. The octuple has been showing improved speed of late and there is every indication that with an increased training load next season, even greater things can be achieved. The boys started the race well but suffered a jammed seat and thus did not press Hampton and BMS as much as they might have otherwise. Nevertheless, there is much potential for the future. The U14 girls octuple came 4th in their heat. Finally, a mention for our GB triallists who unfortunately failed to gain selection at Nottingham at the weekend. Congratulations are due to them all - Diana, Iain, Dan, Peter and Matt - for the hard work and dedication that allowed them to make it that far in the first place. Henry VIII, Martin Leach and boatwashing
Henley Women's Regatta, Marlow and Thames Valley Park At the same time, at the Marlow Regatta at Dorney Lake, the J14 Girls Octuple came up against very stern competition, while the Senior Boys' VIII forced their way through two hard-fought rounds to make it to the final of the IM2 category, in which they came a very creditable fifth. Shortly thereafter the J16 Coxless IV continued their recent run of successes by beating Latymer and Hampton comfortably in the J18 Coxless IV event (click here for photos). Victories were impossible to come by on Sunday, as KGS crews were up against some very high quality opposition. As expected, the Senior girls found the Reading crew too much to handle, and the J16 boys, back at Marlow were overmatched in their races in the IM1 and IM2 Coxless IV categories, but rowed with great spirit nevertheless. The main point - as it was for the J14s at Thames Valley Park Regatta - was to gain race experience against better crews. The J14s have been "enjoying" a lot of race experience recently, but have been catching up on their more experienced opponents, which bodes well for next year. Congratulations to Miss Anderson who coxed a KRC crew to win at Henley Women's Our RSS Feed : Rowing Update - 16th June RSS feeds more typically refer to "Really Simple Syndication", but this one comes thanks to Richard Smalman Smith. Rowers never rest…..... Will Perham raced for the GB squad at Metropolitan Regatta during half-term, winning Elite Coxless Fours ahead of the best club and student crews in the country. Diana Llewellyn is still trialling and in with a chance of securing an international representation. The boys 1st 8 are preparing for Henley. In preparation they went to Reading Amateur Regatta where they rowed fantastically and fought very hard but lost to Abingdon 1st 8 by just ¾ length. Next race Marlow International Regatta on Saturday, then Henley. The top girls are following up their bronze medal in Championship Fours at National Schools by racing coxed fours at Henley Womens Regatta this weekend. The J16 boys are trialling for the U16 GB France match. They have been training hard and will be racing at Marlow this weekend. The younger rowers are still training and gaining experience - J15 and J14 girls raced at Walton, where the J15 girls won (again) in fours. The J15 boys raced at Reading Amateur Regatta. In addition, the coaches have spent the last 2 weekends teaching the parents how to row (see the news item below. Busy weekend coming up – three separate regattas and nearly the whole boat club racing….. Parents Afloat Walton Regatta - 6th June 2009 The J14 girls were down at Walton in strength, and were unfortunate to come up against some very good Molesey crews in the first round of the WJ14 Double Sculls. The girls quads likewise came up against stiff competition, although the ‘B’ quad won through easily to the semi-final, only to be beaten by the eventual winners from Tideway Scullers. The J14 boys were also out in force, and recorded some good wins against challenging opposition. Both quads won through their first two rounds (against crews from Hampton, Walbrook and Walton), before succumbing to the challenges from Hampton and Windsor Boys in the semi-finals. The boys’ doubles also recorded good wins against Hampton crews before likewise losing out to Windsor Boys in the semi-finals. Click here for more photos. National Schools’ Regatta, Nottingham 22-24 May The weekend began in slightly disappointing fashion, with none of our strong J14 crews making it through to their finals, the girls quad being particularly unfortunate in losing its rudder. Things picked up quickly, however, with a magnificent showing (yet again) by the J15 girls, who managed to get two crews into the final of the Girls’ Coxed Fours event on Friday night. One of the two crews took gold (Jess, Suzie, Izzy, Maria and Immy), with the other impeded only by a very unfortunate injury during the race. Running Tally (Friday): 1 Gold By the time most of the supporting parents arrived on Saturday morning we thought the best of the weekend might already be behind us, but there was much more to come. An excellent performance by the J15 Boys, who have struggled to find their rhythm this year, saw them to a very gutsy victory in the semi-final of the J15 1st VIIIs. While this may have left them a little tired, they nevertheless recorded an excellent 5th place in the final.
The Senior Girls also recorded a very creditable 5th place in the final of the Championship Grls’ VIIIs, against stiff opposition from the very best girls’ rowing schools in the country. Medal hopes on Saturday rested on the J15 girls and J16 boys, both of whom have shown sparkling form over the past few months. The girls were to go first, emerging with a bronze from a very hard-fought race, perhaps a little drained from their exertions on Friday, but still well ahead of a strong Latymer crew in fourth. Having seen the girls’ success, the boys gave everything to obtain a matching bronze in J16 Championship VIIIs, losing out narrowly to Eton and Shiplake, but pushing Radley, Westminster and Abingdon into the minor places. Next up were the Senior Boys. They may have had a difficult year with injuries, but they showed their true form in the First VIIIs category by posting the third best time in the processional and by winning their semi-final. In the final their power and fitness showed as they came back from half a length down on Shiplake at 1,000 metres, to beat them by half a length at the finish, scoring KGS’s first silver of the Championships.
Running Tally (Saturday): 1 Gold, 1 Silver, 2 Bronze On Sunday we were treated to the most spectacular weather of the weekend - cloudless skies, warm sunshine and almost no wind. The supporters had thinned out at the KGS tent, but those who remained were not to be disappointed. The J16 boys (Iain, Peter, Dan and Matt) had still not completed their medal collection. Rowing in the J16 Coxless Fours they were narrowly edged by Westminster in the fastest of the two semi-finals, but gained convincing revenge in the Final when they surged into the lead around the 1,000 metre mark, rowing home strongly to win gold in the Windsor Cup (last won by KGS in 1992). With one more event to go, the medal haul was not yet complete. The Senior Girls had not yet won the medal they felt was their due, and having cheered the J16s on their way, they rowed to the start of the Girls Championship Coxless Fours. With great determination they hauled back the Headington girls at 1,000 metres, and by 1,500 were neck-and-neck with LEH and St Neots. Over the last 250 the medal places appeared to change hands a number of times, but in the end the girls were just edged into 3rd place, adding another bronze to the school’s medal haul Running Tally (Sunday): 2 Golds, 1 Silver, 3 Bronze.
All in all, an excellent National Schools Regatta - wonderful weather, superb rowing and plenty of vocal support (the Headmaster and his wife throwing themselves into things with great gusto). And with such strong performances among the younger crews, we can only hope that next year wil be even better. Click here to see more photos. Junior Inter-regional Finals - 18th April 2009 The Boys J16s won GOLD in the eights event, as well as BRONZE in the coxed fours. In addition one boy rowed in a composite that got a SILVER in the coxless fours. The Boys J15s were very narrowly beaten into 4th place in coxed fours, but showed how much they had improved over the Easter training camp. The Girl J15s won SILVER in the coxed fours: having led for most of the race, they were beaten to the finish line by Dame Alice Harpur school by a mere foot. Photos from the National Schools’ Head KGS Crews win Gold and Bronze Medals at National Schools’ Head The J16 VIII (from Matthew Alcock, Iain Mandale, Andrew Ronaldson, Daniel Robinson, Peter Wales, Owen Newburn, Jack Kenneally, Oliver Roberts, Sam Johnson and cox Tom Robertson) have continued their tremendous early season form over the last few weeks and this culminated in a stunning win in Championship Eights at the Schools’ Head of the River Race over four miles from Mortlake to Putney, proving themselves to be the fastest J16 eight in the country. They overtook previous close rivals Westminster in a superb row to push a crew from Idroscalo, Milan into second place with the in-form Eton well back in third and behind them some of the other major boys’ rowing schools: St Paul’s, Abingdon and Radley. A particular mention should be made of coxswain Tom Robertson, who devoted a great deal of time to planning the perfect course and who steered brilliantly on the day. This win had looked a possibility after a sustained run of excellent race performances. They won in the eight at Quintin Head (beating close rivals St Paul’s and Westminster) and in a four at Hampton Head and more recently, a second place behind Oxford Brookes University in novice eights at Reading showed that the crew had serious pace. Now the squad moves on towards two more head races at Kingston on 14th March and the Head of the River Race on 21st March (in which they have a start number of 350). They then have a training camp in France and then the build up to what could be a highly successful regatta season. This may well start with the Inter-regional Regatta in Nottingham on 18th April when they are likely to be selected to represent the region in the eight. Support at any of these events is, of course, most welcome. Hot on the heels of the J16 boys were the successful Fourth Form girls who took bronze in the J15 Women’s VIII event. A special mention should also go to the J14 Boys Octuple which came 10th of 48 crews in their event (which is particularly impressive given the short time they’ve been rowing) and to the J16 and senior girls who came in the top half of the J16 Quad and Women’s Championship VIII events respectively. PARENTS : LEARN TO ROW/SPONSORED ROW Well, that’s the vision! And in an effort to make these dreams a reality the Sheriff Club is organising a “Learn-to-Row” course. We would strongly recommend it to any parent who is considering taking part in the Sponsored Row, but the invitation is open to all parents who want to come and have a go. We expect to run the course over two to three Sundays between April and June. The sessions will last for 2-3 hours each time, with a break for refreshments - a chance to sample Sherriff Club catering at its best! There will be a small charge to cover the cost of coaching, equipment rental and food. Before we finally set things up, we need to get an idea of numbers, so if you are interested, please send your name to Jerry Goodwin BEFORE MARCH 16th at along with a note of any rowing or sculling experience that you may have. It doesn’t matter if you have no experience at all – there is plenty of time to rectify that. And if the last time you sat in a boat is too long ago to admit – don’t worry - it’s a bit like riding a bike, albeit maybe a little wetter. After the course, or if you’re a more experienced rower, you might want to continue rowing with the current and former parents who make up the KGS Veterans Boat Club. They meet on Monday and Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings. Contact Mark Gale on for more details. WILL PERHAM FIRST IN GREAT BRITAIN LONG DISTANCE TRIALS, 21 and 22 February 2009 THREE WINS FROM THREE BOATS AT QUINTIN HEAD - 24th January 2009
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