The Year 9 girls had two quads and a double racing in the afternoon at Barnes and Mortlake.
With racing running nearly an hour late the girls had a lot of waiting around to do, but handled this well. Our first race was the quad of Freya Bennett (cox), with Matilda Bedi, Henriette Rueckert, Maddie Powell and Phoebe Bucknall, who comfortably won their first round race against Kings Canterbury, moving on to the quarter final against Putney High. This race was much tougher, with the girls moving into a lead of around a length not too far after the start, but Putney were not giving up and chased them all the way down the course. The girls maintained good technique and held on to win with an excellent row.
Meanwhile, our second quad, Dorothy Pretzlik (cox), Maddie Russell, Emily Howcroft, Freya Mills and Molly Geater Milton had been waiting patiently for their opposition. Eventually (after a collision and capsize in the windy conditions near the start) the umpires decided that neither crew from the first round should progress and our crew were awarded a row over to take them into the semi-final. They then went on to race Barn Elms. This turned out to be another tough race, with Barn Elms getting into a lead of around one length, but our crew raced determinedly all the way to the finish and closed to less than a length by the finish line.
In the meantime Freya’s crew raced Cheltenham in their semi-final, again racing well and confidently winning. This left them to race Barn Elms in the final. With a good idea of the pace of the Barn Elms crew we set off with great determination to avenge the defeat of Dorothy’s crew, and although being down initially off the start, settled into a great race pace and pulled through. With excellent steering from Freya, the girls maintained their lead and although pushed all the way to the line, winning the final by about a length and a half. An excellent day’s racing!
Our double was Esme Packman and Katarina Jimack. With very little practice in the double the girls raced really well in difficult windy conditions. When going in a straight line they clearly had more pace than their opposition from Putney High, but they struggled more with the steering, losing pace when they needed to adjust their course, resulting in them losing by two lengths or so at the finish. Their opposition went to on to lose the final by just half a length, so the girls were clearly on the pace in this Tier 1 event, and should be very pleased with their result.
Ms Elliott (Rowing Coach)