Rowing: Chester Regatta

Competing at the oldest regatta in the world in our own city is always a huge pleasure and this year was no exception as 32 racing crews from the King’s School Rowing Club (KSRC) took to the water over two days on Saturday, 8 June and Sunday, 9 June for the Chester Regatta, which began in 1733.

A series of excellent races saw the team secure six category wins over the course of the day. 

Saturday: morning division highlights

The J14 boys raced well in what was only their second experience of river regatta racing; the octuple made it to the final, losing only narrowly to The Grange School.

It was an all King’s final in the girls’ J16 coxed fours category with the crew of Caitlin Harding, Goda Butkute, Emily Taylor, Emily Cunnah-Palframan and Neel Agarwal coming away victorious.

Jacob Pauley made it through to the final of J15 boys’ singles sculls, beating scullers from Lancaster Royal Grammar School and Grosvenor Rowing Club before losing by less than half a length to Grosvenor.

In open eights, the J16 boys secured a win in the final against Salford University Boat Club by an impressive four lengths. 

Saturday: afternoon division highlights

Two J14 girls’ octuples raced against The Grange School and won, leading to the second all King’s final of the day. The crew of Anja Harding, Eliza Turner, Michelle Alalade, Elizabeth Mulhall, Helena Parkinson, Guste Butkute, Rose Hard Af Segerstad-Smith, Philippa Egan and Lily Brown was victorious.  

The J15 girls’ double of Fleur Bartram and Lucie Thornton were successful in making it through the rounds to the final, narrowly missing out on the win by just one length.

The senior boys coxed four of Finlay Montgomery, Fraser Brown, Pabishan Ketheswaran, Matthew Burman and Andreu Palet successfully beat Trafford Rowing Club to secure their win in open coxed fours.

We celebrated another all King’s final  in the J16 boys’ coxed fours which saw the J15s including Owain John, Adam Gloyne-Phillips, Daniel Burman, Lewis Cole-Jones and Neel Agarwal secure the victory against the J16 boys by three lengths.

Fin Thomson and Fraser Brown were victorious in open double sculls, securing the category win against Grosvenor Rowing Club.

Sunday: sprint division

In a new format, the event spanned two days this year.

On Sunday, the event included sprint series over 350m with KSRC represented in a number of categories. Owen Davies was in the open single scull, Alvern Qian and Dominic Egan in the open double scull and Matthew Burman, Pabishan Ketheswaran, Fergus McKeown and Fin Thomson in the open quad scull. The boys fought well but missed out in the finals.  

A successful two days on the water saw a total of 35 athletes leave the day with medals and Deputy Director of Rowing, James Gray, commended them all on their hard work.

He said: “Chester Regatta is always a highlight of the rowing calendar and the club enjoyed a very successful day on the River Dee today.

“The athletes worked hard and, crucially, worked well as a team and I am delighted that we ended the day with so many medals.”

A selection of our medallists are pictured below.

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