Rowing: GB trials and medals galore!

The King’s School Rowing Club has recorded an exceptional Autumn, with over 150 athletes having already raced at regional or national level.

At the Agecroft Head, held in Salford, the club recorded a superb set of results, with 14 of the crews racing on the day winning their category. This was followed by recent club wins at the Dee Autumn Head and the Northwich Head.

In addition, the new J14s at the club raced in their first fixture against the Grange School. It was wonderful to see 58 pupils from both schools racing in their first event. 

Last weekend, the club raced at the Wallingford Head (Oxfordshire). This is the first National level event of the season for the club. It was encouraging to see all of the school’s boats competing at the top end of junior rowing. 

The two Girls Senior VIIIs finished in fifth and third place in their categories, the senior girls coxed four finished second. On the boys’ side, six crews raced from the J16-J18 squads, with the pick of the results being the boy’s senior VIII finishing in fifth place and the J16 1st VIII finishing in eighth place. It was an excellent day of racing for the club and a solid foundation for the season ahead. 

At the recent GB U19 rowing trials, six athletes raced from the King’s School. Racing in single sculls over the 5,000 metre course in Boston, Lucy Thomson finished in seventh place and Lily Wood in 77^th place. Luke Dillon finished tenth, Archie Barker 74^th, Anthony Audas 87^th and Ted Arnold 104^th.

With the top 150 boys and top 100 girls from across the UK racing, these were an excellent set of results for all six athletes and Director of Rowing, David Blackham, was very pleased with their results.

He said: “The GB triallists made an excellent start to their GB season, well done to both Luke and Lucy for finishing in their respective top ten. Both have received invites to the GB U19 winter training camp.

It has also been excellent to see the number of athletes competing at both regional and national level for the club. Over 20 crews have won a medal at regional events this term, which is a fine achievement for the athletes and the club.”