Rowing: A golden day on the Dee

On Sunday, 21 September, members of King’s School Rowing Club (KSRC) enjoyed their first competitive outing of the 2025-26 academic year.

Superb conditions and fabulous weather were the order of the day as rowers from Fourths to Upper Sixth took to the Dee for the Chester Long Distance Sculls under the watchful eye of our new Director of Rowing, Nick Wells. 

Nick said: “It was such a beautiful day for our first race of the season – and what a race it was! 

“It was fantastic for me to see how our rowers used their local knowledge of the course to their advantage, knowing the fastest part of the river to row in, expertly taking the bends and corners and judging when to push.”

The Chester Long Distance Sculls is a well-established annual head race, first competed in 1955. Competing against crews from around the country, KSRC fielded five crews; two coxless quads in the J18 division, a coxless quad in the J16 division and two coxed quads in the J15 division.

Nick continued: “We performed brilliantly, placing in the top four in every race. 

“Some stirring words of pre-race encouragement from our coaches had our boys and girls ready to give their all on the water, and they certainly delivered! Well done to all of them.”

All results are listed below. Pictured is the J15 girls crew who won first place in the coxed quad division and received their prize from the Lord Mayor of Chester. 

• Women’s J18 Coxless Quad (Thornton, Williams, Bartram, Harding) – Second place
• Women’s J18 Coxless Quad (Pinnington, Brazaityte, Lobato-Jones, Fish) – Third place
• Women’s J16 Coxless Quad (Taylor, Harding, Moss, Smith) – Second place
• Women’s J15 Coxed Quad (Gordon, O’Hanlan, Kapps-Sutter, Golding, Potter (c)) – Third place
• Women’s J15 Coxed Quad (Gregory, Potocki, Fletcher, Greaves, Griffiths (c)) – First place

• Open J18 Coxless Quad (Wells, Wastling, Cooper, Gloyne-Phillips) – Second place
• Open J18 Coxless Quad (Hayter, Evans, Burman, Paul) – Fourth Place
• Open J16 Coxless Quad (Gavin, Chick, St John Williams, Caldwell) – Third Place
• Open J15 Coxed Quad (Herbert, Powner, McKenna, Stananought, Wittingham (c)) – Second place
• Open J15 Coxed Quad (Sedwell, Hughes, Lee-Jackson, Colosio, Pond (c)) Third place

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