Success at Henley

This weekend, the King’s Senior Girls squad joined forces with members of The Grange School BC in The Peabody Cup for Junior Women’s Eights at The 30th Anniversary Henley Women’s Regatta. This truly international event attracts entries from across the world,  as well as from the very best schools, universities and clubs in the UK.

The girls who took part are : Millie Medland, Jess Proctor-Crozier, Natasha Groome, Amelia Standing, Isabel Beardwood, Charlotte Cross, Imogen Stubbs (Grange), Lucy Cornelissen (Grange) and Lizzie Blakeman (Grange), 

In the Peabody Cup, the 2017 draw also included the Gold and Silver medal-winning Championship Eights from the recent National Schools Regatta as well as two further crews that contested the A final at that same regatta and two crews from the USA so the competition was of the very highest calibre.

On Saturday morning, the King’s/Grange composite raced the UK’s most successful girl’s rowing programme over the past decade, Headington School (Oxford), coming from behind to defeat their more experienced opponents by a significant 1.5 boat lengths verdict in the fastest time of the morning races. This was an enormously impressive and mature victory for a composite crew that had only managed four practice sessions in preparation for the event and also given that the race took place in temperatures exceeding 30 degrees celsius.

On a blisteringly hot afternoon, the King’s/Grange crew met a very strong crew from Buckingham Browne & Nichols School from Boston, USA in the Quarter-Finals who had received a bye from the previous round of racing and so entered the race fresher than the King’s/Grange crew. The Cheshire girls raced impressively but despite a brave performance it was their opponents that came out on top in what was a hard-fought race from both crews.

This is a significant step forward for girls rowing at both King’s and The Grange School and all of the girls that competed should be enormously proud of their performances which bode well for their futures in the sport.

An already impressive weekend was rounded off in great style when King’s former pupil, Olivia Rogerson, won the Cathy Cruickshank Trophy for Academic Fours as stroke of the University of London Boat Club crew. This is the second consecutive year where a recent Old Girl of King’s has won a title at Henley Women’s Regatta, testament to the excellent grounding in rowing that the King’s pupils gain during their time at the school and this will prove enormous inspiration to both the current girls squads as well as those that follow.