On Sunday 22nd February nine members of the school rowing club travelled to Maidstone to compete in the Medway Small Boats Head of the River. This is a rowing time trial, raced upstream over a 2500m stretch of the River Medway. The race was held in three separate divisions and included 111 crews from rowing clubs all over the south east of England.
The J16 Quad Scull of Flic Coghlan, Florence Moon, Rachael Scanlan, Laura Willis and Sarah Lucas (cox), recorded the fastest time for a Quad in their age group, completing the course in 11mins 10secs. This was not quite fast enough to win the Junior Quad event overall (103% of the winning time), which was won in a time of 10mins 53secs by the local club Maidstone Invicta. The crew were pleased with their row and enjoyed the experience of overtaking the ladies' crew from Deal Rowing Club during the race.
 |
| Medway Small Boats Head |
Florence and Rachael were also the fastest J16 Double Scull, recording a time of 12mins 23secs, 107% of the overall winning time for Womens' Junior Double Sculls. Sarah Lucas competed in the J16 Single Sculls event, but without direct opposition, was racing just to record a time and gain additional experience. Her time was 13mins 35secs.
In the J15 Double Sculls event, Flic Coghlan and Laura Willis achieved a very creditable second place in their age group with a time of 12mins 10secs, 104% of the winning time recorded by Maidstone Invicta.
Also second in their age group were the J14 Quad Scull of Ellie De, Abi Grosvenor, Avalon Ridler, Abi Buck, coxed by Anji Ramanan of Ardingly Rowing Club. The crew completed the course in 13mins 2secs, 105% of the winning time, again set by the girls of Maidstone Invicta Rowing Club.
Thanks are due to David Clarke and Derek Riches of Ardingly Rowing Club for their efforts in making participation in the event possible and to all of the parents who provided support and transport.
26/02/09
