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(Regattas and Heads are listed alphabetically but reports entered in chronological order)

Following their selection for the England team the Henley Rowing Club Junior Women's four of Katharine Boothroyd, Lindsay Nowak, Anna Smith, Carly Ralph and cox Oliver Cruickshank travelled to Cork last Friday with the rest of the England Team to compete in the Home Countries International Match. The match took place on the 2000-metre course at Iniscarra Lake, in the hills just outside Cork, where the Irish are starting to develop their national rowing centre.

In addition to the other home countries, Scotland and Wales the Irish in this their Centenary year had also invited Belgium to compete. Being their centenary year the Irish were keen to win as were the Belgium's competing for the first time and both fielded the strongest teams' possible.

In their race the Henley girls got off to a good start, as did the other crews and at the 500metre mark the crews were all level. The Henley girls new that some of the other crews were fast finishers and that it would be necessary for them to establish a lead if they were going to win the race. A push at the 500-metre mark gave a slight lead which they built on with further builds at the 1000metre and 1500 metre marks and coming into the last 250mtr had extended their lead to three-quarters of a length. As expected the Scottish and Welsh crews began to pull back at this point and with 20 strokes to go the English, Scottish and Welsh crews were level, As they crossed the line only the umpires could separate the crews and unfortunately the verdict was given to the Welsh. This was undoubtedly the closest and most exciting race of the day as well as one of the fastest.

However the points earned by the Henley girls for their place contributed to England's only win, the Junior Girls Match, with Ireland winning the other three divisions the Junior Boys, the Women's and the Men's.

Whilst disappointed not to have won in Ireland the girls have had a successful season and were proud to have represented their country and to have done so with distinction.

Whilst the Henley Junior Girls 1st crew competed at Henley Womens the rest of the squad were a little further up stream at The Thames Valley Park Regatta which is a 500metre sprint regatta predominantly for junior crews. The girls had a successful day reaching nine finals and winning four.

Three of the girls competed in single sculls Fran Compton Novice sculls, Bronwen Steele Under 15 and Katharine Boothroyd Under 16. The novice sculls had 18 entries making it one of the largest divisions of the day. Fran did well in her heats beating the other scullers relatively easily. In the final she faced Linacre of Kings School Canterbury, who had finished fourth in the recent National Schools Regatta and who proved to be the stronger sculler beating Fran by three lengths. The Henley girls had their revenge though when Katharine Boothroyd beat Linacre in the final of the Under 16 sculls. Having seen Linacre race Fran, Katharine new she had to get off to a good start and this she did establishing a very early lead of a length and a half, however Linacre pulled this back and Katharine had to put in a tremendous effort over the last 75 metres to maintain her lead and win by three quarters of a length. Another win came in the J15 sculls where in the final Bronwen had to race international competion B Girard of Univ. of Nantes, France and Wigley from Lady Eleanor Holles School. Bronwen did not let the international status of her opposition phase her and took an early lead which she maintained for a comfortable win.

Jenny Desmond and Sarah Fellowes reached the final of the J15 double sculls by rowing through the girls from Downe House in the very last few metres of their first round race. In the three boat final whilst they came from behind to pass the Headington crew they did not have sufficient power to row down the Lady Eleanor Holles crew who beat them by a length.

Katharine Boothroyd, Lindsey Nowak, Anna Smith, Carly Ralph and cox Claire Huntingdon continued their run of recent success in sweep oar boats with a win in Junior Fours. Beating Shiplake College easily and then establishing and maintaining a comfortable one and a half length lead over Bryanston School to win the final.

Another win came in sweep oar at Senior 4 status from the crew of Kirsty Scott, Claire Ansley-Watson, Anna Smith, Lizzie Mann and cox Claire Huntingdon. Despite limited practice together this crew looked very competent in their first round race beating the women from Walton Rowing Club by two and a half-lengths. The final against Headington was a much tougher race. Headington getting off to the slightly better start and taking a small lead which they maintained until the last 100 metres of the race when with the help of very vocal encouragement from the enclosure the Henley girls put in a burst increasing their rating and taking the lead to win by quarter of a length.

Whilst the older girls concentrated on preparation for Henley Women's Regatta and the National Championships Henley Rowing Clubs J14 and 15 girls and the novice women who have been training with the juniors went and notched up four wins last Sunday at Weybridge Ladies Regatta.

The Junior 14 coxed quad sculls comprising Clare Huntingdon (cox), Lucy Pratt, Rachael Dadds, Maggie Reinhard and Becky Varley narrowly lost in their final against a strong crew from Lady Eleanor Hollis School which was a tremendous performance since the Henley girls have only been rowing for a relatively short time.

In the finals of the junior 15 single sculls Bronwen Steel lost by a length to Bell of Surbiton who in the heat had also beaten Henleys Francesca Compton.

The wins came in the double sculls, were Sarah Fellowes and Jenny Desmond comfortably won their heat. In the final they were behind for two thirds of the race but a tremendous finishing burst took them past their opposition for a very good win.

Sarah and Jenny then went on to another emphatic win against Weybridge Ladies in the Junior 15 coxed quad were they teamed up with Francesca Compton and Bronwen Steel and cox Clare Huntingdon. This crew beat L.E.H. in the semi final with a race time that was not beaten by any other crew on the day.

The senior women also claimed honours in the two events they entered. Helen Davies won Novice sculls. The novice four of Sarah Brady, Yasmine Finnigan, Katherine Chapman Laura Herbolzheimer and cox Julie Woodroffe in their first race together won their semi final against Weybridge Ladies easily. The final against Walton was a much closer race, the Henley girls got off to a good start establishing an early lead and never allowing Walton to close to within more than three quarters of a length the girls and eventually winning by just over a length. This was the girls first win and is well deserved after their recent efforts in training

At the National Schools Regatta Henley's' Junior Girls came away with one gold, two silver and two bronze medals.

The gold medal came in one of the top events: the Championship Girls' Double Sculls. Lucy Mills and Kirsty Holland sculled well in their eliminator and semi final to qualify comfortably for the final. The final produced a very exciting race with the Henley girls, both who have been selected for this year's Great Britain Final Trials, thinking that the main opposition would come from the double from St Peter's School, York which contained two established internationals. At the 1000 metre halfway mark however, it was King's Canterbury who were setting the pace with Henley second, some two lengths behind and St Peter's third. Henley applied sustained pressure over the second half of the course and this finally told in the last 250 metres as they passed King's to win in a time of 7 mins 35.5 secs, a new record for the event, with clear water between them and second placed St Peters.

The first Henley medal of the Championships came in the Girls Coxed Fours where Katharine Boothroyd, Lindsey Nowak, Anna Smith, Carly Ralph and cox Claire Huntington won silver. The girls had some hard races, in their eliminating heat the first three boats being split by only just over a second with the Henley girls first. The girls qualified for the final with a second place in their semi final behind Oundle School. In the final Oundle established an early lead over the other crews and at the 500-metre mark the Henley girls were back in fourth place. A push at the 750 mark pulled them into second place behind Oundle where despite numerous challenges from other crews, they remained to take a well-earned silver medal.

The second medal of Saturdays racing was in some ways the most creditable. Anna Evans had made a late change to single sculling in an attempt to achieve selection for Great Britain. She knew that this was her last chance to gain a place in final trials. To achieve her aim she had to be one of the top two eligible juniors in Championship singles. This she managed in fine style, taking the Bronze Medal and beating all her rivals for selection. Henley Rowing Club now has three girls out of the ten selected for Great Britain Final Trials. No other club or school has more than one.

In atrocious conditions on Sunday the Championship quad of Kirsty Holland, Juliet Hookey, Anna Evans and Lucy Mills had a straight six boat final where the main opposition would come from the girls of Wycliffe College. The Wycliffe and Henley girls led from the start and had established clear water between them and the other crews by the 500-metre mark. These two crews remained close over the whole course, Wycliffe having a small lead until Henley's planned push at the 1,250 metre mark took them through into the lead. In the last 250 metres as Henley were pulling away, disaster struck when one of the girls' blades caught a wave in the rough water, stopping the boat and allowing Wycliffe to go through and win. The girls were disappointed to have only taken the silver medal, but they showed a remarkable turn of speed and gained confidence for their attempt in three weeks' time to win Henley Womens' Regatta.

The last medal of the championships for the girls came in the Junior 16 quads where Claire Ansley Watson, Kirsty Scott, Lindsey Nowak, and Lizzie Mann won the bronze. The girls in a straight final never recovered from a poor start that saw them in fifth position at 500 metres and five second down on the leaders. Whilst they were able to pull this back on most of the other crews they could not catch the winners Bedford Star and by just half a length missed out on second place to St Neots.

Katharine Boothroyd sculled well to reach the finals of the girls junior 16 single sculls as did Bronwen Steele who whilst still recovering from illness, came fourth in Junior 15 sculls. Sarah Fellowes and Jenny Desmond in their first National Schools Regatta won their heat of the junior 15 double sculls but just failed to qualify in the semi final.

Outstanding performances by the Henley RC boys squad resulted in a gold medal in the Championship Double Sculls and a silver in the J16 Double Sculls in last weekend's two day National Schools Regatta. The weather conditions at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham were so bad on Friday when the squad arrived that the rowing lake was closed for practice and they had to take to the unfamiliar River Trent for final race tuning. However Saturday dawned with a clear blue sky and no wind. Nick Friend and his Marlow RC partner Andrew Barron competed as Sir William Borlase's School in the Championship Double Sculls. With 30 entries in the event they were drawn in the 2nd of the 6 eliminating heats and had an easy warm up race to win comfortably. The semi-final was a little harder. Racing in the 1st of the 3 semi-finals they won by 8secs over Eton and confidently went to the start for the final knowing that they hadn't yet been fully extended. In the Final they stormed off the start to take an immediate lead and led the field by 0.6 secs after 500 metres. For the next 1000 metres they maintained this margin over Wycliffe College and as the race came into its closing stages managed to find enough in reserve to squeeze out another second to win the gold medal by 1½ secs. The first time that either Henley RC or Sir William Borlase's School have won a Boys' Championship event at the National Schools Regatta. Sunday was definitely another day with a strong tail wind blowing up the course making it very rough towards the finish. The J16 double - James Goodey and Paul Barker - were the first to race winning their eliminating heat to qualify for the semi-final. By early afternoon the wind had picked up and conditions were very unpleasant causing the Henley double to stop after 400 metres, but a well executed recovery got them back into the race to finish in the 3rd qualifying place. In the Final they were 5th after 500 metres, had moved into joint 3rd at 1000 metres and into the silver medal position at 1500 metres. In the sprint to the finish they raised their rate and were closing on King's Rochester as they crossed the line, 1½ secs behind the winners and 6 secs ahead of Tiffin School, the bronze medallists.The only event for the boys on the Saturday was the J15 double sculls in which the club had two entries - Rob Friend / Jonny Smith-Willis and Ryan Davies / Simon Thompson. With 20 crews entered there were four eliminating heats with the first 3 in each eliminator progressing to the semi-finals. In the first heat Ryan Davies and Simon Thompson were 4th for the first half of the race but moved into 3rd at 1200 metres and managed to hold onto a slight margin over Wycliffe College to clinch the qualifying 3rd place by 0.4 secs. Rob Friend and Jonny Smith-Willis qualified comfortably in 2nd position behind Dulwich College in the second fastest time of the eliminator round. In the semi-finals Davies and Thompson were unable to get on terms with the leaders in their race, but Friend and Smith-Willis faced Dulwich again in their semi-final and again came in 2nd to qualify comfortably for the final in the second fastest time of the semi-final round.When it came to the Final Friend and Smith-Willis were 4th at the 500 metres and 1000 metres marks and had moved into bronze medal position at 1500 metres. But as the race entered the final 200 metres they were unable to withstand the attack by Peterborough and St Leonards School and finished 5th. A fine performance by the two boys in their first race at the National Schools Regatta.The J15 boys were joined by Ollie Cruickshank as cox to race in the J15 quad sculls. Racing in the last of the 6 eliminating heats they comfortably qualified for the semi-final by finishing in 2nd place. The semi-final, in which only the first two were to qualify for the final, was tough and although they were still up with the leaders at half-way they began to drop back after the 1250 metre mark to finish in 4th place.

Three wins from five entries was the result of the Henley RC boys' expedition down the M4 to Coate Water Park Regatta near Swindon last Saturday. The 750 metre 3 lane straight course was reasonably well sheltered from the blustery wind even though other regattas on the same day were cancelled because of the weather conditions.The first win of the day was in the Senior 3 single sculls. In Nick Friend's second attempt at senior sculling the field of 9 entries was somewhat unknown. In his opening heat against Exeter and Southampton scullers he led from the start and was able to let the pressure off in the second half of the course to win by 1½ lengths. In the final he was a length down to Bateman of Reading RC at half way but put in a sustained effort to close the gap and just snatched victory by 2 feet on the line.Henley had two entries in the J15 double sculls - Rob Friend and Jonny Smith-Willis who beat Avon County comfortably in the opening heat, and Ryan Davies and Simon Thompson who were unable to hold. In the final Friend and Smith-Willis led off the start and had a lead of 1½ lengths at the half-way point. Letting the pressure off a little they allowed the Reading double to come back at them but were able to hold them off to win by ¾ length.The two doubles later formed a J15 quad with Ollie Cruickshank coxing.. In a straight final against Bryanston School and Magdalen College School they quickly took command of the race and with 3 lengths clear at half way won easily.

In preparation for this weeks' National Schools Regatta some of the Henley Junior girls who had not had race experience in their particular events went to Coate Park Regatta, an 850metre three lane course in parkland on the outskirts of Swindon. The girls Katharine Boothroyd, Anna Smith, Lindsay Nowak, Carly Ralph and cox Claire Huntington raced in the higher status Women's' Senior 3 coxed fours, at their own status of Junior coxed fours, Katharine also competed in Junior 16 sculls and Lindsay and Carly in Junior 16 double sculls. This proved a successful venture with the girls winning all four events.

In the first round of the Women's Senior 3 the girls faced opposition from Burway and Monmouth. Monmouth and Henley established an early lead over Burway and by half way the Henley girls had a length on Monmouth. The Monmouth girls though put in a determined burst in the last 150metrs and the final verdict was a canvas. In the final the girls comfortably beat Somerville College Oxford who had earlier beaten crews from Bristol University and Exeter University.

In the Junior fours the girls had a straight final against another Monmouth crew and Reading Rowing Club. Again the girls established an early lead but this time they maintained the pressure and continued to pull away from both the other crews to finish with clear water between them and Monmouth with Reading well back in third place.

In the final of Junior 16 Double Sculls Carly Ralph and Lindsay Nowak were able to scull well within themselves to gain a third victory for the Henley girls beating crews from Monkton Coombe and Burway. In the Junior 16 sculls final Katharine Boothroyd sculled well in the blustery conditions to record a fourth win with a relatively easy two length victory over a German sculler Ever racing for Reading Rowing Club

14/5/99Henley Rowing Clubs Junior squad developed an international flavour last week with crews racing in Belgium, Germany and in two locations in the UK.

Lucy Mills was in Munich representing Great Britain at the Munich International Junior Regatta racing in two events double sculls and quads. In the double sculls partnered by L Bertram from Wycliffe College the girls reached the final and finished in sixth place In the quad with girls from Burway RC and Queens Park High School.the girls finished second behind the Dutch. The times for both boats were very good and only just off the pace required for World Championship medals.

In contrast to this country the sun shone from a cloudless blue sky for the 80th Ghent International Regatta in Belgium last weekend with temperatures in the mid 70s. The two days of racing resulted in one gold and one bronze medal for the 7 boys in the squad.

However the medals didn't come until the last hour of the second day. Nick Friend with his Marlow RC partner Andrew Barron, had entered Senior B (Under 23) Lightweight double sculls instead of the equivalent Junior event on the Sunday. With a maximum permitted average weight of 70Kg the lightweight event was a new venture for them. In the final they scorched off the start to take an immediate lead and steadily drew away to lead a Liège double by 4 lengths at half-way. Content with this margin, they didn't push any further and crossed the line to win the gold medal by 7 secs.

In the J16 double sculls Henley had entered three crews. James Goodey and Paul Barker consolidated their form to take the bronze medal from a field of 23 with Jonny Smith-Willis and Rob Friend finishing 13th and Ryan Davies and Simon Thompson 19th.

Earlier in the day the Henley Junior 14/15 quad sculls crew (Simon Thompson, Jonny Smith-Willis, Rob Friend and Ryan Davies had raced in the J16 event. With an excellent row in which they convincingly won their heat, they were disappointed to only finish 6th out of 11 in the event.

Paul Barker and James Goodey teamed up with Andrew Cruickshank and Peter Bates from The Oratory School to race in the J18 Quads. In a tough field they were unable to raise their rate when under pressure and could only finish 11th.

On the Saturday Nick Friend raced in the Junior 18 single and double sculls. In the singles he finished 16th from 53 in a personal best time of 7.53 and in the double sculls (with Barron) he finished 6th from 39, 3 secs off the bronze medal and the fastest British crew. This result plus their win in the U23 event on Sunday is a key milestone in their preparations for the National Schools Regatta at the end of the month.

The majority of the girls squad raced at Avon County Schools Regatta and after facing some difficult conditions on the four lane 750 metre course returned home with four Gold Medals, Two Silver and One Bronze.

The first win of the day came in the top women's event Junior Eights where in the final the girls Lizzie Mann, Juliet Hookey, Anna Smith, Kirsty Scott, Claire Ansley-Watson, Lindsey Nowak, Katharine Boothroyd Carly Ralph and cox Rosie Raynor powered through from the back of field for a convincing win over Canford School and Cheltenham College. In the Junior 16 double sculls final Kirsty and Clare teamed up and in a straight final established an early lead which they built on over the 750 metre course to finish well clear of second placed Northwich. The Third gold medal came from Juliet Hookey in the J16 sculls where again the depth and quality of the Henley squad was shown by the ease with which she took an early lead over the opposition which she then maintained sculling comfortably within her limits. The fourth gold medal also came from a single sculling event where Anna Smith competing in the Junior Novice Sculls had most probably to put up with the worst conditions of the day but coped well to win comfortably in both the heats and final.

The Junior under 15 girls where not quite so lucky the most unlucky being Bronwen Steele who in the final of the J15 Sculls was awarded seconded place after her sprint to the finish line was severely impeded by a Northwich sculler who had crossed all four lanes. In the J15 Double sculls Bronwen was partnered by Sarah Fellowes a very good first round race got them to the final where they were up against the very strong Headington double containing potential GB candidates. The girls never lost contact and came in just over two lengths down on the Headington double to take a well deserved silver medal. In the J15 quads Sarah and Bronwen were joined by Bethan Thomas and Jenny Desmond and cox Rosie Raynor. In the final Headington established an early lead, with Henley and Northwich close behind fighting for second place over the whole length of the course. In the end the more experienced Northwich girls (silver medallists behind Headington at last years National Championships) took the silver medal with Henley a canvas down in Bronze medal position but well clear of fourth placed Gloucester.

The J14 quad of Bethan Thomas, Rachel Dadds, Rebecca Varley, Lucy Pratt and cox Kaye Davies gained some valuable race experience doing enough in their first round to qualify for the final but in the difficult conditions where not quite experienced enough to achieve a medal position.

Also facing difficult conditions was Anna Evans who travelled to Nottingham to compete at Nottingham City regatta on the six lane international course. The course is notorious for its exposure to wind and the unfair conditions that can be created on this expanse of water, on Saturday it lived up to its reputation. Competing in the Women's Senior 2 sculls, above her status and age group, Anna set the fourth fastest time of the 20 scullers in the event after overcoming the very choppy water in the first 500 metres of the course. She unfortunately did not get a second race as racing was subsequently cancelled due to the poor conditions.

30/4/99 Henley Rowing Clubs junior squads had a busy but successful weekends rowing on the Royal Albert Dock in London. Coming away with a total medal tally for the girls of six gold, two silver and two bronze and for the boys two gold and one bronze.

On Sunday at the docks the whole of the girls squad competed in the Inter Regional Championships and the Poplar Junior Regatta, the first major junior regatta of the year. In the Inter Regional Championships Henley crews represented Thames West against the five other divisions of the country North East, West, South West, South East, and East. In the women's J16 sculls Lucy Mills new that the main opposition would come from Bertrum of the SouthWest team who like Lucy had been selected from earlier trials to represent Great Britain. From the start these two scullers pulled away from the rest of the field to the half way mark at 750 metres the two remain close but from here on in Lucy pulled away from Bertrum to finish a clear winner. The second win in the Inter regional came from the Women's J15 double of Fran Compton and Bronwyn Steele. The Women's J16 quad Kirsty Holland, Kirsty Scott, Claire Ansley-Watson and Juliet Hookey gave Henley and Thames West a third win.

In the Poplar regatta the women's J16 Quad of Lizzie Mann, Kirsty Scott Lindsey Nowak and Claire Ansley-Watson won their first round heat comfortably and in the final established an early lead that they extended throughout the race to win easily.

The girls J15 Quad Sarah Fellowes, Jenny Desmond Bronwyn Steele and Fran Compton had much tougher opposition in their final. The Henley and Headington crews establishing an early lead over the other crews in the final but these two crews remained level to half way at which stage the stronger and more experienced Headington crew started to pull away and established a lead which they maintained to the finish. A good silver medal win for the Henley girls.

Racing for the first time the J14 girl's quad took the bronze medal being beaten by crews from Headington and Lady Eleanor Holles. Another Bronze went to the Junior girls eight racing in the senior 3 category who were beaten by Bristol University and Kingston Grammar School. The women's J16 double of Lizzie Mann and Kirsty Scott took silver medal behind Headington.

Gold Medals were won in the top women's events of the day Women's Junior Doubles and Women's Junior Quads. In the double Lucy Mills and Kirsty Holland sculled well in the blustery conditions to beat the other crews, which also contained members of the GB junior squad. In the quad Lucy and Kirsty were joined by Anna Evans and Juliet Hookey, at this level the racing is never going to be easy but this crew showed true quality by dominating the race from the start and maintaining the pressure throughout to take the Gold Medal ahead of Wycliffe.

With medals coming across all ages and crews the depth and quality of the squad is excellent and promises much for the rest of the season.

The Club had a good trip to Bedford Small Boats Head coming away with a number of wins as well as giving some of the novice women some much needed race experience. The experienced scullers Helen Davies and Amanda Sills won the novice double sculls , with Mo Gannon and Tammy Hirst a few seconds behind in fourth place.

The Veteran men won Veteran C coxless fours with Chris Bushnell and Kevin Horne from the four also going on to Vet C pairs.

At the recent scullers Head Rob Wilson finished in a very creditable 28th Place and Kurly Braun won the Vet G catergory.

For a change of venue andsome early season racing experience the Henley RC boys squad joined forces with Marlow RC for a joint training camp in Ghent, Belgium. Leaving before dawn last Tuesday, the boys were out on the superb 5 lane 2000 metre rowing lake near the centre of Ghent in the early afternoon. The Ghent Regatta organisers had arranged accommodation and meals in a local college which provided an excellent base only 10 mins from the course.

For the next three days the boys were out in force on the water in a variety of boat types including single sculls, doubles, quads and a coxless four. After seat racing trials, crews were selected to race in the 2-day Belgian International Junior Championships at the weekend. No medals were won in the very tough competition which included crews from Belgium, France, Germany, Holland, Cyprus and Israel as well as Great Britain, but there were some fine individual performances.

On the first day, Andrew Cruickshank and Paul Barker each paired up with a Marlow sculler for the J18 double sculls. Against strong international opposition both raced well to take 16th and 21st places respectively out of the 27 entries. In the J16 singles Jonny Smith-Willis, competing a year above his age group, excelled to take 5th place from the 33 entries, the highest placed GB sculler, 11 secs behind the winner. A composite Henley and Marlow J18 quad containing Nick Friend had an indifferent row in which they were unable to raise themselves to the race and finished a disappointing 9th, well below their potential. To finish the morning's racing there were J12 and J14 races over a shorter course. Ryan Davies raced hard in the J14 singles over 1000 metres and was the second fastest GB sculler finishing in overall 16th position out of 38 starters.

The afternoon saw Paul Barker back in action with his Henley doubles partner James Goodey in the J16 double sculls, finishing 6th out of 19 starters. This double were recently selected to represent the Thames West Region in the forthcoming Inter-Regional Championships between the 6 English Regions. The biggest event of the regatta was the J18 single sculls with 53 entries of which 43 actually raced. Nick Friend, who last month had finished 14th in the GB Junior Trials at Peterborough, had set himself two targets - to finish in the top half and to break 8 mins for the 2000 metre course. In the event he finished 17th, well inside the top half but just missed the 8 min barrier by a fraction of a second. Andrew Cruickshank with little racing experience in a single came in 34th. To finish the first day's racing the Henley J15 crew of Simon Thompson, Jonny Smith-Willis, Rob Friend and Ryan Davies raced in the J16 quads, this time coxless. They led from the start in their heat and continued to draw away throughout the race, finishing in a very respectable 5th place overall out of 13 starters.

The following day, Sunday, started with a clear sky but a strong tail wind which was making the water very choppy in the second 1000 metres. The first race of the day was a Henley/Marlow partnership of Nick Friend and Andy Barron in the J18 double sculls. Leading off the start in their heat they had 2 lengths clear at 1000 metres but were gradually rowed down by a double from Essen. With a length advantage and 500 metres to go Henley/Marlow were unable to hold off the Germans in the rough water and took 2nd place by ¾ length to finish 6th overall from 26 starters. In the J16 doubles Henley had two entries - Ryan Davies/Ollie Cruickshank (who is usually more at home in the cox's seat) and Jonny Smith-Willis/Rob Friend.

The Smith-Willis/Friend double have recently been selected to represent Thames West in the Inter Regional Championships as J15s. Both doubles found the rough water difficult to handle but fought hard and finished 12th and 20th respectively out of 29. The J16 singles event included four Henley scullers - Paul Barker who finished 8th, James Goody 13th, Rob Friend 17th, and Simon Thompson 19th out of 36. Andrew Cruickshank then turned his hand from sculling to rowing and joined three Marlow boys in a J18 coxless four. In their heat they were lying 3rd and moving confidently into 2nd place when a steering error took them into the course-side wall. Andrew, later in the day sculled in a different J18 quad combination to take 10th place. The final boys' race was a J16 quad combination of Jonny Smith-Willis, Paul Barker, Rob Friend and a Marlow sculler which, although having steering problems over the course took 8th place overall from 17.

The regatta and training camp finished on a high note when Livinia Cowell-Sheriff, who had been part of the coaching team all week, found her form again and took the silver medal in the womens' U23 singles.

16/03/99:Henley junior girls had a busy weekend competing on Friday in The Schools Head of The River and then on Saturday in the Women's Head of the River Race both races being held over The Boat Race course but in the reverse direction of Mortlake to Putney.

On the Friday in the Schools Head 13 girls from Henley took part, racing in WJ15 quads, WJ16 quads and WJ quads. Despite all three crews being subject to last minute changes due to illness they all returned creditable performances. The women's junior quad Lucy Mills, Anna Evans, Anna Smith and Claire Ansley Watson, finishing second to a Wycliffe School crew which contained two of Lucy's team-mates from the Great Britain junior squad. The women's under 16 quad Lizzie Mann, Lindsay Nowak, Kirsty Scott and Katharine Boothroyd, also finished second behind Lady Eleanor Holles School. The women's under 15 quad, Sarah Fellowes, Fran Compton, Bethan Thomas and Jenny Desmond cox Rosie Raynor finished fifth. Whilst the crew had hoped for a better position this was still a very good result for this young crew, with Bethan Thomas competing for the first time and gaining some valuable race experience as the crew passed four crews and caught three others on the finish line.

The Schools Head Race last Friday on the Tideway between Barnes Bridge and Putney was the last of the winter long distance races for the Henley RC boys. The J15 boys quad - Simon Thompson, Jonny Smith-Willis, Rob Friend, Ryan Davies and Ollie Cruickshank (cox) started near the back of the field in their division and by half-way over the course had overtaken four crews leaving them a clear run to the finish. The result, however, was a little disappointing, finishing in 5th position out of 22, 17secs behind the winning Dulwich College crew.

Only one of the senior boys squad competed. Nick Friend stroked the Sir William Borlase J18 quad which, starting 3rd, caught up Kings College School and held off the chasing crews but this was only sufficient to gain them 8th place out of 22 in their division, 21 secs behind the winners, Wycliffe College

On Saturday, Lindsay Nowak, Katharine Boothroyd, Carly Ralph, Anna Evans and Anna Smith joined up with three of the girls from the senior women's squad Amanda Sills, Kathy Lee and Louise Firk to compete against 250 crews in the Women's Head of the River Race. For the juniors this was both a change of boat from fours to eights and from sculling to rowing. Competing against not only the best crews in the country but also from overseas. The girls had a tough race being chased all the way over the course by a senior 1 crew from Llandaff RC whom they managed to hold off until the closing stretch past Fulham football ground The girls finished 65th overall in a time of 21min 3secs.

The boys and girls are now preparing themselves for trials to represent Thames West Region in the forthcoming Inter Regional Championships and an Easter training camp in Belgium.

14/02/99:Junior crews were out in force again with both the girls and boys competing at the Henley Schools Head (was the river any better this Saturday than last when the Henley Fours was cancelled?)The WJ16 quad Claire Ansley-Watson, Carly Ralph, Lindsey Nowak and Lizzie Mann won their event comfortably and were the fastest girls crew in the event beating the Junior quads and the eights. The boys J15 crew of Simon Thompson, Ryan Davies, Johnny Smith-Willis, Rob Friend cox Ollie Cruickshank whilst getting revenge on Dulwich who beat them last weekend were beaten into second place (out of 11) this weekend by Windsor Boys.Not to be forgotten are the girls J14 quad (I'll get the names of Dave Scivier) who were not only competing for the first time but had gone below the bridge for the first time.

2/02/99: At long last we have been able to get on the river and race thanks largely to the quick thinking of the Hampton Head organisers who moved their event to the Tideway. As you will see from the results page the junior girls achieved two wins Kirsty Holland, Kirsty Scott, Juliet Hookey and Lucy Mills (all contenders for the GB junior squad) notching up wins in the WJ 4x. In the WJ 16 Lizzie Mann, Lindsey Nowak, Claire Ansley Watson and Bronwyn Steel had a comfortable win. The WJ 4+ of Katharine Boothroyd, Anna Smith, Anna Evans, Carly Ralph and cox Rosie Rayner did well to finish in third place behind the very strong crews from the LEH and Kingston Grammar School. The boys boated two crews a J 4x composite with Oratory School (Nick Friend, James Goodey, Pete Bates, Andrew Cruickshank)and a J15 4x+ of Simon Thompson, Ryan Davies, Johnny Smith-Willis, Rob Friend cox Ollie Cruickshank who finished second in a strong field.

18/12/98: A small group of Henley boys took part in the Burway Small Boats Head on a bendy reach of the river downstream of Staines last Saturday. With good performances all round from the squad of Ryan Davies, Simon Thompson, Jonny Smith-Willis and Nick Friend, the star of the day was Jonny Smith-Willis. Winning the J14 singles by a distance he also beat the J15 winning time by 40 secs. The Henley/Marlow Junior double of Nick Friend and Andy Barron confirmed their recent form to finish fourth in the J18 double sculls.

29/11/98:At Hampton Small Boats Head Henley Junior girls took the top places in virtually everything they entered. Lucy Mills winning J17 Sculls and beating all the other girl scullers in the event and this was on an off day. Kirsty Holland had a good day winning two pennants one for J16 sculls and then pairing up with Lizzie Mann to win J17 Double Sculls Katharine Boothroyd and Anna Smith were just behind in third place. In the J16 double sculls Kirsty Scott jumped in to partner Juliet Hookey,taking the place of the poorly Lucy Mills, even this impromptu double finished in second place. In J15 double sculls Jenny Desmond partnered Fran Compton and considering this was Jenny's first long distance race the girls did well finishing in fourth place. Carly Ralph and Anna Evans who have only this last couple of weeks taken up pair oaring are getting better every outing and were second in the WJunior pairs and third in the WJ17 pairs. Henley really dominated the WJ16 sculls with Kirsty Holland winning and then Juliet Hookey in second Lindsay Nowak third Lissie Mann fourth and Katharine Boothroyd ninth.

The boys whilst having no wins (except Nick Friend rowing under the foreign colours of Borlase winning MJ17 doubles) showed some depth and good allround performances. Clapp and Goodey fifth in MJ16 2x, Sam Clapp was also third in J16 1x, Rob Friend and Johnny Smith Willis second in MJ15 2x I think the first time they have been beaten. In the morning Rob and Johnny had teamed up with Ryan Davies and Simon Thompson and had come a creditable third in J15 4x+ with cox Ollie Cruickshank. Another Henley member Michael Lambourn rowing under his school colours of St Edwards took first place in MJ15 sculls.

	Crew	Finish Position	Cat'g Position
Henley 1 (Junior Boys)	J 4X	164	12 of 21
Henley 2	S2 4X	220	34 of 44
Henley 3	VetC 4-	144	5 of 27
Henley 4	S1 4-	296	14 of 15
Henley 5 (Junior Girls)	WS2 4X	252	9 of 31
Henley 6	WS2 4X	366	22 of 31
Henley 7 (Junior Girls)	WS2 4X	365	21 of 31
Henley 8	S3 4+	400	22 of 34
Henley 9 (Junior Girls)	WS3 4+	413	4 of 28