Henley Rowing Club

Founded 1839

Henley Rowing Club returned from last weeks National Rowing Championships of Great Britain with an impressive medal tally of two gold's two silvers and two bronze.

The Championships held over three days at the National Water Sports Centre, Nottingham were fortunate not to be disrupted by the variable weather conditions, which saw some very strong winds in the middle of Saturday afternoons racing bring near sinking conditions, Sundays finals though were held in near perfect conditions and saw some very exciting racing.

The first of the gold medals came from the girls under 16 four of Hannah Blair, Amanda Moore, Caitlin Bennet, Natalie McIntosh and cox Hannah Boyd. The girls won their heat convincingly which saw them straight through to the final but in the final had to be considered as outsiders as they were up against medal winners from the National Schools regatta and a number of crews who had beaten them the previous week albeit in coxless boats. The girls got off to a flying start which they continued to build on such that they had nearly two lengths on Aberdeen Schools going into the last 500 metres even a determined fight back by Aberdeen saw this only reduced to just over a length as they crossed the line.

The second gold medal came from the Junior girls pair of Natalie Robinson and Lucy Lewington, who reached the final via the repachage after steering problems in their eliminating round saw them finish third behind a Reading/St Edwards composite and George Heriots Schools. In the final no such mistake occurred and the girls led from the start of the race and continued to build a commanding lead with a beautiful display of pair oar rowing which saw them finish nearly 18 seconds ahead of the Reading/St Edward composite who are the spare pair for this years Great Britain junior team at the Coup de la juenesse.

Lucy and Natalie then immediately after the pairs race joined forces with Caitlin and Natalie from the J16 four to compete in the Women's Junior coxless fours. The girls got of to a slow start and after 500 metres where back in fourth place but again the girls showed some determined and quality rowing and it could be seen that they where moving up through the field and at 1000 metres where in second place and just overlapping a Reading/St Edwards composite. The girls continued to close on the composite and by 500 metres the gap was down to a third of a length. With both boats containing girls from the just completed pairs race it became a real scramble for the line and the composite just held on to leave Henley with the silver medal but well clear of third placed St Leonard's school.

The second of the Silver medals came from Lizzie Mann in the Women's Under 23 single sculls. Lizzie is also a lightweight and new that she had to get off to a good start and to establish an early lead. This she did and at 500 metres led the field with clear water, at a thousand metres this lead had been extended, but by the 1500 metres scullers from the University of York and University of London were both overlapping with Lizzie. In the last 250 metres Alex Eddey from UL powered past Lizze to take gold but whilst the Uni of York sculler closed the gap she was unable to get past Lizze who captured a well earned silver medal.

The bronze medals came from the Clubs younger crews. The under 14 girls of Emily Derrig, Ellen Anthony, Jenney Arnold, Orla Millar and cox Alice Skinner being beaten into third place by some well developed crews from Evesham and Maidenhead the girls did though beat local rivals Sir William Borlase and Marlow into fifth and sixth place respectively.

The boys under 15 quad of Simon Jones, Peter Wagner, Chris Clark and Drew Ford had a real battle for the second place with Windsor Boys with the boats overlapping all the way up the course and over the last thousand metres there was never more than a few feet between bow balls. At the finish St Leonard's took gold just over a length up on Windsor and Henley who where only 0.3 seconds apart with Henley unfortunately in the Bronze Medal position.

The results from the Championships is even more commendable as the Junior Girls boats had to be reconfigured following the selection of two of Henley Rowing Clubs junior girls to represent Great Britain at the Coup de la Jeunesse which can be considered as the European Junior Rowing Championships. Hannah Smith Willis will competing in the coxless fours and Becky Griffiths in the double sculls at the championships which are to be held later this month in Ravenna Italy. The girls were selected following a series of intense trials and assessment camps that started with long distance races back in November last year and culminated in final selection trials two weeks ago on the Eton College