On Thursday 4 February, 16 of our fittest pupils descended on the Surrey Sports Park Complex to compete in the Surrey School Indoor Rowing Competition.

 

The competition is for Years 7 to 10, including both boys and girls from 6 schools from around Surrey. The teams are made up of two boys and two girls from each age group. The format for the competition is for individual timed races for all rowers. The idea being to cover the maximum distance in the given time. On completion of the individual events, relays took place with single sex teams comprising of combined Year 7/8 and 9/10 teams.

 

All of our rowers gave a fantastic, spirited performance against some very strong opposition with a number of teams fielding regular club rowers. Notable performances were the following who all achieved first place in their respective heats:

Year 7 - Will Lewis and Pippa Dixon

Year 8 - Brogan Hyde

Year 9 - Will Hopkins, Millie Guida and Katherine Gooch

Year 10 - Artur Qadir

 

On completion of the individuals we were lying in second position, just one point behind local rivals, Salesian's.

 

The relays kicked off with our Year 7/8 girls team who pushed hard all the way to finish in a very creditable third place. Next up was the boys team from the same age group. This proved to be the closest race of the whole event with our boys being pipped into second place by one metre.

 

Our seniors were left with the task of pushing us through the rankings in the last two races. They did not disappoint. Both boys and girls rowed valiantly to finish winners in each of their categories. An outstanding effort, giving us enough points to become outright team champions by just 4 points.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all rowers for their sterling efforts in what is certainly not a glamorous sport. It demands grit, guts, sheer determination and above all a high level of fitness. A particular thanks to Uyime Ntia, Leah Webster, Scott Biglin and Sophie Dove who all stepped in at the last minute to cover pupils who were called to other duties. I would also like to thank Mr Tom Dodd our graduate assistant who assisted me throughout the day.

 

We now look forward to the Inter-House Rowing taking place after half term.

 

Steve Monk