St Edward's Chronicle Summer 2018

37 ST EDWARD’S CHRONICLE

memory but seems inadequate to represent their effort and that of our Senior Girls’ coach Tristan Mayglothling. He was ably supported by OSE, Rupert Singfield, who nurtured a crew of Fifth and Lower Sixth girls who found success at Birmingham and Star Regattas in both the four and, combining with the J15 girls, in an eight, adding to an impressive National Schools’ tally. The five senior boys leaving Teddies were the larger part of arguably our fastest ever 1st VIII, but competing at a level where silverware is rarely attained and rewards are largely intrinsic. A squad just big enough to fill an eight left no room for change and the inevitable illness and injury suffered by several in the crew meant that a number of racing opportunities had to be missed during the season. Qualifying for the A final at the National Schools’ Regatta (ranked 7th) was a strong marker to progress but not as much as the time of 5:53.6 achieved at Marlow Regatta in finishing the fourth fastest school crew and ensuring that they were  selected for the Henley Royal Regatta. At Henley, a comfortable win over Windsor Boys brought a second round against a much bigger Australian crew. Despite their best row of the year it fell half a length short of victory in what was the fastest time for the event that day. The cox, Sam Shuker, steered faultlessly, benefiting from the experience of three years in the VIII, while the bow pair of Valentin Peiker and George Hayter had come through all five years at Teddies and were in their second season in the boat. Also in their second year were Campbell Nelson and Nicola dei Rossi having arrived to bolster the rowing in the Lower Sixth. Boat Club Captain, Max Thompson, missed racing through injury in the Lower Sixth but has led from the front and capped an impressive year with selection in the coxed four for the Great Britain Coupe team racing at Cork, Ireland, as we went to press. The future of the senior boys now lies with Barnaby Singfield, Thibby Mulot and Alexander Gowans, the latter two demonstrating their talent with silver medals in the J16 pairs at NSR. We can but look forward to whatever our mercurial 1st VIII coach, Jonny Singfield, might conjure up next year under the leadership of incoming Master in Charge, Adam Moffatt, who returns to Teddies having coached here early in his career. Our J15 boys have benefited from the return of another coach, Nathan Williams

(1st VIII 2004/5), enthusing and inspiring the boys to raise their expectations and effort. They showed significant progress over the summer and came away with multiple wins at Birmingham Regatta – including in a single for Felix Abel. They are threatening to move onwards and upwards in the coming year as indeed are the Shell boys who, like the girls, have seen a number of victories in open events. Not least we had an A quad that produced our highest ranking (fourth) at National Schools for many years, driven on by departing coach, Peter Rudge, who has given so much to the Boat Club since his arrival in 2009. He was, for four years, Master in Charge of Rowing, bringing a much- needed, sharper focus to the Boat Club. The boys responded well to his leadership, taking up every opportunity to get to the water. Success for his crew and indeed a further sixteen boys racing in octuples and quads came at Birmingham, Thames Ditton, Star and Reading Town Regattas as well as impressive racing and success in fixtures against Abingdon, Reading Blue Coat and Shiplake.

Saskia Ward with Coach Katie Greves at the Junior Inter-Regional Regatta in Nottingham

NSR WJ15 champions Daisy Speir, Saskia Ward, Abi Drennan, Jessica McPhail and India Courage with Coach Katie Greves and Assistant Coach Ben Sthamer.