Monkton’s first team Quad took home top honours at the recent Wycliffe Regatta. It was back to the traditional head race of the season with an impressive list of entries, each having between 10 and 25 boats to race. The event was held over 4500m on the Gloucester Sharpness canal held in a time trial which is referred to in rowing as a head of the river race.
The event included some of the best schools in the country so it is a great testing ground for the season ahead. All crews were treated to freezing cold temperatures before the start of each race but the crews were rallied along thanks to a lively competitive river-bank atmosphere.
Monkton’s race of the day went to the first team quad. With their months of training in the gym and on the water at the new rowing facility, the team looked the most well drilled and competitive in their category as they took the Head of the River, winning by a considerable margin from some very experienced quads and substantially larger schools, finishing 1st out of 15 crews. This impressive result came at the end of a long, hard event as they clocked up a day’s mileage of over 26km.
Monkton’s Director of Rowing, commented, “Monkton can be very proud of all results. Rain or shine, sleet and ice, our teams have shown real character in training and today their hard work has paid off. Our coaches, but more importantly, our pupils, are making good use of our new rowing centre at Saltford and we’re looking forward to a competitive season ahead.”