The Royal Hospital School is Top Kayaking School in the Country
On Sunday 24 November the Royal Hospital School, Suffolk, entered three crews in the National Schools Kayak Championships organised and run by the Devizes to Westminster (DW) Organisation, Marsport and Canoe England on the River Thames at Dreadnought Reach, Reading.
The event comprised a series of 500m and 200m sprints in the morning, as a “warm-up” event, with the main event being a 20 kilometre marathon, over a 4 lap course. For half of the race the paddlers were struggling against the flow of the river making for particularly challenging racing.
The Regatta is held to promote Schools Canoeing in the UK and it gives crews time for early preparation for the DW season ahead.
The top crew for the Royal Hospital School were Ed Bourne and Cameron Kerr, who finished in second place overall with a time of 2 hours 18 minutes. There was also strong team performance from Zack Tabor and Alex Crawford-Ewart (5th with 2 hours 21 minutes) and Will Hassall and Adam Hunkin (6th with 2 hours 25 minutes) resulting in RHS securing the Team Trophy.
Les Thompson and Lee Menday, kayak team coaches at the Royal Hospital School, said, “This is an outstanding achievement. Already this year RHS crews took first place in the Open Canoe race and Mixed K2 category in the 2013 Devizes to Westminster Canoe Marathon whilst overall RHS teams were 1st and 2nd in the CCF class, 2nd and 4th in the Schools and 3rd and 6th place overall. In 2012, RHS won every DW category – top School, CCF team and winners overall of the Junior Team competition. This weekend re-confirmed that RHS is one of the top marathon kayaking schools in the country with fantastic prospects for the future.”
The Royal Hospital School is a coeducational HMC boarding and day school for 700 pupils aged 11 to 18 years set in 200 acres of Suffolk countryside overlooking the River Stour. For more information www.royalhospitalschool.org