Schools Head of The River Race Report

The Junior Boys 8+ had a great race at Schools Head going off boat number 18 in a very competitive field. The experience of Sophie Wrightson in the Coxes seat (FRBC coach and UL 1st 8+ cox) gave the boys a huge amount of confidence going into the race and helped them achieve their best performance to date.

 Jack who was at bow in the Junior Champ 8+ crew shared his experience of the race:
 
"The Schools’ Head of the River Race, which we raced in an eight, was on Wednesday, March 20th. We came 87th out of 296 crews and 18th in our division. This is an impressive achievement based on our assorted ages in a J18 race. I’m proud of us. 
 
We boated about an hour before the race started, giving us plenty of time to row up past Chiswick Bridge, where we were marshalling. FRBC is located in the prime position for the long tideway races, about halfway up the course. This gives us a long, but not exhausting warm-up row, and a relatively short row back from the finish at Putney.
 
For our warm-up, we built from the front end in fours, which we find helps us with our placements and swing. We also managed to fit in some bursts at race pace, along with some roll-ups. Our cox, Sophie, was very good at avoiding the numerous other boats on the water, and we marshalled without any problems.
 
Despite our dying legs and lungs, we pressed through Hammersmith Bridge and up to Craven Cottage, at which point we emptied our tanks and took the rate up to a furious (yet controlled) 35. We finished strong over the line, and had to turn quickly for a light row back. 
 
It was, without a doubt, our best race of the season, and the warmth made it all the better. I had a lot of fun."

Well done to the crew, we are all so proud of you! Thank you to Jack for taking the time to write up your experience of the race. With thanks also to Brian Goulding and Tim Koch for the wonderful photos.