Rowing News – 17 March 2022

We are delighted to report that has been recent success for St Paul’s Boat Club in both the Schools’ Head of the River Race and Junior Sculling Head.

Schools’ Head of the River Race

Seventy-two competitors raced for St Paul’s at the Schools’ Head of the River Race on Monday – this is the largest number of boats SPS has ever fielded for the event. The Schools’ Head is a major national race with over 300 crews descending on London to take part. This is home water for St Paul’s as the racecourse passes right in front of the school’s boathouse. 

The 1st VIII came 5th in a strong field where only 10 seconds separated the top 5 crews. 

Particular congratulations go to the Fifth Form squad and their coaches, German Pradera Anllo, Luca Nicolau and Ben Sthamer. The J15A and J15B eights won their events and the J15Cs came 9th in the second eights event, beating five J15 first eights from other schools. 

Honourable mentions for the other crews: the 2nd VIII placed a very fine 3rd in their category, and the 3rd VIII was 4th in theirs. 

The J16As came 5th, and the J16Bs a strong 3rd. 

Junior Sculling Head

This was a hectic week for the Boat Club. In addition to the Schools’ Head on Monday, forty-five Fourth Form pupils took part in the Junior Sculling Head at Dorney Lake on Wednesday. In their first-ever regatta, SPS crews placed 9th, 17th, 37th and 41st of the fifty crews racing in the octuple sculls event.