Rowing

‘W hen I found the right sport, it opened so many doors and ambitions that I never thought I’d get. Sport has been the biggest enabler for me.’

5x Olympic Rowing Medalist Dame Katherine Grainger

With so many different sporting opportunities at Bedford School, finding the right sport for you is not such a difficult task. Demonstrating an open mindset is the key and something that we have tested the boys in during their rowing sessions this year.

It has been wonderful to be back on the water for a whole year, without lock downs, and the buzz at the Boathouse has been infectious. Boys have been out in Octos, Quads and Single Sculls developing their skills and building on their fitness. We have raced head-to-head, learning how power can be beaten by precision of skill.

Autumn Term started on the water with regular rowing in the Games afternoons and two extremely popular after School Rowing Clubs, enjoyed by Year 7 and Year 8 boys. It was great to see the progress from nervous boys in wobbly boats to competent scullers, rowing more or less in time with each other.

Spring Term was back to land training on the ergos with lots of work on stamina and technique with fun competitions and challenges testing both strength and skill. Plenty of progress was made with boys improving their run times on a regular basis, developing their core stability and improving their rowing technique.

May brought the return of Bedford Regatta and some of our Year 8 boys volunteering to man the stake boats. This involved lying on a pontoon holding the stern of the racing boats so that they could manoeuvre into a straight position ready to start their races. All the boys did a superb job and were complimented on their professionalism. Moreover, it was a great opportunity for the boys to experience the regatta environment and a race start before beginning their own racing career in the Upper School.

In the last few weeks of the Summer Term, Mr Mulkerrins reintroduced the ‘Skills Roulette’ in the single sculls where boys were given challenges of increasing difficulty until they were unsuccessful. It is a good job we picked warm, sunny days for this as there were a few soggy boys, but it was great to see them challenging themselves to have a go and often surprising themselves with how much they could achieve. Special mention should go to Stirling Smallwood and Lewis Noble who were the last men standing, literally standing in their boats, circling a sculling blade above their heads, performing ‘the helicopter’! Their success encouraged others to give it a go, resulting in a squad of boys with increased confidence.

We finished the term with some fun racing in quads where we mixed the boys with experience and size. All the crews won at least one race and lots of fun was had by all, finishing the year on a high. I can already see some stars for the future and will follow their progress, with interest, as they move up the school.

My thanks, as always, go to the fabulous coaching team, without whom we wouldn’t be able to accommodate so many boys.

ROWING REPORT

WORDS BY Miss Imogen Bowis, Rowing Teacher

“When I found the right sport, it opened so many doors and ambitions that I never thought I’d get. Sport has been the biggest enabler for me.’’ DAME KATHERINE GRAINGER

Some oar-some rowing skills on show by Prep School rowers!