Sport

SPEAR

Spear equips young people aged 16-24 with confidence, motivation and the vital skills they need to succeed in longterm employment through a six-week programme of group and one-to-one sessions to increase self-belief and readiness for work, as well as practical support and help with job seeking.

Fifteen Lower Sixth Form Harrovians were chosen to attend an online induction process in the Autumn term, led by coaches from the Spear Harrow Centre. The sessions for the term were all to be online, and Harrovians were to model confident communication, professional behaviour and mindfulness of others.

The sessions, which took place on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, covered a broad range of life skills, interview etiquette, presentation skills and careers. In addition to volunteering, six Harrovians acted as Spear committee members, with the additional role of organising the rota so each volunteer would be able to play a full part in the Spear programme. The young people who attended the sessions were always engaged and willing to improve their skillset, and the Harrovian volunteers gained a better understanding of those whose lives were very different from their own and were keen to support the course attendees in achieving their life goals. – Brandon Chang (Druries)

WOODLANDS SCHOOL

Although boys from Newlands were unable to visit Woodlands School for children with severe disabilities, Woodlands benefited from money raised through Shaftesbury Enterprise. They bought an Acheeva bed, a specialist piece of equipment that allows children with profound physical disabilities to be moved into different positions while still being fully supported. The Acheeva bed can position them at the same height as their classmates, rather than lying on cushions on the floor, allowing them to take a more active part in lessons and to feel less isolated.

The school also refitted one of its resource spaces, predominantly for children with a diagnosis of autism. The new Harmony Room provides a calming and therapeutic environment where children can unwind, and which will accommodate their sensory needs.

Woodlands School bought an Acheeva bed with money raised through Shaftesbury Enterprise

SHAFTESBURY LECTURE

The Shaftesbury Lecture, ‘The Rashford Effect’, was given by Nabs Suma and Serge Betsen (The Park 19853), who provided the audience with an insight into the way their success in rugby gave them the skills to have a positive effect on the lives of others. Nabs Suma began his rugby career with Wasps and earned numerous accolades. At the end of his ten-year career, he joined InterContinental Exchange as a cocoa trading specialist, which allowed him to create several commodity-based businesses from exporting cocoa to developing wholesale chocolate for Fairtrade chocolate brands. He is currently a Trustee for Wasps Legends Charitable Foundation, which aims to make a positive difference to individuals through the character and collective spirit of the Wasps family. He emphasised how teamwork is vital for success in sport and business, and how the leadership skills learnt at School will help Harrovians in their endeavours to support others.

Serge Betsen is a renowned French rugby player, considered one of the best flankers of his generation. At the end of his rugby career, he established the Serge Betsen Academy, which aims to help underprivileged children, especially in Cameroon. Mr Betsen described how, throughout his rugby career, many people gave him confidence to improve in rugby; in turn, the academy he founded has now helped 80,000 children through education and sport. The principal message from the speakers was that Harrovians, who have every advantage and means to be successful, should try to make these things possible for other people too.

Serge Betsen

HWA CHONG CONFERENCE

Following last year’s successful participation in the annual Hwa Chong Global Young Leaders Convention, which was a virtual event because of the pandemic, Haiwei Li (Bradbys), Hugo Anderson (Newlands) and Justin Chan (Druries) represented Harrow at the 2021 conference involving young people from schools around the world.

The four-day online event featured several distinguished guest speakers including Mr Kausikan, former Ambassador of Singapore to Russia, and the current President of Singapore, Madame Halimah Yacob.

The conference theme, ‘Re-imagining, Building, Uniting’, was inevitably related to the pandemic, which had revealed both the strengths and weaknesses of the existing systems in tackling global crises and shown that countries need to do much more collectively to move towards a more equitable society.

Students were assigned to one of ten fictional countries and tasked with designing solutions for achieving a more equitable vaccine distribution scheme that would allow all communities to benefit from this significant scientific breakthrough. The conference concluded with a Memorandum of Understanding between all parties, much to everyone’s satisfaction. – Haiwei Li (Bradbys)

ATHLETICS

After a year without competition or training, athletes and coaches alike were understandably keen to make use of Harrow’s wonderful facilities once again.

With two untested year groups, much work had to be done, but the healthy size of the squad that signed up ensured a decent depth of untapped talent with which to work. Various competitions had to be cancelled or reformatted as everyone wrestled with what ‘Covid secure’ might mean for athletics but, once resolved, a near-normal season took place, with excellent results again. All full-fixture Saturday matches were won – further testament to the courage, commitment and talent of the squad. More than 100 boys competed for the School over the season and Harrow athletes largely overcame the gap and made ground up fast.

The incredibly able and well-respected team Captain, Jack Gosden (Lyon’s) led by example and additionally completed a vast amount of 400m coaching himself. Indeed, I am indebted to all the wonderful coaching staff who once again did a magnificent job under very difficult circumstances and brought out the best in every single athlete, ensuring a steady stream of weekly victories. – Gary White, Master-in-Charge THE GUY BUTLER SHIELD

Harrow was very pleased to welcome six other schools back to our track to contest the Guy Butler Shield. This event could not take place in 2020 and, with two year groups untried, it was not at all clear who might win this competition in 2021. St Paul’s was unable to attend but Coopers’ Coborn proved to be a more than adequate replacement strength-wise, and the afternoon developed into a tense tussle between Harrow, Eton and Coopers’. At the end, the final result depended on the last few relays and, when the overall points were tallied, Harrow had retained the Shield (for the 11th time in 12 years) by just a single point.

The Juniors and Intermediates both finished second (in spite of Intermediate numbers being significantly down due to a number of Removes and Fifth Form in Covid isolation) and the Seniors won their age group.

Numerous records were broken on the day: Remi Jokosenumi (Lyon’s) broke the 100m and 200m Shield records (10.77s and 21.96s respectively), while Jack Gosden broke the electronically timed 400m record, clocking 50.76s.

FINAL SCORES

1st Harrow 606 2nd Coopers’ Coborn 605 3rd Eton 591 4th Marlborough 406

ENGLISH SCHOOLS’ CHAMPIONSHIPS

The National Championships (ESAA Track and Field) were run a little differently due to Covid restrictions, with fields being limited to the top 16 ranked athletes in England for each discipline. This made it harder than ever to gain County selection to be able to participate at these championships, not only because the bar was so high, but additionally because athletes had to have competed at accredited events (external to school competitions) in order to gain a ranking. In spite of this, four athletes were selected: Jack Gosden for the senior 400m, Iyanu Ademuwagun (Druries) for senior shot put, Leo Lord (Lyon’s) for junior discus and Cameron Knight (Newlands) for junior long jump. It is pleasing to be able to report that Jack Gosden finished sixth, Iyanu Ademuwagun eighth, Leo Lord 11th and Cameron Knight 11th.

INTER-HOUSE COMPETITION

After four age-group inter-House competitions, including an abbreviated relay competition, the following trophies were awarded:

TROPHIES AWARDED Yearlings 100m

Cameron Knight (Newlands)

Torpids 100m Ayomide Awolesi

(The Head Master’s)

House 100m

Remi Jokosenumi (Lyon’s)

House High Jump

George Davies (The Head Master’s)

House Middle Distance

Graham Lambert (Lyon’s)

Yearlings Victor Ludorum

Cameron Knight (Newlands)

Torpids Victor Ludorum Ayomide Awolesi

(The Head Master’s)

House Victor Ludorum

Ed Garuba (Newlands) & Iyanu Ademuwagun (Druries)

Yearlings Inter-House Newlands Torpids Inter-House Newlands House Inter-House Lyon’s Inter-House Relay Newlands Overall Inter-House Newlands

CLAY PIGEON SHOOTING

It was a quiet year for clay pigeon shooting, with shooting grounds nationwide closed for months and an overall reduction in school fixtures due to Covid restrictions.

Nevertheless, in the Autumn term of 2020, Harrow shot very competitively at the Barbury Shooting Ground in Wiltshire in a competition organised by Marlborough College.

Unfortunately, Harrow’s annual Fido May Trophy Competition could not take place in February 2021.

In April 2021, over 60 socially distanced parents, sons and beaks took part in the Parents and Sons Clay Pigeon Shooting Competition at the E J Churchill shooting ground. This was a most sociable event at the end of a long lockdown, blessed with fine weather and excellent company.

In June, the Inter-House Clay Pigeon Shooting Competition took place under very hot (28C) and sunny conditions (on the previous occasion in March 2019 it had snowed). The Captains of Clay Pigeon Trophy was awarded to Druries, whose team broke a total of 80 out of 128 clays. The Head Master’s came in with a very close second – 78/128; Rendalls came third with 67/128 and Lyon’s finished fourth with 66/128.

On a slightly harder course than in 2019, the competition High Gun title was a draw between Peter Peganov (Druries) and Archie Young (Rendalls), who broke 25/32 clays – which was an excellent result on this course.

On 22 June, the Harrow A Team took part in the School Notices Competition at Holland & Holland (this event was postponed from 19 March 2020). Harrow took eighth place in the Senior event and fifth place in the Flush competition.

Clay pigeon shooting at Harrow becomes more popular every year and we have continued with our weekly trips to the E J Churchill ground at West Wycombe Estate when possible. – Damian Cox, Master-in-Charge

CLIMBING

Climbing continued to go from strength to strength, with over 20 boys regularly attending Marmot meets during the week, led by Captain of Marmots, Hugo Heffer (Elmfield).

The School wall continued to pose challenging projects for even the most able, and the re-opening of the local HarroWall bouldering centre was a welcome opportunity to get back climbing off-site again.

Easing of restrictions allowed two domestic expeditions onto rock during the Summer term: southern sandstone at Harrison’s Rocks in Sussex and northern grit at Birchen Edge in the Peak District. Tremendous fun was had by all, with some boys enjoying outdoor rock climbing for the first time. – Simon Sampson, Master-in-Charge

CRICKET

The 1st XI finished the season with a record to be proud of, winning ten games and losing five. They started the season in impressive form, thrashing Hampton by 163 runs and Wellington by 98 runs on the Sixth Form Ground.

Johnny Connell (Rendalls) and captain Tej Sheopuri (Lyon’s) both passed 50 in these opening matches. James Nelson (Bradbys), Jasper Blackwood (Elmfield) and Cameron Ellis (Rendalls) all chipped in with regular wickets to blow away the Hampton and Wellington top orders.

Malvern and Tonbridge were next on the fixture card and these sides would prove a tougher test for the 1st XI. Despite a sublime 100 from Connell (probably the knock of the season), Harrow came second to a very strong Malvern by two wickets and went down again to Tonbridge a few days later on The Head. Veer Patel’s (The Knoll) 64 set Tonbridge a tough chase, but sadly the Harrow bowlers couldn’t find their line and length and Tonbridge crept over the line to win another tight game.

With the Lord’s fixture fast approaching, the 1st XI needed to regain some winning rhythm and they did just that against Bedford. After being set a challenging 229 in 40 overs, it was Connell and Ellis who stepped up and dismantled the Bedford attack, with Connell passing 100 once again. Harrow finished the victors by nine wickets and should have added another win to the card against Charterhouse, only to be denied almost certain victory by another May deluge towards the end of the game. The MCC game was also lost to inclement weather without a ball being bowled and this left the Harrow Wanderers as the final match before the XI travelled to HQ.

With Speech Day delayed due to Covid restrictions, there was less glamour than usual to the Wanderers fixture, but the standard of cricket on show was as impressive as ever. Lalit Bose (The Head Master’s 2008³) bludgeoned the 1st XI attack to all parts to set a target of 217 from 40 overs and the 1st XI came very close, with Max Ferreira (The Grove) smoking a splendid 100. Sadly the 1st XI fell 11 runs short, but after playing lots of high-quality cricket through April and May, entered the Lord’s match full of confidence.

LORD’S

After a poor forecast earlier in the week, a swirling cloudy sky, but no rain, greeted the players as they arrived at this most magnificent of all cricket grounds, refurbished with towering new stands at the Nursery end. MCC were using the game as a practice Covid run for the forthcoming Test match, and so everyone was masked and zoned and patrolled into place, but it was the first Lord’s crowd of the season, who contributed significantly to the unique atmosphere of the day, especially when the school contingents arrived. Lord’s had prepared a strip 15 yards in from the edge of the square, which was a welcome surprise for this fixture, avoiding the usual short boundary. Eton won the toss and, inevitably in such overcast conditions and with the pitch presenting green and soft, invited Harrow to bat.

Connell looked to be positive from the start and stroked four attractive boundaries, so that Harrow got off to a flier. Twenty-five had come from the first three overs when both opening bowlers struck: Ellis was brilliantly caught at slip pushing tentatively at a wide delivery and the other Eton opener swung a ball in to Connell from left-arm over to trap him lbw half-forward. Patel joined his captain, Tej Sheopuri, and they carefully saw off the opening attack, but the introduction of the Eton off-spinner was immediately effective as the latter tried to break free of the shackles and skied a difficult catch to mid-on; this was a

disappointing end for a class player. Ferreira, who had scored a brilliant attacking 100 two days before, began the rebuilding process with Patel, who was playing with calm assurance, showing respect but not wasting opportunities to score. Harrow entered the lunch break at 92-4 from 30 overs – there had been a brief delay for a rare shower and, for the first time since the start, Harrow were just beginning to get on top. After lunch, Patel continued to punish the Eton seamers with three boundaries in an over, when he was trapped in front lbw with a full and straight delivery to end a fine battling innings. Sadly, the Harrow tail fell away quickly and only managed to propel the 1st XI to 161, which on a green pitch looked 30 runs short.

The Harrow opening bowlers came up firing and Ellis induced a slash outside off-stump which was well caught by Connell at slip. The other Eton opener had hit two streaky fours when Jasper Gray (Newlands) moved one away from him for a regulation catch behind. The game was therefore well balanced, and the introduction of Connell’s accurate medium pace slowed the run-rate, and he had the Eton number 3 caught behind fencing after a patient innings. Eton began their own rebuilding process, but just as the Eton pair had completed a 50 partnership, the attacking leg-spin of Brij Sheopuri (Lyon’s) induced an edge behind for brother Tej’s third catch. Harrow immediately bolted into life when, in his next over, a flat, accurate throw from Patel at deep square-leg beat a diving Etonian attempting a second, and two balls later, another Etonian was comprehensively bowled, and the game had now been turned on its head, with Harrow scenting an unlikely victory. Eton required 23 more runs to win with four wickets left to use, and the pressure was really on the new Eton pair. Harrow’s 161 eventually proved to be 30 runs too few as the Eton sixth-wicket partnership saw them over the line, with the Eton captain impressing under pressure.

Brij Sheopuri was the pick of the bowlers and posed a constant threat. Connell bowled a testing spell that was full of heart, and Harrow took all their chances and fielded well. They did very well to come back so strongly when all seemed lost after ten overs of batting, and with a higher total to defend, they may well have prevailed after the moment of crisis, which produced a very watchable and exciting last 15 overs.

The 1st XI dusted themselves off over half-term and came back energised to prove how good a side they were. They did just that, winning seven of the next eight games against the Free Foresters, Whitgift, Radley, I Zingari and Oxford University (two-day). The highlights were Brij Sheopuri’s 7-52 against the Free Foresters and Johnny Connell scoring his third century of the summer against I Zingari. Jasper Gray set the tone brilliantly throughout this period with the new ball and John Richardson (Elmfield) impressed with his off-breaks, taking 4-for on three occasions during this winning period.

These impressive results certainly confirmed the quality of the 1st XI in the summer and point to promising seasons in 2022 and beyond. Seven of the Lord’s XI will return next year and the others in the wider squad all have years to come. Fifth Formers Sheopuri, Ellis and Patel played all year, and the 1st XI squad was largely made up of Lower Sixth and Fifth Form boys due to injuries in the Upper Sixth.

The Junior Colts won ten of the 14 matches they played and reached the latter stages of the National Cup. The Colts also reached the final of the South East section of the National Cup and took full advantage of a cancelled GCSE exam programme, playing 16 fixtures throughout the Summer term. In total, 160 games against external teams were played by all teams this season (not including the 60 House fixtures), of which 90 were won. As always, however, it was the number of boys taking part that was impressive. Harrow fielded a 5th XI, Junior Colts E and F side for the first time and all these sides had the chance to represent the School in competitive fixtures. – Johny Marsden, Master-in-Charge

The cross-country squad

CROSS-COUNTRY

After a disrupted season of hard training, and huge progress in speed and fitness, the cross-country squad were delighted to take part in two virtual races towards the end of the Spring term.

The first was the Shrewsbury School Global 5km race, involving schools from all over the world, which the squad ran on a blustery March Saturday afternoon around the Harrow cross-country course. Cross-country captain Graham Lambert (Lyon’s) came an impressive eighth in the Senior race involving hundreds of runners. The following weekend was the virtual edition of the South-East Schools Championships, usually hosted at Harrow. Around a dozen schools took part, with Tom Emery (Moretons) in Fifth Form excelling this time with fifth place in the Intermediate race in an impressive time of 17:33.

FENCING

The COVID-19 global pandemic meant that all fencing fixtures against other schools were cancelled and boys were left bereft of any fencing outside the Salle.

This did not stop them from training hard, even throughout the Summer term, in a one-off extension of the season. Furthermore, within the Salle, we also completed the Paterson Inter-House Competition, with Lyon’s beating The Grove by a mere nine points in the final in a great exhibition of fencing talent.

In recognition of their steadfast commitment to the club this year, Ties were awarded to Daniel Eldridge, Sean Jarrett, Ben Leonard (all The Grove) and William Wauchope (The Knoll). This year also saw the introduction of arm badges for fencing, in recognition of any boy who fences for the first team in a School fixture, and many were awarded to boys who played in fixtures last year.

Yujin Koshiba (Lyon’s) was an admirable and enthusiastic captain of fencing and will continue as captain next year, alongside Indi Abrams (The Grove), who was promoted to co-captain in recognition of his sterling work in the Salle, in particular during lockdown. William Wauchope was promoted to vice-captain of Épée, in acknowledgment of his dedication to the club. – Hamish Haldane, Master-in-Charge

FIVES

Clearly, it was a very disrupted season, with most matches cancelled due to the pandemic. This, however, did not affect the stoicism of the Harrovian fives players, and much fives was played internally when the boys were on site. The Grove were very dominant in the senior House fives event.

Phoenix Ashworth (The Head Master’s) and Johnny Barley (The Grove) played successfully at First Pair for the seniors, and performed well in a hastily rearranged Schools Championships at half-term in the middle of the cricket season. – Ian Hutchinson, Cricket and Fives Coach

SPORT GOLF

The golf team enjoyed huge success in the latter part of the season after multiple disruptions to the usual friendly circuit in the autumn.

The boys finished the season as regional champions in the Independent Schools Golf Association National Knockout and thus qualified for the National Championships at Marriott Worsley Park. Aidan Wong (The Park), Finlay Matheson and George Webster (both Druries) scored well on the day to place Harrow ninth in the country. Wong shot 3 over par and Matheson shot 5 over par to place them 16th and 21st individually respectively.

The major highlight of the season is always the Gerald Micklem Trophy, which in 2021 was held on the New Course at Sunningdale Golf Club. Harrow have not won this most prestigious event since 2000 and have only won it four times since the competition began in 1954. The boys faced Eton in the first round and, after two matches going into playoffs, ultimately came out victors winning 3.5-1.5. In the semi-finals, we were up against a strong Charterhouse side who knocked us out of the competition last year. Again, a playoff hole would decide the tie, with Finlay Matheson coming out on top on the 19th hole. The final saw Harrow take on Stowe, who were fresh from their victory against Harrow just two weeks previously. It was another very tight match with everything coming down to Aidan Wong on his final hole. He clinched the victory with a remarkable birdie on the 18th hole for a historic win.

Jerome Ponniah (The Head Master’s 20013) continued to provide coaching for the squad, while Mark Arnold (PGA Professional) joined the coaching staff too. – Joss Pinsent, Master-in-Charge

Gerald Micklem Trophy winners

HARROW FOOTBALL

As we came back for the last three weeks of the Lent term after lockdown, and despite the lack of rain and almost constant sunshine, the boys were eager to play some Harrow football. The Houses managed to play two sets of friendly matches on concurrent Sundays, and during the Sixth Form Game sessions we played a very competitive set of matches, which the boys enjoyed. Shell boys were also given a taster of the sport during the Spring term. If you would like to put an OH team together (or just join a team), please contact David Wendelken at DRW@harrowschool.org.uk. – Chris Mann, Master-in-Charge

HOCKEY

Hockey enjoyed the addition of Michael Hoare to the coaching team this year, allowing pre-season sessions to take place twice a week throughout the autumn.

This is the most pre-season training the boys have received in the Autumn term for many years. The sessions predominantly focused on key skills and understanding of the game – body position on the ball, reading the game and being calm on the ball – with the occasional match play.

Alongside this, we ran an extremely successful Torpid inter-House hockey competition in November 2020, where every House entered a team of six. Elmfield eventually took home the trophy.

The Shell inter-House hockey competition in November was won by Moretons, and the House competition, delayed to May 2021, was won by The Grove. These competitions allowed many non-hockey players to give the sport a try in a competitive context.

We had three weeks of hockey in the Spring term and, although there were no opportunities for competitive fixtures against other schools, a few internal matches were played. – Kat Allen, Master-in-Charge

JUDO

As a close-contact sport, it was impossible to practise judo in the usual way at any stage during most of the year. Fortunately, the international judo community came together online to produce a wealth of resources and ideas for how to sustain judoka, especially those of school age.

Apart from during the strictest phases of lockdown, judo clubs remained open to provide distance training, in which the component skills of judo are isolated and drilled without a partner in a variety of creative ways. Many clubs made use of so-called grappling dummies: weighted stuffed mannequins that have long been part of wrestling training and which can be thrown around a dojo and, with a bit of thought, subjected to the armlocks and strangles of contest judo too.

While the Harrow Judo Club already owned one wrestling dummy, a rush on them nationally during lockdown meant that the prospects of obtaining more in time for the return of boys to the Hill in September 2020 were quite remote. But in an almost implausible turn of events, a passing discussion about lockdown judo with a colleague over summer revealed that there were at least a dozen brand new grappling dummies discarded in the void space of the Sports Centre, wrapped head to toe in cellophane and lying among rubble. They had been set aside when plans for a School wrestling club had been abandoned many years ago.

Following the safe recovery of the grappling dummies, our training in the Autumn term was able to centre around their use. At over 40kg and being difficult to manipulate, just handling a dummy provides an excellent workout for judoka. The boys enjoyed repetition training for a range of throws, meeting in groups of five at a time in the Old Squash Courts Dojo. The conditioning of our team was visibly improved over this period and the boys’ throws were sharper and more committed.

Contact judo training for under 18s was permitted in the Summer term and boys were delighted to get to grips with one another, albeit with a partner less willing to go along with their plans. There were no inter-school or national fixtures, but we managed to keep all boys (including over 30 competitive players) involved and excited about the prospects for a return to competition. – Matt Glossop, Master-in-Charge

Boys practised harai-goshi on the grappling dummy

The Harrow Development Trust sponsors Harrow’s judo programme.

Judo squad

POLO

Harrow polo players managed half a term of training in the Autumn term and a full term of training and fixtures in the Summer term.

Lots of rain in May meant that the teams were not able to start playing on grass until June. The first fixture was against Eton at Guards Polo Club. Eton began the match with a half-goal advantage due to Harrow’s superior handicap. Harrow started tentatively, and the first chukka was dominated by the attacking Eton side. Yet despite their seeming control of the ball, Eton scored only once against Harrow’s tenacious challenging strategy. The second chukka saw Harrow thundering back to form and featured some brilliant mallet work from Freddie Strange (Newlands). Ulysses Hu (The Head Master’s) scored early on, setting the tone for a tightly contested quarter. The chukka closed with Hector Rogberg (Druries) scoring in the very last second. The tensest moment of the match came in the third chukka as Eton tried to claw their way back into the running. The teams were neck and neck, and goals were scored by both sides in close succession. Hector Rogberg scored for Harrow, but Eton’s two goals brought the score to 3½-3. The Harrow team responded with convincing attack, and the fourth and final chukka saw the team drive forward to victory. The chukka opened with a spectacular goal from captain Marc Lindgren (West Acre). Eton scored again in this final quarter, but Ulysses Hu scored the winning goal for Harrow. The final score was 5-4 ½ to Harrow.

Also in June, Harrow played Wellington at Fifield Polo Club. Both the A and B teams competed, with the B team captained for the first time by Orlando Hill (The Head Master’s). The A team won 8-6; the B team lost 6-2. The season finished with Harrow playing a mini tournament at the Vaux Park Polo Club in Somerset, where they were challenged by Millfield School and Marlborough College. Harrow had a very successful first game against Marlborough, winning 3-0. Millfield, however, had a much superior handicap to Harrow, so Harrow started with a 1½ goal advantage. Harrow played very well, eventually losing by only half a goal, with the final score 3-2½ to Millfield. – Darren Bell, Master-in-Charge

RACKETS

In the absence of external fixtures, we ran a vibrant internal programme with over 60 boys playing.

The highlights of the season came in the internal events. The Yearlings singles event carried over from the previous year produced a captivating final where Charlie Hope’s (Rendalls) strength narrowly triumphed over the strong racket-handling skills of Gus Stanhope (Moretons). Both boys should be proud of the high levels they have achieved.

At senior level, we had two very well contested competitions. In the Challenge Singles Racket, Tarquin Sotir (Druries) showed great progress to beat two seeded players, Jude Brankin-Frisby (Newlands) and Jonny Connell (Rendalls), on his way to the final.

In the other half of the draw, Sasha Sebag-Montefiore (The Knoll) pushed Ben Hope (Rendalls) to a final game before narrowly losing out. The final itself was an excellent contest. Hope played superbly to get 2-0 up but Sotir showed good court craft to level at 2-2 and looked the favourite for victory. Hope then showed real grit and upped his game to take the deciding game. He was a worthy winner and thoroughly deserved his success. Sotir, as a Fifth Former, did himself proud and will be one to watch in his Sixth Form at Harrow.

The same protagonists met in the House Doubles Final, where Rendalls (Ben Hope and Jonny Connell) secured a decisive victory over Druries (Tarquin Sotir and Finlay Matheson), who had done very well to reach the final.

We were extremely fortunate to have Dan Escott as the new Master-in-Charge of Rackets. As a former Queen’s finalist, he has a wealth of experience and knowledge to pass on to the boys. – John Eaton, Rackets Professional

RUGBY

Rugby at Harrow looked very different in 2020–21 due to the changes to the game enforced by COVID-19. Contact rugby was allowed but only in short 15-minute bursts each session, so the focus of the term was on touch rugby.

To keep competition up, the Harrow School Super League was set up for Saturdays, with all year groups in mixed teams across a variety of touch rugby leagues. Our usual weekend clashes with the likes of Wellington and Tonbridge were replaced with clashes between the Tigers and the Hawks or the Samurai against the Honey Badgers. With highlight videos at the end of each week’s play, a transfer period and a very entertaining Finals Day on the Sunley, the Super League was a great

success and provided the boys with an excellent focus through the term for weekend play.

There was one competitive fixture against Gordon’s School, whom the Seniors played in a round-robin touch tournament at Harrow. Despite the lack of contact rugby and competitive rugby, it was a hugely useful term for the development of all the boys in various tactical and technical areas of the game. Touch rugby allowed for lots of practice of match-type situations and plenty of individual close-skill development.

Despite the lack of competitive rugby on the field, there were some successes off the field. Two boys in the Upper Sixth gained professional contracts with their respective academies. Ricky White (The Knoll), a centre, signed with Wasps while the captain of The XV, Henry Arundell (The Knoll), signed with London Irish. – James Melville, Master-in-Charge

Dry-slope skiing at Brentwood Ski Centre

SKIING

The Harrow School ski team went from strength to strength, considering the lack of opportunity for competition during the Covid pandemic and restrictions on travel.

The team managed to train at least once a week at Brentwood Ski Centre where the team had hours of coaching from Dan Curtis and Captain Rob Robson. The squad consisted of 46 boys from all years and, with a constant group of eight per training session, they did very well.

During lockdown, we held various online workshops, which included ski preparation, race tactics, mental health in sport and avalanche safety, as well as an online strength and conditioning course run by Liz Robson. We hosted several guest speakers, including Olympian skiers Dave Ryding, Chemmy Alcott and Emily Sarsfield.

– Rob Robson,

Master-in-Charge of Skiing

SOCCER

Inevitably, the pandemic had a considerable impact on this season’s soccer programme. The restrictions that were imposed by the FA and Department of Education led to new protocols for cleaning equipment, meeting opposition teams and even in the form of some of the in-match rule changes.

The league, ISFA tournaments and FestiPhil were all cancelled before they could even get started. However, the determination within the School body to continue playing meant that there were still many areas in which football flourished out of the adversity of the season gone by.

In the Autumn term, the 1st XI managed to win all their games against opposition schools including impressive victories over Winchester, Kimbolton and a particularly good result to overcome Hampton School. A trip to Queens Park Rangers’ Academy training facility at Heston proved to be the only blot of the fixture card, with QPR’s Under-18s playing impressively to record a 7-1 victory over the Harrow boys. Regardless, the experience was a richly rewarding one for all the boys involved and it was inspiring for many of them to see the familiar face of Max Little (Rendalls 20193) performing well in goal for QPR’s Academy side.

As the Autumn term progressed, the evolving Government guidelines restricted the number of external fixtures that were possible, so a number of internal tournaments were designed to keep the boys playing. New ‘Futsal’ tournaments were introduced for the boys in both the Autumn and Spring terms – the Chequers Cup and Super Soccer League – which were greatly enjoyed by the boys and beaks involved. Following the second lockdown we were also able to recommence the House soccer tournaments successfully, with Newlands running out as victors in the Cock House match and Torpids tournament, while Rendalls were victorious in the Yearlings competition.

In the Summer term, a series of exhibition matches took place with great success. ‘The School’, which comprised the best players from the School below the Upper Sixth, took on the ‘Upper Sixth Leavers’ with the departing Upper Sixth coming out as victors on penalties after a 2-2 draw. The Leavers team then went on to play in a game against ‘The Beaks’ which ended in a 3-3 draw. – Dean Holt, Master-in-Charge

SWIMMING

Despite Covid restrictions and only two live inter-school competitions during the year, our swimmers maintained amazing momentum, breaking 40 of 58 all-time School records.

Two of the records broken dated back to 2003. All bar four School records have been broken in the past five years. This is a remarkable achievement, indicative of hard work, resilience, a can-do mindset, and a team ethos of support, encouragement and care. Swimming captains Ethan Yeo (The Head Master’s), Z-Za Bencharit (Elmfield) and George Rates (Newlands), led by example and the younger years got in line behind.

This was the strongest and largest Harrow swimming team that the School has ever had, from beginners through to Olympic hopefuls. Even in lockdown, when the boys were off the Hill, online land training took place and the swimmers gained in both strength and endurance.

Virtual competitions were held with the Asian League (eight schools including Harrow Bangkok), Blackrock College in Dublin, Culford School, Abingdon School and Stewart’s Melville in Edinburgh. In all these competitions, Harrow was victorious.

We also held three internal, recordbreaking galas. Each gala had a different focus: long distance, sprint distance and middle distance.

A highlight of the season was Remove Henry Gray (Lyon’s) being selected to represent the national team of Jamaica in the Central American and Caribbean Championships in Puerto Rico. This certified him as an internationally competitive swimmer and put him in great contention for a place at the next Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022.

In lieu of the cancelled National Independent Schools’ Swimming Championships, we held a virtual championships with six other schools. Harrow beat the all-time 4x100m freestyle relay record, swimming in a time of 3:35.24, 0.02 of a second faster than the previous record. – Rima Tremlett, Master-in-Charge

Event Seniors 50m freestyle 100m freestyle 200m freestyle 400m freestyle 50m breaststroke 100m breaststroke

23.72 Ben Hooper (The Head Master’s 20173)

51.00

Ben Hooper 2.04.46 Maxwell Brooks (West Acre) 4.30.91 Ethan Yeo (The Head Master’s) 30.82 Ethan Yeo

1.07.30 Ethan Yeo

200m breaststroke

2.25.90 Ethan Yeo

50m backstroke 100m backstroke 200m backstroke

26.09 57.91

Ben Hooper Kyle Barrett (Druries 20073) 2.23.65 Z-Za Bencharit (Elmfield)

50m butterfly 100m butterfly 200m butterfly

25.54 55.60 2.19.25 100m individual medley 57.71

Ben Hooper Ben Hooper Maxwell Brooks Ben Hooper

200m individual medley 2.13.21

Andrew Hong (Lyon’s 20153) 400m individual medley 4.58.54 Maxwell Brooks

4x100m relay individual medley 1.49.80 William Rudd (The Head Master’s 20163), Thomas Khan (West Acre 20153), Andrew Hong, Ben Hooper

4x50m relay freestyle

1.38.09 Kyle Barrett (Druries 20073), Connor Barrett (Druries 20073), Tristan Goodfellow (Moretons 20053), Kyle Hamilton (Newlands 20063)

5km Long Ducker 10km Long Ducker

1 hr 17 sec Andrew Hong 2 hr 4 min 38 sec Andrew Hong 2018 2018 2021 2021 2021 2019 2021 2018 2008 2020 2019 2018 2021 2018 2019 2021 2018

2009

2019 2019

Torpids 50m freestyle 100m freestyle 200m freestyle 400m freestyle 50m breaststroke 100m breaststroke 200m breaststroke

24.4 51.7

Kyle Hamilton Nick Finch (Newlands) 2.02.49 Henry Gray (Lyon’s) 4.14.90 Henry Gray 31.14 Mark Zeng (Elmfield) 1.08.64 Luke Target (Bradbys 20083) 2.31.03 Ethan Yeo (Newlands) 2009 2021 2021 2021 2020 2009 2021

50m backstroke

27.87 Henry Gray 2021

100m backstroke

1.00.62 Henry Gray 2021

200m backstroke

2.11.63 Henry Gray 2021

50m butterfly 100m butterfly 200m butterfly

25.5 54.73 2.12.56 Nick Finch Nick Finch Nick Finch 2021 2021 2021

100m individual medley 1.00.28 Nick Finch 200m individual medley 2.16.57

Nick Finch 2021 2020

400m individual medley 4.54.48 Henry Gray

2021

4x100m relay individual medley 1.53.62

4x50m relay freestyle

1.45.29 Henry Gray, Ethan Yeo, Nick Finch, Joe Storey (Newlands) 2021 Henry Gray, James Rates (Newlands), Nick Finch, Joe Storey 2021

Long Ducker 5km

1 hr 39 sec Maxwell Brooks 2019

Shells 50m freestyle 100m freestyle 200m freestyle 400m freestyle 50m breaststroke 100m breaststroke 200m breaststroke 50m backstroke 100m backstroke

25.21 55.43

Tom Pearce (Newlands) Tom Pearce 2.02.92 Tom Pearce 4.39.51 Tom Pearce

30.89

Adam Wong (The Park) 1.08.84 Adam Wong 2.33.43 Adam Wong 28.93 1.02.23 Adam Wong Alex P Rust (Druries 20033) 2021 2021 2021 2021 2020 2020 2021 2021 2003

200m backstroke

2.18.51 Alex Moore (Lyon’s) 2021

50m butterfly 100m butterfly 200m butterfly

27.15 1.00.75 2.29.01

Nick Finch Nick Finch Alex Moore 100m individual medley 1.03.00 Nick Finch 200m individual medley 2.20.22 Henry Gray

2020 2021 2021 2020 2020

400m individual medley 5.41.32 4x100m relay individual medley 1.57.90

4x50m relay freestyle

Hugo Bourne (The Grove)

2021 Hugo Gray, Mark Zeng, Nick Finch, St John Smith (Newlands) 2020 Tom Pearce Adam Wong, Alex Moore, Hugo Bourne 2021