Swimming
Boat Club
I
For
the majority of the season it seemed as though we were destined to come second; in the London Schools at both Senior and Junior and in matches against Highgate, Wellington and Epsom. The talent is there, the enthusiasm is there and the determination is there, but sadly only very rarely is it present in the same person at the same time. I say rarely because it patently did come together once. That was at the Bishop's Stortford and Harrow Festival where the Under-15 team of Adrian Price, Chris Guelff, Srdjn Sasho and Tom Wilson were victorious in the 4 by 50 metres Medley Relay. Their time was a best ever for this event by St. Paul's and narrowly — less than 0.5 sec — failed to beat the school record which has stood for thirteen years. Also at this event the Under-14 team qualified for the finals of both the Medley and Sprint Relay Finals. So, at least we made quite a good sandwich of the season. A good win at Dulwich to start and a win at Stortford at the finish. Remarkably we lose but two swimmers this year: John Humphris, a late entrant to the team, and a very experienced Captain, Ed Bretherton. Ed has maintained our tradition of good breaststrokers and competent all-rounders and it will take at least two swimmers to replace him. The next few years look promising, Tony's hard work is slowly coming to fruition with strong seniors remaining to combine with the good Juniors and we should be able to enter the Millennium from a position of strength. To celebrate the end of a century of swimming and a quarter of a century of my involvement we shall again hold a barbecue at the end of next season. This will be at 5.00pm on May 29th, 1999 after the match against the Otters. All swimmers present, and especially past, are invited but do let me know, at school, if you are intending to come. I do not want to run out of bangers too early!
n my first season of writing this article for The Pauline I must register my thanks, and those of the many coaches and rowers who have passed through the Boat House doors in the past seven years, to Mr. Morland for the work he did as President during that time. I now know from first hand experience that it is a very demanding job and during his time, the Boat Club enjoyed an enormous amount of success. As I write this in late July, two members of our first VIII are preparing to race at the Coup de Jeunesse, and another is in the final stages of training for the Junior World Championships. But success has not only come to the top end of the club. All year groups have had their fair share. There is much potential in all of the younger age groups and we can look forward to 'fast' 1st VIIIs in the years to come. This year the parents of the boys have once again excelled in their support. Not only have they been their usual vocal selves at regattas, but also have supplied much needed fuel in-between races. We are very grateful to them for their kind and generous gift of two tents which will enable us to organise and focus our support more efficiently at regattas in the years to come. The success of the club relies heavily on the input of time and effort of its coaches. This year saw a couple of new faces. I am pleased to say Mr. Streat was not only replaced in the classroom by Mr. Motion but also on the water. We were very glad to see the return of Mr. Motion after a five year absence. Mr. Wells, a student from Canada, arrived after Christmas and has helped with just about every age group in the Club. Many thanks to all of the coaches for all their efforts this year. A.J. Mayfield
Results v. Dulwich W v. Epsom v. Bedford Modern L v. Tonbridge v. Highgate L Bath Cup 45 v. Wellington L Otter Medley 37
Senior Rowing Autumn Term Sculling The two well-seasoned athletes Bourne and Lovett were joined by the fresh faces of Raffin and Abraham for the sculling half in the Autumn term. The season began well. Unwrapping the plastic of our brand new Aylings pair and bolting on its new riggers, we discussed whether we should take it for a practice outing before we raced it the following day in the Pairs Head. We decided not to bother. On its maiden voyage the next morning, Bourne and Lovett won the Junior Double Sculls in the Pairs Head Raffin and Abraham came third. Selection of the quad for the Fours' Head posed few problems: the boys showed that they were able to compete with the best. Going off the start at Walton Head one combination was directly behind the Imperial College pair of R. Dennis and R. Lucas (1st VIII '93) and held onto them for the first 1500m, till the extra size, power and experience took the students away. Still, impressive results at Walton and Hampton Small Boats Heads in the pairs showed that we had the makings of a good eight. The term ended with a win for a composite quad in the Tideway Small Boats Head — Lovett and Bourne this time teaming up with boys from Latymer.
Team: G.A.N. Asseily, 0. Berger, E.McC. Bretherton* (Captain),
P. Collender*, J. Edghill*, T.F. Glover, N.P.J. Grafton-Green, C.C. Guelff, A.W.S-L. Horn*, J.F. Humphris*, 0. Idriss, D.S. Javitz, R.G. Knowles*, M.E. Lovell, A.R. Price*, S.R.L. Pringle, J.L. Sanderson, S. Sasho, N.J. Shepherd, M.A. Soliman, B.D. Tausig, N. Tovell, T.J.P. Wilson, G.W.M. Yang. * Colours RH.L. Watkins
Club Swimming
F
r the first time for many years we had competition this
time. All too frequently in recent years the result has been
a foregone conclusion with one club dominating. This year it was between H, the eventual winners, and G, and if F had been able to have beaten H in the final relay the first two places would have been reversed. The closest races took place at Under-14, sadly from a swimming team point of view largely by oarsmen, but maybe they will learn that to be in the water has its advantages. My thanks to Club Presidents and Captains for their efforts this year. Most Senior finals were full, a rare occurrence indeed. I can only hope that next year, and in the future this will become the norm as it always used to be.
1 st VIII Five of last year's successful Henley VIII remained at St. Paul's. But the cox had grown too tall for his seat, and Mercer chose not to row, which left only three, Bourne, Lovett and of course our vastly experienced 15st World's Athlete, Captain Baxter-Warman, worth every ounce. So with the two lower eighth boys, Raffin and Abraham, three Junior Colts, Vickers, Cole and Hackworth and Curtis, an Upper Eighth boy whose
Result H: 89; G: 84; F: 50; A: 36; C: 30; E: 29; B: 16; D: 10
R.H.L. Watkins
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The First VIII rowing in the Schools Head of the River.
only previous experience had been six weeks as a Junior Colt, the VIII was selected from eight. There was no second boat and no reserves, just these nine boys. Of course not having to select a crew has its advantages. There would be no disruption associated with trials and interchanging of people in and out of boats. But would the athletes be able to motivate and drive themselves hard enough if there was no-one after their places? Fortunately, yes was the answer — they attacked the training programme head on. `Let's try the big 36,' Vickers kept pestering. 'No,' said the Henley veterans, 'you don't know what you're letting yourself in for.' Despite the lack of competition for seats, erg scores increased and so did both fitness and strength. All members improved technically and despite the majority's relative inexperience, they began to move the boat well. Hampton's 1st VIII retained pole position in their Head Race, but we were a mere six seconds behind, ominously underrating them all the way. The heavy rate capping continued at Reading Head a month later. Our being held up on the course and a collision which followed shortly afterwards further added to our time, masking our true speed. There was still a lot of work to do to the VIII and the Schools' Head came far too soon into the term for us. Straight after mock and module exams, we were unprepared for the first of this year's major confrontations. Teddies, last year's holders and a very experienced crew, had demonstrated their excellent form by totally eclipsing the field at Reading. Starting second, right behind them, we were keen not to allow them the opportunity of pushing away from us at the start — so we left a sizeable gap. However, this meant that we had Hampton and Abingdon breathing right down our necks, smelling blood and keen to catch us as soon as possible. Keeping the rate under control, as instructed, St. Paul's showed great strength, determination and maturity beyond their rowing years in holding off the challenge behind them. Some observers may have thought St. Paul's looked 'lethargic'. However, in the face of two crews bearing down upon them, both rating higher, 'power and control' spring more to mind. Hampton closed a second and Abingdon two; hence St. Paul's
came a very close and creditable fourth. Teddies, meanwhile, retained the title by an impressive twelve second margin. The following weekend a trip to Kingston Head gave the VIII their first win of the season. Despite a row that nearly made them all sea-sick, they were comfortable winners of the Senior 3 pennant. The Spring term ended with the Head of the River Race. St. Paul's have been close to wining the Senior 3 pennant for a number of seasons. They have come second on many occasions — mainly to Hampton — but this year they finally succeeded in coming first. Switching Baxter-Warman from six back to stroke, his position last season, strengthened the rhythm. In what was a very satisfying race, but still far from perfect, they came home 49th, beating Hampton by eight seconds and Abingdon by four. A very fitting end to the first term, by the end of which they managed to turn over all of their rivals bar one. At the start of the Easter Remedy Bourne was selected for the Great Britain team that went to Munich Junior Regatta. A couple of weeks later illness struck a number of the crew. Baxter-Warman spent a month recovering from a viral infection he had been harbouring all term, then Bourne and Abraham turned up to our training camp in Cambridge suffering from flu. This and a combination of high wind, rain and rough water rather disrupted our pre-competition warm up. However, our square blade paddling came on a treat. Mocks in the first week of term meant that the VIII was once again under-prepared when it came to Poplar Regatta; despite a spirited row in the final, including rowing through Abingdon, they failed to get amongst the medals. Eton won. However, there was a pleasant surprise when a randomly picked coxed four combination of Curtis, Lovett, Vickers and Cole did particularly well, coming second to Eton; somebody was moving the boat very quickly. The wind and rain continued and caused Wallingford Regatta to be cancelled: too much stream. So instead a friendly invitation match with Eton and Westminster was arranged on the Tideway. This proved to be a great success. There was plenty of racing for all the crews, and it took less 84
training took place in the final days before the competition began. Lady Luck has smiled favourably on St. Paul's crews in recent years keeping our major rivals on the other side of the draw. Well it sort of went that way this year. We were placed in a quarter with all of the foreign crews which, unfortunately, including the much-fancied American School Boys Champions, St. Mary's Prep. After a nervous start on the Wednesday the crew settled down to beat St. Alfred's College comfortably. St. Mary's the following day would not be so easy; if we could cross this hurdle the door opened slightly towards the end of the week, but it was going to take a colossal effort. Prepared for the task, they were as fast off the start as we expected, and we held onto their coat tails as they left. No way were they going to close the door on us. We sat there like a dog gnashing at their ankles. That is till we reached the Mile Signal where we threw all of our box of fireworks at them; we closed to half a length but the change of gear we were looking for never really happened. It was a bitterly disappointing and painful exit albeit to worthy opponents. They cruised through to the final where they met Radley. Against Radley they opened up a lead of one and a half lengths off the start. Radley then did what we had hoped to do, rowing through them in the final few strokes of the race, causing one of the most exciting finals in recent years. The VIII had its successes this season. There were good performances in the Heads, especially in the Head of the River Race. However, in the summer term, situations and circumstances prevented the boat from demonstrating its true speed. It was a truly quick VIII. Of the VIII, five will remain next year. Four of this year's VIII attended final trials, Baxter-Warman, Bourne, Vickers and Cole. Cole represented England in the Home Countries VIII. Bourne and Vickers rowed in the VIII that went to the Coupe de la Jeunesse. Baxter-Warman won a bronze medal in the coxed pair that went to the World Championships; this is the fourth medal that Pauline oarsmen have won in the past five years.
than half the time of a normal regatta; there were no regatta fees and the event was concluded by tea.. It gave all of our crews much needed racing experience and was a very enjoyable afternoon. Over 1500m St. Paul's lost by only half a length to Eton — quite an improvement since the Poplar Regatta a fortnight before. Both crews had clear water on the Westminster VIII. Training intensified and new personal limits were found. Still short of actual race experience, the VIII paid a visit to Thames Ditton Regatta, the first time for a number of years. It turned out to be a very long day for everyone — not least the coach. The cox when approaching the start for the first time did a full racing practice start headlong into the largest most luminous yellow boat ever built. One tonne of accelerating boat came to an instantaneous standstill. Two's rigger sheered in half as did his blade. Fortunately, so the coach discovered, all riggers on Simms boats are interchangeable so for the remainder of the day the riggers had to be swapped between boats when they were required for racing. The VIII finally triumphed winning both Senior 3 and Senior 2 VIIIs. Unfortunately, most of the major schools had stayed away from Thames Ditton, so we were still unsure of our actual speed; we knew we were quick, but how quick? We arrived in Nottingham, confident but untested against any of the other crews we would face. As it turned out, our main adversary was not going to be the opposition but the weather. The cross headwind on the course gave a real advantage to lane six and a major disadvantage to lane one. In the first round of Championship VIIIs we drew lane one and came in third — just! In the final, we drew lane one again. A large shellfish came alongside the boat during the third stroke on the start (stern four said afterwards they were glad of the few strokes' rest whilst they admired it) which left us a little down on the rest of the field, at least an entire boat length. However, we rallied and after a strong fight by the end we had clawed ourselves back to within half a length of the bronze medalists, Radley. Eton won the event in impressive fashion albeit in lane six. It would have been interesting to re-row the race with the lane numbers reversed. Despite finishing empty-handed this was one of the most impressive performances the crew produced all season. The following day, with wind conditions the same, the Championship Coxed Four raced the final, once again in lane one and despite overhauling a number of crews they could do little about Teddies racing in lane six. Having an VIII with a mixture of boys from all three top years in the school means that the time period when they are busy taking exams is very long. The sixth formers started G.C.S.E.s one week before National Schools' Regatta and Lovett finished his final STEP exam two days before we went to Henley. All through this time the training programme was disrupted by exams. Marlow Regatta was a very relaxed affair, certainly helped by the tent and food provided by the parents. However, it did not start as such. As the trailer arrived in the carpark we passed a very large Newcastle University crew, our opposition in the first round, doing their warm-up jog. A rush to the start line, a quick spin and a scrappy but fast row saw the end of the northern challenge. Back to the tent to relax. Perhaps too much relaxing: we were caught napping at the start in the lunchtime sprint event by Eton's nippy J16s which led to an early exit. In the semi-final of the main event later that afternoon, a good race between us and Teddies was developing until Cherwell, in true modern day Boat Race fashion, came over for a bit of a tussle. Teddies seized their opportunity and went up — we could only close them down to half a length. All were keen to end the season in style at Henley. Intensive
A.J. Mayfield
1st VIII 1998: C.W.S. Raffin(bow), A.O. Abraham, M. Lovett, N.C.H. Cole, M.S. Vickers, A.E. Curtis, C.G.F. Bourne, R.M. Baxter-Warman (stroke), P.E.P. Hackworth (cox) Kingston Head of the River Race: Won Senior 3 Pennant Thames Ditton The 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Schools' Head St. Edward's Abingdon Hampton St. Paul's King's Chester Eton
Won Senior 3 VIII Won Senior 2 VIII 12:34 12:46 12:48 12:49 12:52 12:55
The Head of the River Race 49. St. Paul's School Won Senior 3 Pennant 53. Abingdon 55. Hampton National Schools' Regatta Championship VIIIs 1. Eton 2. Abingdon 3. Radley 6. St. Paul's School Henley Royal Regatta beat St. Alfred's College lost to St. Mary's Prep (2/3 of a length) Radley beat St. Mary's Prep in the final (a canvas) 85
SPORT
Colts VIII
Junior Colts VIII
The Colts year is always a difficult one. There are numerous interruptions to the training caused by G.C.S.E. exams, mocks, briefing weeks not to mention unrowable water during the winter months. But for this year's Colts it was made doubly difficult by the promotion of their two largest rowers Nick Cole, Mark Vickers and the cox, Peter Hackworth, to the 1st VIII. Furthermore, Ebbetts-Wilson was unable to row throughout the winter term. However, with new recruits, and the remainder of last year's J15A and J15B eights, Mr. R.P. Bailey formed a new crew ably coxed by Sean Coyne. An eight and a four raced in the Schools' Head of the River Race. The VIII rowed well and came eighth whilst the novice IV came an impressive second. After much hard work and many outings the VIII finished off the head season with the Head of the River. Once again the eight raced well but, as expected, finished well down the field, having raced against all the other men's crews including internationals. The eight joined the 1st VIII for their training camp on the `flat' water at Cambridge — although it was not so flat when we got there — strong winds and plenty of rain turned the River Ouse almost into the Tideway. However, much progress was made. At the start of the regatta season, crew morale was low but slowly building. At Poplar Regatta we raced the VIII in the J16A division and crossed the finish line third, ahead of K.C.S. Wimbledon, our arch rivals from last year. However, it was clear that we were a long way behind Radley and Eton — the top standard of J16A VIIIs. When we next entered the fray at Thames Ditton Regatta, it was K.C.S.'s turn to beat us. Having not won an event thus far we entered the 'B' event at the National Schools' Regatta. We rowed well in the heat, finding a solid rhythm and crossing the line five lengths ahead of the next crew. But, in the final, we were beaten off the start by Shiplake College who hung onto their lead right the way down the course. We crossed the line second, content with our silver medals but disappointed that we couldn't secure the lead we wanted. The disruption of exam leave and those dreaded G.C.S.E.s meant that the next two regatta entries were in fours. The four that went to the Docklands Regatta to race in Novice Fours, came home with gold medals; this is becoming one of Mr. Bailey's favourite events — his crews have won this event two years in a row now. They might even rename it after him one day! The four that went to Thames Valley Park did not fare so well, losing in the final of J16A fours by a bow ball to Kingston Grammar School. Finally, the VIII went to Richmond Regatta and unfortunately lost to the eventual winners, Vesta, by a length. J.A. Ebbetts-Wilson and J.D.S. Woollard
A fine season to look back on with much excitement and many satisfying victories. By the time the summer's regatta racing arrived there were only really two crews in contention for the major honours: ourselves and Radley. The closeness of these two eights led to some compelling duels and a maturity of racing seldom seen at J15 level. The foundations of success were laid back in the Autumn term with a good proportion of the squad having time to develop their skill and endurance in singles. The highlight of the term came at Hampton Small Boats Head where a Quad of de Maria, Josefowitz, Brown, Lovett and cox Sher demolished the field to win by a margin of over twenty seconds. The experience and confidence gained by the Autumn term scullers gave us a strong core around which to build the rest of a winning eight. To Brown, de Maria, Brenden and Lovett (only a Fourth Former and still a J14) we added the raw strength and racing grit of Mathews, the towering height (and size 15 feet) of Corbett, the computing skills of Philbin and Cox, and the fierce determination of Salmon. We were also very lucky to have the services of two good coxes, Al-Hadithy and Sher, both keen to refine their skills and guide the boat to success. January saw the arrival of Mr. Wells on a two-term coaching secondment from Canada. Having left his native land in the grips of a record freeze, he was more than adequately prepared for a London winter on and off the Tideway. He supervised much of the whole squad's landtraining and coached our 'B' crews on the water. Back to the Thames at Molesey again for the first event of the Spring term and our innovative line-up boasted a cox at each end of the boat! Christopher Cox occupied the bow seat and Al-Hadithy held the rudder strings in the stern. Both did their job well and we recorded the school's first win of 1998 with a healthy nine second margin over hosts Hampton School and fifteen other eights in our class. More experimentation with the crew as the Schools' Head approached: Henry Salmon replaced Cox in the bows and David Sher took over as cox. Having seen the results of Reading Head, where Radley had finished a little ahead of Hampton, and knowing that King's School, Chester had been very successful at J14 level the previous year, we were expecting some tough competition but were confident that we were going fast enough to win. The day of the big event dawned and strong winds gave way to ideal Senior Colts VIII training on Tideway.
Schools' Head Eight: L.G.S. Verdi (bow), G.S. Tidmarsh, B.W. Miller, C.S. Evander, J.J. Scrivener, AJ. Armitage, J.D.S. Woollard, H.A.K. Bourne (stroke), S. Coyne (cox) Schools' Head Novice Four: E.R. Hunter, D.E. Ingram, J.G.L. Halanen, J.R.N. Ward, A.P. Hesz (cox) J.A. Ebbetts-Wilson replaced H.A.K. Bourne in the Regatta season.
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Brown, Mathews and Sher. An explosive final section of the race saw us wipe out a length's lead and pass the tiring Bedford crew to win our second event of the day. A final week of training before Marlow. A rather lacklustre, but nevertheless successful, semi-final row gave us food for thought before the final confrontation of the term. However in one of our best rows of the season we had a storming start, and making the most of the first corner we led Radley by a length after the first 500m. The advantage of the final bend then swung in Radley's favour but there was no way that we were going to relinquish the lead. Some well-judged coxing by David Sher helped minimise the effect of the last bend and we powered home to win by a canvas: the ideal way to round off an excellent season. It has been a great pleasure to work with such a keen and well disciplined group of athletes. They have put in a great deal of time over the year but they have had the satisfaction of experiencing growing strength on and off the water and the exhilaration of being part of a fast moving rowing eight. We can look forward to many more excellent performances in future years. Morland
conditions for the race. The J15 eights were the first boats away. We failed to settle into a good rhythm and rowed a very mediocre first half of the race. It was only when we took a ten stroke 'push' passing the Mile Post that things clicked and the boat flew along to Putney. The performance was good enough for second place, just one second ahead of King's Chester and six seconds behind Radley. A disappointing day but we had learnt one lesson that would be critical to summer racing success: the importance of establishing a good rhythm very early on in a piece. Training continued on and off over the Easter holidays. Our first rematch with Radley was scheduled for Wallingford Regatta early in May, but the heavy rainfall caused the cancellation of the whole event. We hastily arranged a substitute fixture on the Tideway: a triangular series of races with Westminster's J15 crew and Eton's J16B crew. We were missing Alex Brenden but found a very adequate replacement in the shape of Old Pauline and U23 International Dan Ouseley. We were faster than our opposition and there was valuable advice to be gleaned from a seasoned international athlete. We had planned a clear three weeks' preparation for the National Schools' Regatta, but our forced lack of racing experience brought about a rethink. We decided to compete at Thames Ditton just a week before the N.S.R. and in retrospect this proved to be a good move. Luckily Radley sent their 'A' crew, otherwise there would have been little challenging opposition. Both crews made their inevitable way through to the final and we lined up for the shortish 1100m. There was half a length stagger on the start in favour of Radley, but as the first bend unfolded the crews were level and we started edging ahead when drama struck. Radley's six man caught a crab and we immediately surged to a two length lead: race won! A big psychological blow for Radley and a great boost for our morale. The following Friday, and off to Nottingham for the N.S.R. Our semi-final was, as anticipated, not a big hurdle to surmount. We duly qualified, expending minimum energy on the way. It was useful though because we were able to get firsthand experience of the new mechanical starting indicators. Final time, and we eased past King's Chester next to us in lane 5, and soon there was plenty of clear water separating the leading two crews from the pack behind. Radley had pulled out to about a length's lead before the 1000m mark but over the next 500m we steadily made up the deficit till we were level and the boats were matched stroke for stroke. Unfortunately the boat's amplification system developed a fault and David our cox could not have his usual input into the crew's performance. Radley proved just a little too strong in the final 500m and crossed the finish line two thirds of a length ahead. We were disappointed not to have beaten them on that occasion, but as the day wore on we realised how good the eight's performance had been. We had finished a full fifteen seconds ahead of Chester in third and our time for 2000m was only ten seconds behind the winners of the J16 event; the silver medals began to take on greater significance and value. A well-earned rest from physical activity after Nottingham, but school examinations dominated the following week. Beating Radley at Marlow quickly became the main focus of the remaining three weeks of term. We had a nice trip to Bedford for the Star Regatta where we beat Bedford School and Radley's `13' crew to win the eights event. We also split the eight and competed in two fours. The four of Philbin, Lovett, Corbett, Cox and Al-Hadithy gave N.S.R. champions (in J15 Fours) Bedford School a fright, leading until the last few strokes of the race and losing by only half a second. Bedford realised they had stiff opposition in the final and went off extremely fast against our other four of de Maria, Brenden,
Junior Colts 'A' VIII Crew: D.S. Sher (cox)*, M. de Maria (stroke), C. Lovett, C.T. Brown, J.G. Mathews, E.U. Corbett, E.A. Brenden, J.W.V. Philbin, C.C.L. Cox (bow)+
* N. Al-Hadithy (Hampton Head), + H.R.H. Salmon (Schools' Head) Hampton Head
Won J15 Eights
Hammersmith Amateur Regatta Won J15 Single Sculls (Lovett) Won J15 Double Sculls (Mathews & Lovett) Star Regatta
Marlow Amateur Regatta
Won J15 Eights Won J15 Four (Sher, de Maria, Brenden, Brown, Mathews)
Won J15 Eights
The Schools' Head J15 Eights 9:20 1. Radley 9:26 2. St. Paul's 9:27 3. King's School, Chester National Schools' Regatta J15 Eights (2000m) 6:39 1. Radley 6:40 2. St. Paul's 6:55 3. King's School, Chester 4. Hampton 5. Kingston G.S. 6. King's School, Canterbury
Junior Colts 'B' Plans for summer racing in an eight were unfulfilled. Wallingford Regatta was cancelled due to flood conditions on the Thames. We had entries at Thames Ditton and the National Schools' regattas but we had to withdraw from racing: injury, theatre commitments, and two temporary withdrawals from the squad left us without the full nine people for the crew. We had no choice but to scale down ambitions and so the training and racing for the rest of term was restricted to a coxed four. This was a shame, for it meant that keen and committed members of the squad missed out on competition after considerable commitment over several months. Also, the change to the four meant considerable delay until racing was possible, but there were two suitable events in the second half
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The First VIII passing Stewards' Enclosure at Henley
of term. So, off to Bedford in June for the Star Regatta. We were matched against the best that St. Edward's (Oxford) could boast: none of their squad had yet won a regatta and so their best four were still eligible for the `B' competition. Henry Salmon led the crew off the start at a tremendous rate and after a couple of hundred yards we held a narrow lead. However, Teddies settled down into a more powerful stride and had established quite a large margin of victory at the finish. A week later, and competition on the Thames again, this time at Reading for Thames Valley Park Regatta. In a short, three-way sprint event the first round pitched our crew against Pangbourne College and the Oratory School. , The Oratory were soon dropped but a tight battle developed between our crew and Pangbourne. As the end of the 800m course approached, the crews got too close together and a clash of blades took place; unfortunately we got the worst of the incident and Pangbourne recovered to win the race. There has been considerable keenness and commitment in the squad, though the racing crews never reached the balance of strength and technical ability needed to dominate the opposition. However I am sure that these oarsmen will be found in many successful Pauline crews over the next three years. T.C.I. Morland
J15 'B' Four: N. Al-Hadithy (cox), H.R.H. Salmon (stroke), W.H. Ng, D.D. Peters, B. Selby
J14 Sculling The St. Paul's U14 sculling teams started out with a slight disadvantage against other schools' crews, as the 1st and 2nd octuples were only finalised towards the end of the Spring term. A couple of weeks into the summer term the J14A, made up of Constantine Stamatopoulos, Louis Verdi, Joseph Hacker, Gilbert Vierich, Alex Riches, Neil Shepherd, Gabriel Latchin, Giles Tibbitts, and coxed by William Wallage, competed at Chiswick, beating both Latymer crews, although the Latymer 'A' crew were only beaten after the first race was stopped due to the two crews clashing oars. Two weeks later the stern four of the J14A team raced two Latymer Quads at the Borne Regatta and beat them, but the J14B octuple, made up of Nicholas Grafton-Green, Tom Davenport, George Shirreff, Jacob Miller, Richard Teverson, Rupert Graham, Ferdie Addis, Ben Griffiths, and also coxed by William Wallage was unsuccessful, losing narrowly to Latymer octuple. A week before half term both octuples went to Thames Ditton, where the J14A beat Hampton `A' and Canford IC crews, but were defeated by King's Wimbledon, who eventually went on to win the competition, in the semi-finals. The J14Bs were less lucky, and were knocked out in the first round by Latymer octuple. The J14 teams did not compete in any further regattas this term, but the J14Bs beat the Latymer 'B' crew in two consecutive races. The last major event of the term was the Sculling Competition. The three categories in this knockout-style competition were Al (1st Octuple), A2 (2nd Octuple), and novices/coxes ( William Wallage, Charles-Henri McDermott, Alan Parmenter, Daniel Richardson, Nicholas Millard, Alex Stoyel, Winston Ng, Sam Faber, Hal Stoddart, and Samir Dhanani). Constantine Stamatopoulos won the Al competition, narrowly beating Gilbert Vierich. Ferdie Addis won the A2 category after the other finalist, Nicholas Grafton-Green, capsized metres from the finish and ahead of Ferdie. Sam Faber won the novices/coxes category. All scullers this year would like to thank Mr. Porteus, Mr. Motion, and Mr. Wells for their coaching and support this year. C. Stamatopoulos
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