11 Boat Club

This has been, we hope, the last of our lean years in terms of actual achievement, but nonetheless a period of genuine enthusiasm and consolidation. We look forward to the arrival of our new boats with confidence that they will bring regatta success with them. Parents have supported us with enthusiasm, not least by co-operating with the new schemes of Boat Club membership and A.R.A. registration. Again Ann Hodgson's contribution has been incalculable: it was good to see the Club's enjoyment of her sculling successes at Leeds at the end of the summer. Dr. Ken Shank's drive has been as infectious as ever: crews at both ends of the Club take much of their motivation from him. Once more we have been very fortunate with our Captains. Pippa King, Richard Hall and Mark Tozer worked hard on and off the water, showing by example that a Club can be more than the sum of its parts. They have each rowed with determination, attended to innumerable jobs at regattas, and arranged the very successful Invitation Row and Barbecue. We would also like to thank Mr. Pyrah for designing and arranging the supply of new boat club T-shirts. Ann Hodgson coached small groups of Sixth formers throughout the Autumn term, during which time a girls' and a boys' four rowed in the Small Boats Head on the Ouse on Sunday 22nd November. This training had obvious benefits for their ability and gave a useful boost to the performance of other crews when these rowers were dispersed among them in the Spring.

The Yorkshire Head of the River Race

We entered 4 fours for this 5,100 metres processional race on Saturday 12th March, with things being complicated because some crews had to row in the morning and this is during Trial Examinations. Our Junior Four was 16th of the Fours in the early division, in the respectable time of 19 59.3, while the J16 Four exactly matched our equivalent crew's time of the previous year.

York Spring Regatta

On Saturday 7th May, 6 entries from St. Peter's rowed on our home river. Unfortunately, the pattern of entries from elsewhere was such that many of ours were competing out of their age groups. The J 16s, for example, were rowing at J18. There were also major breakdowns of gear. The absence of wins, therefore, was hardly surprising. Nevertheless, one crew reached the final of Senior III Fours.

Durham School Invitation Regatta

Again on Wednesday 18th May this event took place between those crews from both Schools who do not usually get the chance to row competitively - for our part, mostly Fourth form boys and Lower Sixth girls taking part in their first races. This year it was at Durham. We were content to reach the final in a couple of the groups, and for one Fourth form crew to win at that level.

Bradford Sprint Regatta

This was on Saturday 21st May. We had considerable - and very irritating - difficulty in even getting the boats there and back. We are most grateful to Mr. Hutchinson who saved us at the last minute by towing the trailer to Saltaire early on Saturday morning, and to Richard Hutchinson for touring the region successfully in search of a Land Rover spare part. Nevertheless, crew performances paid for all the stress. We had 9 different entries. The Senior III Fours had a difficult time of things, though no-one was knocked out immediately. Our best rowing of the afternoon was by the senior of our Novice Fours (Tony Jackson, Warwick Pemberton, Matthew Doncaster and Jonathan Laverack, coxed by Tim Wilson) who beat crews from Derby, York City and York University to win the Division.

Examinations meant that there was simply no weekend this summer when it would be possible to repeat the 24 hour sponsored row, much though people wanted to. Instead, the Captains and a wide group of others invited a variety of people to row in scratch crews, and followed this with a Barbecue at the boat house on Saturday 4th June. The whole event was thoroughly enjoyable, and successful too in terms of fund-raising. My only personal quibble is with falling in twice.

York Festival Regatta

I would like to thank the Friends of St. Peter's for their contribution to the atmosphere on Saturday June 18th, when they staged a "Strawberries and Bubbly" at the boat house. The overall entry was huge: we contributed 11 crews. James Mee and Mark Pyrah steered a Senior III pair very well in their first such race. James Berrington was very unlucky to collide with a double-parked pleasure-launch while he was well ahead in Novice Sculls. The Lower Sixth girls gave us good cause to hope for wins next year. Others were content with getting through a round or two. As usual, for both the York regattas, we manned stakeboats and provided our coaching boat. It was very good to see many old Peterites rowing in this regatta: I counted 15 whom I recognised, and no doubt there were more.

Leeds Sprint Regatta

We finished the season by going to Roundhay Park on 25th June. The summer's weather (what happened to it afterwards?) continued its unprecedented run of not raining on a regatta. We entered 9 events, but met no good fortune - though we were amply compensated by Ann's successes in Novice and Senior III Sculls (fortunately in the right order).