Over the first weekend of half term, 40 students from the Putney High Boat Club raced at the National Schools’ Regatta (Sixth Form and Year 11) and the Junior Sculling Regatta (Year 10), both held at the 2012 Olympic venue, Dorney Lake.

This was our first regatta since the summer of 2019 and the first major side-by-side race for many of our girls. As a closed event without the usual roar of parents and supporters along the bank, Dorney Lake was eerily quiet but that didn’t stop our students from being superior athletes over the weekend. After a difficult year of training it was great to be back racing and all of the students were excited to see how they compared with the best in the country.

Below is a summary of the results of the crews that raced:

Our top quad, racing in the most competitive girls category of the weekend, Championship Girls Quads, placing a credible 11^th overall nationally, winning their C Final in style.

The 2^nd Quad raced well and finished 8^th overall in their category.

The Under 16 Eight (pictured going off the start in their final) raced phenomenally well through their time trial moving straight into the A-final where they finished 4^th (in the country!), narrowly missing out on the Bronze medal.

On Bank Holiday Monday, 23 Under 15 girls raced in two octuples and a quad, with the top Octuple again racing their time trial fiercely, moving straight into the A Final, where they also just missed out on the Bronze medal finishing 4^th in the country. The second octuple, who had to race in the same category as all the A crews, placed 13th overall  and were the  3rd placed B Octo.

Congratulations to all who raced over the three days. Everyone acquitted themselves well in their first races for 15 months, especially those who had never raced before. Many lessons were learned by all crews and we look forward to the remaining races of this year.