News & Events
Cathedral School hit four at Hereford City Regatta
Hereford City RegattaHereford Cathedral School Boat Club underlined their strong start to
the 2004 season with some emphatic performances at Hereford's Regatta
over the Bank Holiday. With four wins from eight events entered the school
had one of their most successful weekends on record, underlined by the
performance of Seb Smith with a hat-trick of winning performances.
The flagship double scull of Seb, with George Probert, arrived tired but
determined after competing at the National School's regatta the day before.
They took the J16 event with a storming final 500 metres, beating the
highly-rated Dart Totnes crew by two lengths in the final. Earlier Seb
had won J15 singles comfortably against his Hereford RC opponent. He then
jumped in the J15 quad as a late replacement to take that event too, again
against the host club. The rest of the winning quad consisted of Will
Boyd-Thomas, Calum Corbin and Jack Smith, and coxed by Stuart Adams.
In J16 singles Jo Chambers looked very comfortable at half way in the
final before catching her blade on Hunderton Bridge when over 2 lengths
in the lead. Despite the collision leaving her over 4 lengths adrift she
raced back into contention only to lose by ½ length at the finish
to a Dart Totnes sculler. Later on Jo overcame her disappointment when
she teamed up with Charlotte Townsend from Hereford RC to avenge her defeat
by beating the Dart Totnes double in the final by a convincing 4 lengths.
The winning crews were:
Men's Junior 16 double scull
S Smith
G Probert
Women's Junior 16 double scull
C Townsend (HRC)
J Chambers
Men's Junior 15 single sculls
S Smith
Men's Junior 15 quadruple sculls
J Smith (bow)
C Corbin
S Smith
W Boyd-Thomas (stroke)
S Adams (coxwain)
National Schools Regatta
HCS entered a Junior 16 double scull of Seb Smith (bow) and George Probert
(stroke). Seb qualifies as J15 and is therefore competing a year above
his age category.
The crew have been formed only a few weeks and due to examination pressure
have been unable to complete sufficient outings to give a clear indication
of their potential. They travelled to Nottingham therefore uncertain of
their capabilities, but in the event need not have worried. Making a fast
start in their heat, which saw them contend the lead until half way, their
inexperience was their only weakness. Poor steering on the international
course caused them to make contact with several course marker buoys, each
collision setting them back a little. Their last contact, the biggest,
lost them four lengths in the final 250 metres, so letting an Evesham
crew through to take the qualifying place.
The result was a satisfying indication of the crew's boat speed, clearly
sufficient to match that of the best crews in the country.
