By Mr McEwen (Assistant Head Rowing Coach)

After winning at a trials regatta in March three crews from BGS were selected to represent the Eastern region at the Junior Inter Regional Regatta (JIRR), which was held on Saturday 25th April at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham. They were set to compete against 15 other regions from England, Scotland, and Wales in their respective boat classes with points awarded for placings in the finals that contribute to an overall ranking for the regional teams. The format for racing was a 1km time trial in the morning to seed the lanes for 1500m side by side finals in the afternoon. 

Our WJ16 4- had a tumultuous start to the time trial but soon settled into a strong rhythm that earned them a spot in the C final where they raced to a convincing victory, in a time which better reflected their true speed and would have placed them 6th overall. The WJ15 4+ had a strong TT in a tight field just securing their place in the A final by 0.1s, they matched this result with a good performance in the final coming away with 6th place. In the WJ16 2- a great TT seeded them 3rd into the A final, and after a storming start in the final leading the field at 500m they held on for the bronze medal across the finish line, an excellent result.

Our crews results helped the Eastern region team to win the Victrix Ludorum (Margaret Marshall Cup) outright by 1 point over Thames London West, and jointly win the combined Victores Ludorum (Dame Di Ellis Shield) with Thames Upriver East both finishing the day on 291 points.

Well done to all that raced and thank you to the parents and friends who came out to support BGS and the Eastern region team. We now look forward to a busy summer of racing with our seniors racing at Wallingford Regatta this weekend and all of our squads in action at Bedford Amateur Regatta on Saturday 9th May.