Cantabs sent a number of juniors crews to Norwich Head on Saturday 27th February in preparation for Schools Head of the River race on the Thames in March. The river at Norwich is tidal, and the main race is 5km which means that the crews get experience of racing for 20 minutes as they would on the Thames.
The Cantabs Hill’s Road Boys First VIII achieved their first off-Cam win of 2016. Ben Whitelaw, Harvey Dinkele, Karlo Miracle, Dom Bennett, Ben Radcliffe Brown, Sam Gibbs, Finlay Beauchamp, Eddie Crampton, and Will Topping were 7th fastest overall at the 5km distance, winning the Men’s Novice 8 trophy in a very respectable time of 17m 39secs, 13 seconds ahead of the University of East Anglia crew. The Hills Road Boys 2nd VIII followed with a time of 20.24, to place 3rd in the Novice category. Coach Andy Johnson was very pleased with the performance of both crews.
The Cantabs Hills Road girls 1st boat had a time of 21.22, beaten by a strong crew from Norwich High School. In the second division the J16 girls with a time of 22.59 were beaten by a fast university crew from UEA in the IM3 8+ category with the Hills Road Novice Girls in their first race away from the river Cam getting a time of 25.51.
In addition to the VIIIs , a crew of Amelise Burr and Hollie Adams were second in the WJ15 2X category with a time of 9.31 on the Short (2 km) Course, just 4 seconds behind the winning crew from Kings School Ely. The WJ14 4X+ crew recorded a time of 9.29 but had no opposition, and Harvey Jacklin in a single had a time of 23.11 on the long course beating his mother Cecile who had a time of 25.56.
Phil Gunning, Junior coach said “Last year Cantabs entered two coxed quads, a double and a single into the same event, but this year the strength of our junior rowing is mirrored by the entry of five eights, a coxed quad, a double and a single with 48 junior rowers competing from Cantabs.
The winning Hills Road Boys Crew
