Last week, 9 athletes from EHC travelled to London for the inaugural Schools’ Head of the River Race. This race, held every year over the 4 1/4 mile Boat Race course, runs from Chiswick to Putney. It is contested by over 300 crews from all over the country. The river is huge and the the tide was running as quickly as I have ever seen it for a Tideway race. These athletes only started rowing in September and it is a testament to their dedication to training and mature attitude, that I felt confident taking them down to the race, let alone pushing them out at 12pm on a rainy Monday into the flood waters of the River Thames.
They performed admirably, with coxes Lewis Beese and 14 year old Vyshnavi Rao from The Ruth Gorse Academy, steering an impeccable course along the line of the fast flowing stream. Both girls and boys crews rowed extremely well, particularly considering that for many, it was only their first or second ever race. Furthermore, all athletes were incredibly well behaved, organised and were an absolute pleasure to take. Miss Quashie, Mr Cox, Mr Smith and I were extremely proud of the way in which our students conducted themselves, from their behaviour at the hostel, to the way in which they organised themselves on race day.