Last weekend our rowers competed in two very exciting races in the rowing calendar – the Schools’ Head of the River Race (SHoRR) and Women’s Eights Head of the River Race (WEHoRR). Both the SHoRR and WEHoRR are among the world’s largest rowing competitions of their class, each bringing together hundreds of competitive clubs from across the UK and internationally to compete down the famous Championship Course on the Tideway of the River Thames.
It is quite a feat of endurance to compete in two big events back-to-back, but the girls supported each other with lots of laughter and camaraderie.
WHS had four boats racing in the SHoRR on Friday, with races starting at Chiswick Bridge and finishing by Putney Embankment. Each team gave strong performances, and we came away with a great set of results:
Seniors – 5th in First 8’s
J16 – 7th in Championship
J15 1st – 6th in Championship
J15 2nd – 8th in Second 8’s
The next day, the girls were back at the Tideway bright and early for the WEHoRR, greeted by huge crowds of spectators who had already begun gathering at viewpoints along the river. The event officially started at 9:00am, with all crews rowing up to the start line at 11:30am. The last Wimbledon boat came down the course at 2pm, so some crews had a long wait on the water!
In total, 36 girls from Years 10-13 raced across four 8+’s, with both our 1st and 2nd 8’s moving up rankings from last year to come 13th and 11th respectively in the ‘School’ category.
It was a fantastic weekend of high-level racing, and we are very proud of all our competitors.
