Cheney rowers win silver at national championships

Five year 9 Cheney pupils put in a blistering performance to take home the silver medal at the 2024 national championships, capping a fantastic four days of racing for locally based Falcon Boat Club.

The British Rowing Championships are the pinnacle of the national rowing calendar and this year took place from 19-22 July at the National Watersports Centre in Nottingham. Eight Cheney pupils participated in multiple disciplines for Falcon Boat Club against the best crews from across the UK.  All races followed a similar format with an initial time trial against the clock determining placing and lane positions for the subsequent head to head semi-finals and finals where 6 boats race side by side to fight for the medals.

The action for Cheney representatives kicked off on Friday on the full 2 kilometre course with Year 11 Rupert Glendinning in the J16 double sculls (two rowers in the boat).  24^th place in the time trial put them in the D final where a strong row saw them finish third for 21^st place overall.  Rupert was then back in action on Saturday, this time in the J16 quad sculls (four rowers in the boat) teaming up with fellow Cheney pupil Raffy Smith and two other Falcon club members.  A very tight 3-way battle saw them take second in the C final for 14^th place overall - a great result.

On to Sunday and Monday and it was the turn of the J14 crews (Year 9) over the shorter 1 kilometre course.  First up, following on from her older brother, was Year 9 Poppy Glendinning racing in a single boat (1 rower!) for the first time in only her first year of rowing.  In difficult conditions that saw multiple boats capsize during the time trial Poppy  rowed well into 31^st place overall.  Having gained valuable experience on the Nottingham course she then teamed up with fellow Falcon Lara Till-Awny (4^th in the single event) on Monday in the J14 double race.  In only their second race together they coped well with even stronger winds and rough water to finish 29^th overall (out of 60 crews).  More to come from them in 2025.

In the J14 boys events Cheney was very well represented starting with two crews in the double sculls event on Sunday.  First-up were Alex Aherne and Oscar Suffolk with a solid row in the time trial followed by a very tight race in the D final that was good for 20^th overall.  Ollie Ross and Seb Smith followed them down the course with an excellent 8^th place in the time trial that put them into a semi-final.  With less than a second separating 3^rd to 8^th place a final place and possible medal was definitely on the cards.  Despite a slow start in the semi that saw them in last place at halfway, a powerful second half surge took them into the A final in third place.  The final race for the medals was incredibly close but this time the finishing sprint from Ollie and Seb wasn't quite strong enough finishing fourth and missing a medal by just 6/100ths of a second.  Some disappointment to miss out on a medal but 4^th place in the national championships is still an outstanding achievement.

On to the final races on Monday and hoping to improve on Sunday's results, the two doubles crews joined forces in the coxed quad event adding John-Richards-Paz as the cox (steerer, tactician and all round crew motivator).  Having finished 5^th at the National Schools Regatta in May the crew had been training incredibly hard to improve and it showed with a solid 4^th place in the time trial.  A steady start followed by a now trademark Falcon sprint finish saw them home comfortably in second place in the semi-final and ready for the final medal battle.  

The final took a familiar pattern from previous races where the dominant number one ranked crew from Henley (National Schools Champions) powered out to an early lead and at halfway looked to be cruising to victory with the other crews in a close battle for the other medal spots.  Back came the boys from Cheney, gaining on Henley with every stroke but coming up just short with a quarter of a boat length between them at the line to take the silver medal.  That was the first time this year than Henley had really been challenged and we'll continue to see those crews go head-to-head next year.  

A massive well done to everyone from Cheney that participated in the national championships.  Falcon Boat Club (supported by a bursary scheme for Cheney pupils) is running summer learn to row courses throughout the holidays and is already set to welcome 10 novice rowers from the school this summer so hopefully next year there will be even more achievements to celebrate.