Scotch College

World-class performance by Scotch crew at Henley

Scotch rowers’ fine performances at Henley Royal Regatta have put Scotch College on the world rowing map.

Words: GREG BAKER Photography: Haines family

Nine Scotch rowers flew to London in June, to challenge the world’s best schoolboy eights in the Princess Elizabeth Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, taking on crews from the UK, the USA and Canada.

The Henley Royal regatta was first held in 1839 and is probably the most famous in the world. It attracts worldwide entries and many famous oarsmen have competed at this regatta.

This was the first time Scotch had competed in the Princess Elizabeth Cup. On arrival in England, the boys quickly got down to preparing for the regatta. We are most grateful to Jeff Lawrence and Stuart Wilson from Sykes Racing who made available a new boat identical to the David Crawford for the crew. Our heartfelt thanks also go to Rob Strang who shipped the boat to Henley for us. We were delighted to also name this boat the David Crawford.

On the water twice a day, the boys familiarised themselves with the course and soaked up the atmosphere. The racing is cutthroat – 32 crews match racing two at a time. The winners continue to the next round; the losers pack up their boats and go home.

When the draw took place, the boys were pleased to learn they were one of the six seeded crews. It quickly became apparent that Scotch was drawn to meet Eton in the semi-final the following Saturday – if both crews proceeded through the first three rounds.

Wednesday 2 July saw the crew line up against the Bedford School – an unknown quantity for us. Scotch quickly established a handy lead off the start and were never seriously challenged, going on to win by nearly five lengths in the second fastest time of the 16 heats.

Against Radley College on Thursday, Scotch again took an early lead and went on to score a solid win by a length and a quarter against the fourth-ranked English school. On Friday the boys dominated the race against RGS Worcester, going on to win by five lengths and gain a place in the semi-final. Meanwhile, Eton convincingly defeated a very strong crew from St Joseph’s Preparatory School, Philadelphia, USA to set up a semi-final clash.

On semi-final day, the course was affected by a strong and blustery cross head breeze, and the bigger Eton crew was always going to be a challenge. Scotch again started brilliantly and took a lead of up to two-thirds of a length, Eton relentlessly fought back and took a narrow lead before Scotch pushed again to regain the lead. Over the last 600 metres, the Eton crew again came back and gradually pulled away to win a classic match race by three-quarters of a length in front of a huge crowd.

The disappointment of defeat gradually gave way to a realisation that everyone had done his best and that the crew had shown themselves to be one of the world’s best schoolboy crews.

The crew of Will Bernard (bow), Matt Lloyd (2), Johnny O’Brien (3), Michael Haines (4), Tom Sutterby (5), Tom Simpson (6), James Sparkman (7), Simon Brown (stroke) and Tom Browne (cox) and coached by Jeff Watt, represented themselves, Scotch College and Australia with distinction in a high-quality international regatta.

Eton went on to finish runners-up to the Shawnigan Lake School, the Canadian champions from British Columbia. We extend our congratulations to both Shawnigan Lake and Eton for their outstanding performances.

The crew can be well pleased that, for the first time, they put Scotch College on the world rowing map.
GS