Peterborough crew fare well against the best in Britain

Peterborough rowers at the National Schools Regatta were from the left, back, Benjamin Mackenzie, Jack Collins, James Toynton, Harry Masterson, front, Hannah Bassett, Libby Jarvis, Georgina Parker and Olivia Hutchinson.

The event, which has been held annually since 1947, is the largest regatta for juniors in Great Britain and attracts the best young rowers from all over the country.

This year it was held on the Olympic Lake at Dorney where the crews faced a time trial over 1,750 metres followed by a semi-final and final over the 2,000 metre course.

In the Under 16 Quadruple Sculls event, Harry Masterson, James Toynton, Jack Collins and Benjamin Mackenzie got through to the A final, where they finished seventh.

The tough competition they faced included Henley Rowing Club, who gained 13 medals at the event last year, the crack Tideway Scullers and other crews from across the UK that included GB junior rowers in their boats.

The Peterborough boys though pulled out all the stops. They were the sixth fastest crew out of 17 in the time trials and they were third in their semi-final.

Their seventh place in the A final was an improvement on their previous national competition, the Junior Inter-Regional Regatta, in which they finished eighth overall.

A second Peterborough junior crew racing at the event were Olivia Hutchinson, Georgina Parker, Libby Jarvis and Hannah Bassett in the Girl’s Under 16 Quadruple Sculls.

Having never raced at a national event before, they achieved an impressive time in the time trials, finishing 22nd out of the 30 crews.

This qualified them for the D final, only missing out on the C final by less than a second, and they finished fourth out of seven in their final, finishing less than a second behind third place.

The crews are now looking forward to this weekend’s Peterborough City Rowing Club Regatta at Thorpe Meadows (June 3 and June 4).

Former Peterborough City Rowing Club member Adam Neil was in the GB crew that finished fifth in the eights at the European Championships at Racice in the Czech Republic at the weekend.

Germany won it in 5:28.03 followed by Poland (5:30.91) and the Netherlands (5:31.05). Great Britain clocked 5:34.29.

Neill, who was educated at King’s School and who won the men’s title at December’s British Rowing Indoor Championships, won silver medal with the crew at last month’s World Cup regatta in Belgrade.