Following their success at the local championships, both our girls and boys rowing teams went on to represent Broad Heath and Coventry West in the county finals at Newbold Comyn, in Leamington Spa. This competition saw the best 14 teams from the whole of Coventry and Warwickshire compete, so their were a lot of high quality rowers on display.
First up was the girls individual Rows. As usual, Esra got us off to a good start of 332 meters. Aleena also put an in equal best score of 339 meters. However, both Hajrah and Alexis smashed their personal best to put us in a good place to win a medal going into the team really, with Alexis posting 345 and Hajrah into the 350’s with a score of 354.
Then, it was over to the boys. As always, Bialwal caused quite a stir, astonishing the hall with his score of 403. It is very rare that any student breaks the 400m barrier, so many students and teachers alike came to congratulate him on his achievement. As in the school finals, all the boys scored over 350 meters, with Muhammad pulling 363, Aayan 359 and Zaid scoring 354.
Going into the relay, the boys were out front from the beginning and never looked back. After a first leg lead of almost 30 meters, the rest of the team helped pull away, all but assuring the gold medal for the team with a win of 60 meters, posting a total score of 1004.
The girls competition was a lot tighter, and we needed a good performance to be in with a chance of a medal. All the team’s best rowers normally go first, so we were likely to be behind from the beginning. When Esra handed over to Aleena, we were in 13th place. Then, against other teams 2nd rower, Aleena had lept us up to 8th place. By the time Hajrah had finished her leg, we were now in 3rd, and it was left to Alexis to make an assault on the lead. This she did, dragging us in to the lead and to win the relay by 3 meters.
The boys duly won by a huge margin of 108 meters, showing how dominant they had been this year. The girls outcome was less sure, so we were both surprised and delighted when we were awarded gold. Both teams thoroughly deserved their victories, and were very proud of what they had accomplished.
As always with a success like this there are many people to thank, especially Miss Shilton for all her hard work coaching the children, as well as Alexis’ Gran for helping on the trips. It was a real team effort.
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