Shiplake College Make National History
25 Jun 2025
It was a historic day for Shiplake College at National Schools’ Regatta 2025 where they became the first school to win both the Championship Boys’ Eight and Championship Girls’ Eight events.
It was a historic day for Shiplake College at National Schools’ Regatta 2025 where they became the first school to win both the Championship Boys’ Eight and Championship Girls’ Eight events. On a weekend with cancelled racing, a strong headwind, and a venue change, this year’s National Schools’ Regatta will be remembered at the college for years to come.
Four Shiplake boats medalled on Saturday with the pick of the bunch being the Ch 8+ crews. On the NSR livestream, the commentating team remarked that it was “a historic ten minutes for Shiplake College Boat Club”. Roared on by their supporters, the girls’ Eight – consisting of Ava Lowe, Freya Smith, Alice Knight, Annunciata Ings, Katie Proudlove, Eva Rootkin-Gray, Amelia Westbrook, Alice Dargue, and Charlotte Hodgkinson (cox) – crossed the line ahead of Headington School to spark scenes of jubilation in the boat and in the stands. Then, minutes later, the boys’ Eight – consisting of Ed Galer, Oliver Nash, Finlay Rhys-Jones, William Harper, Luca Hunt-Davis, Henry Day Clark, Joshua Barnes, Isaac Deam, and Ben Loggie (cox) – matched the girls to cross the line ahead of Radley College.
In both categories, Shiplake won both the time trial and the A-final in decisive fashion, triumphing by six seconds in both races. Despite coming into both races as underdogs having come second at School’s Head of the River in March, two breathtaking performances delivered the ultimate junior prizes which sets up a scintillating end of season where all eyes now turn to Henley Royal Regatta.
Speaking after the event, Director of Rowing Dave Currie said:
“It’s a fantastic achievement for Shiplake College to make National Schools’ Regatta history by winning both championship eight categories. This success results from immense ambition and relentless hard work from all the athletes and the coaching team. It’s incredibly rewarding to see Shiplake’s vision for rowing truly fulfilled.”
There was further success for Shiplake earlier in the day with both the boys’ 2nd Eight and Girls’ Championship 4+ taking silver medals in their races. Running at one point 4th in their final, the boys – Will Tavinor, Zac Powell, Inigo Markham, Tomos Weighell, Otto Berg de Kerangal, B Schroeder, Oliver Bennett, Rupert Evans, and Charlie Watkins (cox) – found another gear to fend off Hampton School to take the silver medal. It was a similar story for the girls’ Ch 4+ who were also 4th at the start, but the crew – Abby Hutton, Tilly Foreman, Lucy Green, Florence Dallas, and Alexander Erb (cox) – rallied superbly to take the silver medal.