Rowing: Chester Long Distance Sculls

On 25 September, King’s School Rowing Club (KSRC) took to the water for the first race of the calendar season at the Chester Long Distance Sculls.

The event, which is staged over a 5000m course on the River Dee, is hugely popular and this year was attended by over 250 crews from the North West and beyond.

KSRC had 30 entries in the event and hosted St Edward’s College, Oxford who brought along its J17 and J18 squads.

The morning division saw the boys race in singles, whilst the girls competed across doubles and quads.

Success came early on with Luke Dillon (U6DUT) winning the J18 band 1 singles, and Fin Thomson (L6FOX) and Louis Roberts (L6DUT) winning in J17 band 2 and band 3 single sculls respectively.

A large contingent from the girls’ squad also raced with an excellent performance from Hannah Egan (L6BRD) and Maya Swift (L6BRD) in the women’s J17 double sculls, winning the race by more than 50 seconds. 

Having raced in single sculls in the morning, J17 and J18 boys raced in quads in the afternoon division. They were joined by the J16 boys who also took to the water in three quads in a local derby against Chester RC, Northwich RC and Runcorn RC. 

KSRC Rowing Coach, Mr Reeves said: “This was a very impressive start to the season for KSRC.

“Long Distance Sculls is a great test of boatmanship and early season fitness. Experiencing this success so early on makes for an exciting season ahead.”

To conclude an excellent day, the rowers took great inspiration from the news that Harry Brightmore (OKS 2021) had become World Champion that morning as he coxed the Great Britain Men’s Eight to gold at the World Rowing Championships in the Czech Republic.