Nottinghamshire School Games

A new event in the Nottinghamshire School Games for the 2013/14 session, the indoor rowing event proved to be a great success with more than 60 competitors – representing six of the eight local boroughs – racing on the day.

West Bridgeford school, representing the Rushcliffe area, took the overall team cup ahead of Joseph Whitaker School and Quarrydale Academy. 

The battle for second and third overall came down to the final race of the day, in the Boys’ 12 minute mass relay. After all the individual and 2016 team relays had been completed, Quarrydale Academy had a 60m lead on the team from Joseph Whitaker. Both teams set off at a high pace to try and claim the silver medals, and were inseparable for the first 10 minutes of racing with the gap rarely exceeding 20m. However with two minutes to go Quarrydale Academy took control and in the end managed to extend their lead by over 50 metres to take second overall.

The individual races saw some incredibly tight finishes, in particular the six minute Year 11 events. In the Year 11 Girls’ Willow McGowan of West Bridgeford (1497m) held off Katie Henwood of Queen Elizabeth’s Academy for first place by just a single metre.

Meanwhile, in the Boys event, Peter Savage (Djanogly City Academy) put in a great tactical push in the last minute of the Year 11 Boys’ race to win by four metres ahead of Dom Smith from Joseph Whitaker School.