St. Edward’s Raise the Bar of Schoolboy Rowing
At this year’s Henley Royal Regatta, St. Edward’s School, located near Oxford, was amongst a number of junior rowing programmes who entered a crew not only in The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup (P.E.) but embraced ambition in The Temple Challenge Cup too. With the P.E. limiting entry to one crew per school, it isn’t uncommon to see junior second VIII crews entered into this Trophy. The event is typically dominated by more experienced university crews, meaning progression through the event can be challenging. Through not only qualifying for the Temple, but also beating Hampton School on Wednesday and Asopos de Vilet on Thursday, the St. Edward’s crew achieved the remarkable, becoming the first UK school crew to make it to Friday in this trophy, before ultimately being knocked out by A.S.R. Nereus A, NED.
Learning more about the boys in the boat, from Sam Frost, the Coach of Teddies second VIII competing in The Temple Challenge Cup, he praised the standard of rowing that his crew had achieved in their heat against Hampton: “I think they raced with a lot of maturity. Only a couple of them have actually raced at Henley before”. Frost explained that his crew was mostly made up of lower sixth students, athletes he hopes will be pushing for the first VIII in the coming season. St. Edward’s, a high performing school boat club is no stranger to success at Henley Royal Regatta, winning The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup in 2023. With both entries advancing far into this regatta, it is clear that St. Edward’s are doing all the right things when it comes to junior racing.
“They’ve taken each race by the horns and surprised themselves,” Frost explained. Pitted against crews with many more years of experience, it is this dogged determination and sense of opportunity that have propelled the boys forwards. There is something to be said for crews coming in as the underdogs: “They don’t have much to prove other than pushing as much as they can” added Frost.
Many may ask what it takes to progress a schoolboy crew deep into the Regatta when faced with older opposition. Frost spoke candidly about the rowing programme at St. Edwards, as well as the training that has allowed them to progress this far into the competition. “We’ve treated Henley like any other race. Our training has been focused on building a good base pace; we want to be as long and loose as possible so we’ve had a lot of focus on trying to make our race pace as efficient as it can be.”
St. Edward’s School fulfills much of their water training on the Godstow stretch of the Isis in Oxford, which spans less than two kilometres. Frost entrusts the programme's strong technical focus and time spent on ergos as contributing factors to their strong performances this season, in spite of the limited distance their water access enables for practicing race pieces. Speaking about the programme more broadly, Frost was also quick to credit the endeavours of the Head coach Jonny Singfield and the unity of their coaching approach in forwarding the St. Edward’s rowing programme. “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Jonny this year. We talk a lot together about the type of technique we are looking for and how we want the boats to run. Having him as someone to help and guide me has been very special.”
Having rowed himself with Oxford Brookes University until 2023, Frost has bolstered his crew with experiential advice on managing the challenges of racing at Henley Royal Regatta. “You can’t go into a Henley race feeling like you’re going to lose,” Frost recounted. “You have to go out hard - the other crew may go fast off the start but you have to trust that you have what it takes to go the whole way.”
St. Edward’s success at Henley Royal Regatta so far demonstrates that the calibre of schoolboys racing in the UK is unbelievably high. Frost recognised the value of the school’s well-funded programme for securing this: “The ability to have a coach per crew makes a big difference - you form relationships and get to know exactly what the athletes are thinking”. While the funding provides the club with a secure platform, Frost highlighted the importance of maintaining an efficient, tailored training program. “Many people will be surprised how much less volume the crews do than might be expected” he revealed.
The success of a schoolboy crew in The Temple Challenge Cup is exemplar of the burgeoning quality of this institution's young crews and junior rowing across the UK more generally. Frost professed that “there is still demand for more junior events at Henley Royal Regatta, even with the recent additions on the women's side”. This said, he conceded that the regatta is already reaching capacity limits and does not envy the conundrum of the committee in weighing up competing demands for events across the Regatta.
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