Rowers from NSB have been training very hard since September to compete at the British Championship. Students selected to represent the school were Bradley Feasey (Yr7), Xander Tilley (Yr7), Zac Maule (Yr7), Monty Leahy (Yr8), Ethan White-Robinson (Yr8), Jesse Sivil (Yr9), Jack Jackson-Parish (Yr9), Max Roper (Yr10), Michael Graham (Yr11), Emily Gates (Yr13) and Cade Sivil (Yr13).

Day 1 saw each athlete complete an individual timed race, with times and distances increasing to reflect age. Everybody then completed a 500m race in the afternoon.

In his first ever competition Xander Tilley took the gold medal for both Yr7 events, with Bradley Feasey claiming the bronze medal for the Yr7 500m race. Zac Maule also increased his personal best by 5 meters.

Personal best performances were also achieved by Ethan White-Robinson (5 sec in the 500m), Jesse Sivil (3m in the 4-min race), with the biggest increase coming for Monty Leahy who added 37 meters to his 3-minute best.

Jack Jackson-Parish, after joining the rowing club two weeks prior, claimed a bronze medal for the Yr9 4-minute race and gold for the Yr9 500m race. A huge shout out must go to Mr Hewitt for guiding Jack to the rowing club. We are very thankful.

Max Roper secured silver in the 5-minute race and gold for the Yr10 500m.

Michael Graham also secured gold for his 500m race with a time of 1:20.5.

Finally, in the 6th Form races, Emily Gates produced a time of 1:52.9 for the 500m, and Cade Sivil secured the bronze medal with a time of 1:28.0. This was a wonderful moment for the rowing squad as Cade has been a fantastic example of hard work and determination to the younger members.

Day 2 was reserved for the sprint events, with athletes competing across multi-year age groups. Zac Maule (Yr7) was the youngest athlete in a field comprising of mostly Yr9 boys, and set new personal bests in the 100m and 1-minute races. He was very impressive with how fearless he was against a much more experienced field.

Emily Gates returned to set new personal bests in the 100m, 250m and 1-minute races.

Max Roper (Yr10), took a bronze medal in the elimination race, finishing behind boys from Y11 and 13.

Michael Graham (Yr11) also raced in the senior boy’s category (Yr10-13), and won gold in the 100m, 250m and 1-minute races. Quite an achievement.

The total medal tally for the school was 8 gold, 1 silver and 4 bronze.