King’s Ely rowers victorious at National Junior Championships

March 20, 2020

King’s Ely students were on oar-some form at the National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships – bringing home two Silver medals.

Sixty of King’s Ely’s rowing students travelled to the prestigious Copper Box Arena at London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park to compete in the Championships. The competition involved around 3,000 Year 7 to 13 rowers from across the country.

King’s Ely Sixth Form student Holly Burke won a Silver medal on the day, as did Year 11 student, Jakob Donaubauer.

Other highlights included Year 8 pupil Yanki Ertem securing fifth place out of 180 competitors in his category, the Year 8 boys’ team achieving ninth place in the relay out of 84 crews, Year 10 student Jessica Harding coming 11th out of 116 girls, and William Biggs and Bertie Whymark finishing 21st and 25th out of 98 entries.

In the Year 11 girls’ race, Mia Gray finished fifth, closely followed by Steph Watson (7th) and Annie Moore (12th) out of 46 entries. In the Year 11 boys’ race, Will Buckingham roared home in the last minute to a 10th place finish.

With arguably the best stretch of river for rowing in the country, it is not surprising that King’s Ely has been a strong force in UK rowing for many years. As one of the major sports available to students from Year 8 upwards, rowing is enormously popular at King’s Ely.

The school’s Boat Club is located on the River Great Ouse just a short walk from school, providing an uninterrupted stretch of water that runs for over 15 miles in each direction, including a five kilometre straight, making it the perfect place to train.

To find out more about rowing and other opportunities at King’s Ely, please visit www.kingsely.org