Sir William Perkins’s School Rowers are making waves across the world and bringing home gold medals
Rowers from Sir William Perkins’s School in Chertsey have been collecting an impressive list of national and international honours over the last few years, with this summer proving to be the high point in the Boat Club’s short history.
“For the first time, Sir William Perkins’s School was represented at the World Rowing U19 Championships by two of our athletes” says Chris Boddy, Head of Rowing. “The Championships are the pinnacle of junior world rowing, and took place in St Catharines, Canada, in August.
Two of our students, Emily and Annabelle, were selected for the Great Britain Rowing Team, having progressed through an arduous, season-long trial process of monthly rowing-machine tests and races on the water. Emily races in the women’s four, and Annabelle in the women’s pair”.
This news follows swiftly on from the success of former pupil, Hattie Taylor, who won a Bronze medal in the Great Britain Women’s Eight at the Paris Olympic Games. Hattie has become the first former SWPS pupil to win an Olympic medal, and the signs are that she won’t be the last! To complete the fantastic summer of international rowing, three other current Perkins pupils represented national teams, including the GB Rowing Team at the Coupe de la Jeunesse (a European U19 Championship) in Racice, Czechia and, slightly closer to home, the England Rowing Team at the Home International Regatta in Glasgow, where they won a tremendous hattrick of Gold medals, in the women’s coxless pairs, eights, and sprint eights.
Keep your eye on the Team GB squads of the future – if the students at Sir William Perkins’s School have anything to do with it, Hattie Taylor won’t be the last with a medal! For more information, go to the school’s website: www.SWPS.org.uk