Since term one of the academic year, the PE team has been running an indoor rowing club every Monday, with around 10-20 participants. This club has helped us develop our skills and techniques for indoor rowing while giving us competition against each other.

On Friday the 3rd March, we were given a fantastic opportunity to put our skills into practice at the National Junior Rowing Championships and it turned out to be a truly sensational day.

We departed school and travelled by minibus across to the Copperbox Arena in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford. This was a prestigious venue during the 2012 London Olympic Games and oversaw events such as handball and the modern pentathlon. The 7000 seater arena was also used for the Paralympics in the same year for the goalball event.

Once we arrived, we stepped into a buzzing atmosphere with hundreds of competitors preparing for the day ahead. We registered ourselves in and went to our seats. When we got to our seats at the top of the arena, we witnessed the sixth form race and we realised the extremely high standards we were going to go up against; from Great Britain youth rowers to rowers from the Henley Regatta Club (a prestigious rowing club on the Thames) The quality of rowing and sheer determination was so impressive. Another amazing thing I noticed was where people had come from. Teenagers from Manchester, Merseyside and even as far as the Isle of Man; the commitment was amazing. 

Over the course of the day, we competed in the individual heats and team relays. My personal favourite was the relays because I got to work in a group and it is nice to have that team spirit with you while competing. Some very impressive rowing was on show from Team WA, with some of our members gaining over 1 kilometre during the given 4 minute time period. One of our relay teams also achieved 3rd place in their heat and 6th overall which was our strongest performance during the day.

In summary, we had an amazing opportunity to compete at a national tournament and we have come away as a team with some absolutely incredible experiences. We hope to represent WA and compete in many future competitions.