Last Saturday, former rowers from Shiplake College assembled at Eton’s Dorney Lake to represent the College by racing alumni from some of the other top rowing schools in the country and they didn’t let us down.

OVS committee member Rob Robertson (77B), organised Shiplake’s participation in the event and has provided us with the following report.

“Saturday 18 September 2021 dawned clear, sunny, with not a breath of wind, perfect conditions for the 2021 ‘Revival Regatta’, this year featuring nine rowing Eights from four schools: Shiplake: 1x8, Eton: 5x8, St Paul's: 2x8 and Westminster: 1x8 - an increased field compared to previous years with increased rivalry to match!

Dorney Lake, site of the 2012 Olympic rowing events is a large rectangle of water with six lane racing. On the 18th, at the start the water was calm, clear as a millpond... then the racing began!

Out of the nine crews in Round 1, Shiplake went into the 2nd Round as clear winners by a substantial margin. The rate was punishing… over 45 strokes a minute.

Round 2 was over only 500 metres. We changed crews to make sure everyone had a chance to compete (no one gets left on the hard at Shiplake). Again, we went off rating over 40 strokes per minute, managing to knock St Paul's and Westminster out of the picture. However, with Eton able to field so many crews, Shiplake came in at second place.

Round 3 was over 250 metres so no time to lose and the kitchen sink was out of the window at the start! Again, Shiplake Old Vikings rowed valiantly but were pipped at the post by Eton’s 2019 Henley winning crew.

Overall, Shiplake came second, a phenomenal result as we had fielded only one boat and a scratch crew – however in the years we have been taking part, we have never had such a young, strong and competitive crew turn out for Shiplake Old Vikings and to see this spirit coming from the background of Shiplake College was inspiring and exciting.

Effectively we were beaten on numbers of oarsmen and boats but not on competitive spirit and ability. GO SHIPLAKE.

As always Eton College provided a sumptuous afternoon tea, clearly understanding just how much rowers can eat, and all crews took full advantage of the vast spread available (especially the jam and cream scones!) while overlooking Dorney Lake on a perfect summer’s afternoon.

A huge thank you to the College for their support, Neil Srivastava (00O), for setting up the WhatsApp group (some great banter and eye watering ergo scores posted).

And mostly, to all the OVS rowers who went above and beyond all of our expectations, thank you. Go Shiplake!"