GB Nantes 2013

Shiplake have always been known to punch above their weight and this year was no exception on a national scale.

Henry Cawthorne (Skipwith) and Max Hearnden (Orchard) were lucky enough to be invited to the GB junior rowing team’s winter training camp in Nantes, France from the 15-22 December. This would be Max’s second time in France and a first for Henry. 

The invite was in no part due to the hard work throughout the autumn term and high placing, 35 and 29 respectively, at the early ID trial in Boston (Lincolnshire). That particular trial is in single sculls rather than sweep boats so Max (and Henry) were being compared to those who scull all year round. Therefore they had to develop both disciplines at school to a high degree. Despite all the time they spent in singles however they would be given the chance to prove himself in coxless fours and pairs all the time in France.

Having left early for Nantes on the morning of December 15 along with around 40 coaches and Athletes from around the UK and after a 12 hour coach journey they arrived and settled in to their new home for the week.

During their time there they boated from the University of Nantes’ boat club on the river L'Erdre and used a collection of GB boats and blades provided by the funding from the Lottery through UK Sport.

Each day was split up into two training sessions each lasting about 2-3 hours on the water achieving between 15-40 kilometres per session. Midway through the week they ran to and from the boat club for both sessions and did a 30min ergometer test on the Wednesday morning.

This is unfortunately where Max’s rowing camp turned into a physiotherapy and rehabilitation camp when he injured a disk in his back, meaning that he would be out of training for the next 4 weeks.

The week ended with the infamous Nantes quiz and final weekly reviews from the coaches.

Both boys met some really experienced coaches and rowers who train equally as hard as we do and we are looking forward to meeting up at regattas and the rest of the trailing process.

Max and Henry learnt a lot over the week about making boats go fast in new combinations and they were also given different targets to work on concerning our technique from all the coaches there.

The camp has given the boys an advantage which will help them when it comes to the final trailing process and seat racing with other rowers from around the country later this year. Here both Henry and Max will be aiming to represent GB at either the Coupe de la Jeunesse or the Junior World Championships later this summer.

We hope that the training and motivation that was gleaned from this camp will also further their success as a boat club this year into the regatta season. Good luck!