Great Marlow School return to the waters with a brace of golds (From Bucks Free Press)

School hits hot form in arctic conditions

3:27pm Wednesday 13th March 2013 in Sport By Alan Feldberg

GREAT Marlow School Boat Club continued its haul of national medals with two more golds last week.

Despite the arctic weather, Great Marlow were out in force at the first national competition of the junior calender and were rewarded with more silverware.

They won the J15 boys race and J17 girls event, while three more crews delivered performances that suggest more is to come this year.

These results are even more impressive considering the lack of training the crews have had because of the weather.

They haven’t been able to get on the water at all at Longridge since October because of flooding, meaning all their training has been in the gym.

Competing at the School’s Head of the River Race at Putney, the J15 boys stormed to victory before the girls emulated them at the Scullery at Dorney Lake.

In addition, the J17 boys four came second at Putney behind a club crew stacked with junior internationals, while the J15 girls raced to third in their event and the mixed quad came fourth.

Meanwhile, representing the boat club as part of a composite crew, sisters Ellie and Bethany Osborn ended the day with a superb second place in the junior category at the Womens Head of the River, having only trained once with their team mates.

These results follow from the previous weekend’s racing in Avon, when the club registered three wins, two second places and a third.