Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s junior squad travelled to South Oxfordshire for the 2025 edition of the Wallingford Long Distance Sculls

The new rowing season began last weekend with the opening event for Stratford upon Avon Boat Club’s junior squad.

A bumper entry saw Stratford's juniors travel to South Oxfordshire for the 2025 edition of the Wallingford Long Distance Sculls.

Due to the cancellation of last year's race, the J15s took on the 4,000m long course for the first time.

The J15 coxed quadruple scull of Connor Birrell, Nathan Lebordais, Herbie Shickle, Tristan Hammick and Charlotte Mansfield (coxswain) came home in fourth place while the WJ15 coxed quadruple scull of Abi Dunn, Meredith Paul, Lillian Parsons, Scarlett Wheeler and Raya Hothi (coxswain) complete the course in seventh place.

Over the shorter 1,800m course, the WJ15 double scull of Martina Bruce and Raya Hothi delivered a solid third place.

Meanwhile, in the J15 single scull event, Stratford's Reuben Stanford spiced up the competition with a win over Henley Rowing Club and Thames Scullers.

All J16s competed in the long course in Division Three at Wallingford.

Erin Appleton and Orla Linforth sculled a savvy 4.25km and came fourth in their WJ16 2x event in a time of 20:14.8 (Henley won the event).

Maria Ntoukaki had a terrific WJ16 1x race over the long distance, came 10th in her event, out of 30, in 20:20.1 (Headington won the event).

Finally, Seb Happel (stroke), Will Shaw, Euan Richter and Ed Appleton (bow) had a brilliant race against top shelf competition from Henley, Lea, Wallingford and St Paul's, finishing fifth in 16:16.3.

Hugo Happel, J16 coach, said: "It was an excellent result for their very first coxless OJ16 4x event even though Henley finally won the event."

The Stratford J17/J18 squad had the pleasure of racing twice in both morning and afternoon events.

In the WJ18 coxless quadruple sculls, Stratford fielded two crews with Martha Baines, Alexandra Francis, Tessa Parkin and Poppy Baines in fourth place and Martha Cooke, Millie Smith, Sophie Evans and Isla Dunn in sixth place among a 12-crew strong field.

The OpJ18 double scull of Xavier Sissins-Roffey and Seth Vondrak overcame stiff competition to record a second place finish, dueling with Lea Rowing Club for the duration of the race.

Maeve Dunn in the WJ17 single scull came home 27th in the event, a position which belied her speed after being caught in river traffic.

For their second row, the squad split into different crews with Alexandra Francis coming home fourth of 28 entrants in the WJ18 single scull.

Also in single sculls, the boys rowed up to the senior event with Xavier Sissins-Roffey in 10th and Seth Vondrak in 13th.

Stratford fielded two crews in the WJ18 double sculls with Martha Cooke and Millie Smith in eighth and Sophie Evans and Isla Dunn in 11th places overall, creditable placings against such rowing powerhouses such as Headington School and Surbiton High School.

The final crew on the water was the coxless quadruple scull of Poppy Baines, Maeve Dunn, Martha Baines and Tessa Parkin who also rowed up to senior level which meant taking on three crews of aspiring Team GB athletes from Leander Club.

The Stratford crews spent most of the race in the slower stream as the Leander crews came through the field and, after being forced into the bank by an errant Upper Thames crew, restarted their race to finish seventh place

Steve Wellstead, J17/18 coach and junior co-ordinator, commented: "All in all an excellent first head race of the season at a top class event."

The J14s shone on their inaugural outing of the new season.

With both a boys’ and girls’ quad racing in quick succession over Division Two's shorter 2km course, the youngest members of Stratford Boat Club displayed real grit and no little finesse in club colours for their first time.

Leading the charge was Archie Mansfield driving the WJ14 quad of Charlotte Franklin, Eva Cruise, Islay Milles, Mary Heenan to a commendable fourth place among a field of nine.

Just six seconds split those four top finishers, a sign of a really promising crew to watch.

Not to be outdone, the OJ14 quad of Archie Eaton, Christopher Durance, Arthur Burt and Ethan Siwakowski with Eli Ford as cox were the undisputed fastest crew in their event and recorded the fastest time of all quads in the age group that day coming away with well deserved medals to show for their efforts.