ALL eyes were on rowing’s Henley Royal Regatta as a crew from The Grange School aimed to reach the semi-finals of an event on Friday.
The boys quad crew – featuring Ab Farag, Gus Goode, Pete Masters and Finn Furlong – competed in the quarter-finals of the prestigious Fawley Challenge Cup.
This is an achievement in itself, reaching the final eight from a starting field of 76.
The crew had designs on going further and gathered moment over the week.
Standing in their way were the second-seed team from the renowned Molesey RC, so their challenge was a tough one.
And it was a hurdle that proved too high on the day, with The Grange boys being defeated by two-and-a-half lengths.
However, they made history for The Grange because no squad from the school have made it that far in the competition - and that iss saying something when Olympic medalists Tom and Emily Ford are among their alumni!
The Grange were also the last school from the whole of the north west left in the running at Henley this year.
The competition began for The Grange boys the previous Friday when they qualified.
They then won their heat against Kingston RC in the first round last Tuesday with a superb performance, winning by 3.5 lengths.
“Very impressive especially with two 16-year-olds, Finn and Pete, rowing in our crew in the under 19 event alongside Ab and Gus; all of them rowing at Henley for the first time,” said Gareth Ireland, The Grange School’s director of rowing
“They were back on the water on Thursday racing German champion crew RC Allemannia from Hamburg and looked very comfortable as they won by 2.5 lengths.”
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