Filippi enjoyed a highly-successful day on the Tideway for the 2024 staging of the Schools’ Head of the River, collecting four category wins and placing two crews in the top-ten overall. Blessed with beautiful racing conditions, the event went ahead smoothly despite the late withdrawal of all J15 boats.
Radley College and Westminster School were our highest finishers overall, placing fifth and sixth respectively. Overall, Radley were 15 seconds behind overall winners, St Paul’s School, and will hope to close that gap during the summer season.
Our first win came in open junior 16 eights, where St George’s College secured the win by 25 seconds over Kew House School Boat Club. Their senior first eight also placed third in their respective category, demonstrating obvious potential for both crews as the summer months roll in.
Radley College, long-time supporters of Filippi, won the open junior 16 second eight category by seven seconds over King’s College School, Wimbledon and Westminster School. Radley, who had a slightly quieter day than their extraordinarily high standards usually demand, will be raring to go come side-by-side racing.
Our next victory came courtesy of a fantastic row from Godolphin and Latymer School in the girl’s first eights category. They took the win by half a second in a stacked field of 17 boats, beating out names including Kingston Grammar, Putney High and Sir William Perkins.
Our final win occurred in the girl’s junior 16 first eights category, where St Paul’s Girls School saw off the attentions of seven other boats to take the victory some 13 seconds clear of Godolphin and Latymer in second.
Other notable Filippi performances came from Marlow Rowing Club, who finished second in both open and girl’s championship quad categories; their sole focus will be on overturning this deficit in a summer of racing that promises a great deal.
We cannot wait to see what the summer has in store for all of our athletes and look forward to supporting boat clubs up and down the country.
