Junior Sculling Head: Wednesday 26th March 2025
- chermes5
- Mar 20
- 4 min read
The Junior Sculling Head is being run at Dorney Lake over 3600 meters. Headington have entered crews into the J14 , J15, J16 and Senior age groups.
Please note that all girls should use school transport (see transport section below for timings and information) to get to the event but if you wish to drop your daughter off at the race venue please let me know by email so I know not to expect them on the bus.
If dropping your daughter off please ensure she has liaised with her coach regarding when she should arrive at the venue for her race.
Location:
The race venue address is:
Dorney Lake
Off Court Lane
Windsor
SL4 6FJ
The Draw:
The draw can be found on the event website.
All crews will race 3600 meters. This will be broken down into two 1800 meter time trial style racing.
The girl's crews will be confirmed at this week (if they have not been already).
If your daughter is told she is racing but is in fact now unavailable for any reason please let me know as soon as possible.
Transport:
We will provide three timing slots for transport.
J16s- Seniors
A minibus for Seniors to J16s will depart the school gym at 7am.Please meet outside the school gym at 6:50am.
Once racing has been completed and the boats loaded onto the trailer the girls will then return to school for the rest of the day.
J15s
A minibus for J15s will depart the school gym at 8am. Please meet outside the school gym at 7:50am.
Once racing has been completed and the boats loaded onto the trailer the girls will then return to school for the rest of the day.
J14s
The J14s should come straight to the gym at the end of Period 2
A bus for J14 will depart school at 10:30am.
The girls will be brought back to school after racing for approximately 5pm barring any delays to racing or poor traffic. The girls will be able to give an accurate return time once the bus has departed Dorney Lake.
Please note that there are boarders and girls who may be sleeping during the morning departures. The ROWERS MUST NOT MAKE ANY NOISE while waiting outside the boarding house. Transport will be available back from Dorney to school for all rowers. If being collected by parents after racing; no girls may depart the event until the trailer has been fully loaded and/or they have been dismissed by their coach.
Itinerary: Junior Sculling Head - Wednesday 26th March 2025
Please note that there are many girls racing and that it is their responsibility that they follow the coaches instructions and the timings below.
J16s to Seniors
0650: Meet outside school gym
0700: Minibus departs from Headington.
0800: Bus arrives at venue - begin rigging boats
from 09:55 to 10:45: Racing begins
1200: Boats derigged and loaded onto the trailer
13:00: Return back to school
J15s
0750: Meet outside school gym
0800: Minibus departs from Headington.
0900: Bus arrives at venue - begin rigging boats
from 11:25 to 11:45: Racing begins
1300: Boats derigged and loaded onto the trailer
14:00: Return back to school
J14s
10:20: Meet at the school gym
1030: Depart school for Dorney Lake
1130: Bus arrives at venue - begin rigging boats
from 13:50 to 14:30: Racing begins
16:00: Approximate departure time from race venue - the girls will be able to contact parents when we are departing Dorney.
1700: Approximate return time to Headington
No girl may depart before their boat and blades have been fully loaded onto the trailer and they have been dismissed by their coaches.
Kit and Food
The girls will need:
- A Large water bottle (1L) with electrolyte replacement fluid.
- Food - appropriate for race day, if you are not sure what to bring please have the girls ask their coaches
- A good breakfast before departing (eg: Porridge, toast and a banana).
- A snack for after each set of races (if doing more than 1). If not sure what to bring; your daughter's coach can advise her.
- Kit: The girls will be required to race in a HSOBC lycra and white t-shirt, in the event of wet or cold weather the girls may wear HSOBC leggings and splash jackets. If they do not have any HSOBC kit yet please let me know.
Spectating
Parking information for the day has been published on the event website, please see the following notice from the event organisers:
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Special Notes for 2025:
LIMITED PARKING
The head is run when the ground at Dorney is very wet so parking space is limited, we cannot use the normal car parking on the grass or the back trailer field. In discussions with those who run the facility we have had to accept that we have to limit the number of cars, and our estimate is that if we allow cars carrying competitors but not those solely used by spectators to come then we can stay within acceptable limits. As a result we are sorry but we cannot allow cars carrying just spectators to enter the facility. We appreciate this may disappoint some people but we have no choice in this matter.
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I am afraid that this means that parents will not be admitted to the venue to spectate this year unless bringing athletes with them (we are travelling with the athletes from school on buses). I am extremely disappointed that this has again been the decision from the organisers and have made my feelings known via the appropriate channels.
I am very sorry for those of you who are disappointed in not being able to attend the race but this decision has been made by the organisers and is out of our control.
Policies and Documents
The following documents should be read/reviewed by all girls competing this weekend:
All rowers should also note the boating times for each race on the race schedule.
Any other safety documentation including risk assessments and welfare policy for the event can be found on the event website.
If there are any changes to the information provided above I will email them to parents with as much notice as possible.