The two Upper Sixth Form double sculls ventured to Boston, USA for the annual Head of the Charles Regatta. Heralded as the largest three day rowing event in the world, the event has nearly 3000 crews entered from over 800 clubs from across the globe.

The two Pangbourne crews raced in Women's Youth Double Sculls and Men's Youth Double Sculls. Following a delayed arrival owing to flight issues, the crews managed three training sessions on the Charles River in Boston, where we were honoured to be hosted by Harvard University. On the Friday afternoon the crews travelled to Brooks School in Andover to train on their lake, surrounded by the stunning forests in the midst of the autumnal 'fall' colours. It was lovely to visit Brooks School, who Pangbourne hosted when they came to race at Henley in 2022.

Following some sightseeing and race watching on the Saturday, the crews competed on the Sunday morning in their event. Racing over 4000m upriver, conditions were perfect and a marked contrast to back at home, where flooding had prevented the crews from training on the river for over a month. Despite the lack of water time, the crews performed creditably. The girls' double finished in an excellent 15th place out of 51 crews, the fastest British double ahead of Headington School, Westminster School and the American School, London. The boys' double also had a good row and despite getting stuck in traffic (slower crews impeding them somewhat), they finished in the top half of their event in 26th place, the second fastest double from the UK in their event. As a result of these performances, the College automatically qualifies to race crews again next year, which is a real achievement in such high standard events.

In the evening after the races, the group met up with OP from the 1963 Henley winning crew, Julian Coles and his family, who had ventured to Boston to watch the crews racing. It was a fabulous evening where he shared stories of his own time at Pangbourne and how much the sport had taught and given him. Over sixty years since he triumphed in the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup, the memories of the occasion were as sharp as ever and a real inspiration to the current Pangbourne rowers.

Following a final day with some light retail therapy in Boston, the group flew back to London and will spend the second half of the holiday mixing work with training in preparation for the events later this term. #PangCollRowing #PangCollSuccess #PangCollUpperSixth