The sailing Oundle 1st team produced a strong result against Kimbolton School this weekend at Grafham Water in lovely conditions, winning all three races. There was some good solid performances from Ed Wilken (F) and Freddie Fulford (B) as helms. James Chapman (Ldr) produced some excellent tactics on several occasion, holding off the opposition and allowing the Oundle team to defend the lead. The team performed well in all three starts, maintaining good boat speed throughout, especially upwind.
The 2nd team also sailed against Kimbolton. They had some close and exciting racing, and some very good starts, and so they were able to hold onto a lead in all three races. The final result was 3-0 to Oundle.
On Saturday, the boat club’s J18 quad travelled to Bedford Regatta, a short course just over a kilometre long, but made more challenging by the continuous bend down the course, the tight lane markings and the distraction of having another crew racing alongside, psychologically very different from a processional time trial. Bedford was a chance to see if the Oundle crew could cope with this added pressure, and perform at a higher intensity over a shorter period of time compared to the longer courses earlier in the year.
After the crew got a bye from Kings Ely, they found themselves up against Bedford School on their home turf. The Oundle boat started down, but on the inside of the bend, which made it even more important to focus on their own race, and not where the other boat was for at least the first 500 metres. This was executed perfectly, and concentration was maintained with some technical calls from Zac Freij (L) and a steady rhythm from our stroke, Cosmo Davis-Gimeno (F). After that first 500 metres, they had about a two length lead over the Bedford boat, and as they came through the town bridge, they lifted the rate and intensity to begin building for the finish. With about a minute to go, they were four or five lengths in front of the opposition, and as they came into the enclosures, the crowd was close to silent. Beating the home team does not make one many friends.
In the final, Oundle was up against another Bedford crew, their first quad, and they expected some stiffer competition. Discussing this before the race, Ollie Chapman (Sc) made the point that the best strategy would be to simply repeat their previous performance. Again, they started staggered down, but as they came around the bend on the inside they were along and then ahead. Again, Oundle lifted through the bridge and pushed Bedford further away. Even though Oundle did win, there are a number of much more competitive events in the next few weeks, such as Nottingham City next weekend, and those will be the real tests.
The annual home athletics fixture was met with strong winds on Saturday, meaning that times were impeded and races became tactical rather than quick, however this did not dampen the Oundle team spirit. With representatives from Oundle competing in every event across the gender and age groups, the School did itself proud by participating with grace and enthusiasm on the day, despite being up against some very talented athletes.
There were some standout performances from Archie Parkinson (L) who stormed to victory in the 1500m, as well as Ollie Lockhart (S) who made his debut for the athletics club and won his hurdles race, while competing in three further events. The Oundle girls too showed some really strong determination especially from the Intermediate girls team where Eldad (N) took a convincing victory in the 300m, which is an extremely tough event, and Sofia (W) excelled in the 800m.
The day ended as always with the relays in which Oundle managed to field a team for every age group and gender; a credit to the depth of the Oundle teams. The day emphasised the effort put in by Oundle pupils, especially the junior athletes, who were willing to try new events for the first time in order to gain valuable points for the team.
The quadrangular match against Uppingham, Oakham and Stamford at Luffenham Heath Golf Club was tough as weather conditions were not in anyone’s favour. However, Oundle managed to pull through and come third overall. Uppingham and Oakham, having the home ground advantage, came first and second respectively. Given that for some of the team members from Oundle, before Thursday, have yet to play in a golf course as challenging as Luffenham Heath, they went out with great confidence and brought back respectable points for the team.
There were a few exceptional performances by Peter Langsdale (L), scoring the highest individual points in the team, and James Foreman (L) who exceeded expectations, having not played much golf before this term.
Oundle 1st IX rounders played Uppingham. The game started with Oundle fielding with strong bowling from Izzy Das Gupta (L), a Fifth Form bowler. In the batting, there were some big hits from Bella Dixon Smith (D) and Mercedes Bannister (N). At the end of a tiring first innings the score was 11-7 to Oundle. In the second innings they held Uppingham to just three more rounders, with excellent dives from Minna Coke (D) and Jemima Guerney (K). Charlotte Napier (N) made some great catches as backstop, and without a first post, they relied heavily upon Emily Acheson Gray (D) at second post. They batted consistently well in the second innings, to end the match 18-8, with Roisin Emerson (D) scoring the final rounder.
The Oundle 2nd rounders team played against The Leys on Saturday. They fielded first and in the first innings the fielding was very tight and impressive, particularly in the main triangle with many of the Leys batters being stumped out at first post. There were also some good catches which allowed Oundle to limit the other teams score. Their batting was also very strong in this match and there were some well-placed hits which allowed them to score highly. At the end of the first innings they were in the lead 7 ½ rounders to 7. In the second innings, their fielding slipped a bit and they allowed The Leys to score some rounders which could have been stopped. Their batting in this innings was as strong as before, and although The Leys tried to stop them from scoring, their hits were strong enough to allow them to score. However, in the end Oundle lost by a very small margin, 18 ½ to 17.
In tennis, the 1st VI had a great match with the first two pairs - Grace Easterbrook (Sn) and Pippa Bourne (L), and Lily Craven (Sn) and Miranda Joicey (W) - winning all their games. While the 3rd pair, Lilla Powell (D) and Dora Nicolle (W) lost to their 2nd pair, they then had an epic match against their 1st pair, finally winning 11-9 in the tie-break. They then held themselves together to beat their 3rd pair in another tie-break, taking Oundle to an 8 – 1 win. The last match between the 1st pairs on the show court was brilliant tennis and much appreciated and applauded by the spectators.
Other club results were pleasing: the 2nd VI won 6 - 3, the 3rd VI won 8 - 1, and the 4ths won 9 - 0.