Abingdon School and Headington School led a successful weekend for Oxfordshire crews, both in and out of the water, writes John Wiggins.

Starting on the water, the anticipated race between the crews of Abingdon and St Edward’s School at the Wycliffe Big Head failed to materialise with the withdrawal of Teddies, due to ill health.

That left the open race clear for dominant Abingdon to win by 30 seconds.

Abingdon’s director of rowing, Mark Earnshaw, showed great skill in selecting two matched crews from his J16 squad that took the top two slots in the senior novice event.

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St Edward’s raced a girls coxed four in the junior event and achieved the second fastest time of all the women’s fours, senior and junior.

On the Thames at the Hampton Head, Headington took the title outright in the J18 eights.

And there was a second place for Headington's coxless pair of Lydia Currie and Victoire Lienau.

Radley’s J15 squad won both eights and coxed quadruple sculls, while City of Oxford’s J16 boys took the quad sculls.

In Sunday’s inaugural British Indoor Championships at the Lea Park Velodrome, home of the London 2012 Olympic cycling, Headington’s Maddie Chichester won gold for year seven girls.

City of Oxford came good in the year nine boys event, with Jamie Millington completing 1152m in the allotted four minutes, while Abingdon School’s Tom Digby won the sixth form boys’ title.

Gareth Syphas, who lives in Didcot, but is studying at Chester University and is a member of Chester RC, won gold in the under 23-year-old category Wallingford’s Sean Morris won the lightweight 70-74 event by a 40 seconds.

Radley College triumphed in the J14 team relay, while Luke Miles took the individual J14 event in the South of England Indoor Championships, staged by Hinksey Sculling Club at Oxford Brookes Sports Centre.

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