Tennis by Max Lyons Donegan, Teacher of PE
T he 1 st VIII has had a hugely positive season. With four returners from last year’s record-setting crew (Alex Craig, Zachary Seymour, August Blain, and 2025 Captain of Boat Nicholas Elton), the season showed a lot of promise to maintain the standards. After racing in smaller boats throughout the winter, there were positive results for August Blain and Alex Craig at Pairs Head (6 th ) whilst the 1 st VIII took the overall headship at the Docklands Head in November. The previous day the 1 st VIII split into two fours at Kingston Head, both securing 2 nd places in different categories. At the Andaluscian Rowing Championships in Seville, the 1 st VIII finished 6 th in Open Eights an excellent end to their training camp before the Christmas break. 2025 started with a 10th place finish at Hammersmith Head, perfect preparation for Schools’ Head. On our home river in March, the 1st VIII raced The Schools’ Head of the River, finishing 14th overall, a hugely positive result ahead of the summer regatta season. The regatta season began with a third place finish at Wallingford Regatta with future races at National Schools’ Regatta and Henley Royal Regatta to come later in the Summer Term. Whilst Dulwich College continue to do well nationally, Nicholas Elton has been trialling throughout the season for GB Rowing. Following positive performances in February, Nicholas finished an excellent 16 th in April trials. The next trial for Nicholas will be following the conclusion of the domestic racing calendar in July. 2025 1st VIII Nicholas Elton (2025 Captain of Boats), August Blain, Alex Craig, Lewis Evans, William Middleton, Rowing by Tristan Mayglothling, Head of Rowing
W ith more pupils than ever taking part in co-curricular sessions and competing in fixtures across all age groups, tennis at the College continues to grow. Highlights from the summer of 2024 included success on the national stage at the ISTA Championships and the Upper School mixed doubles matches with Godolphin and Latymer School. It was fantastic to see the introduction of Junior School fixtures against Dulwich Prep and Senior, with boys who attended regular co-curricular ses- sions able to showcase their talents in friendly but competitive fixtures, hopefully the first of many for the College. In the Lower School, teams put in excellent performances against Kingsdale, Alleyn’s, King’s College School and St Paul’s, with a record number of students taking part in fixtures for the school. In the Middle and Upper Schools, teams performed well in both stages of the Independent Schools League. Other fixtures against Tonbridge, The King’s School Canterbury, St Pauls and King’s College School Wimbledon were a great success. In the final week of the season, teams took part in the Independent Schools’ Tennis Championships, with teams competing at the highest level and going toe-to-toe with some of the best schools in the country. In an impressive showing, various Dulwich teams made it to the later stages of tournaments, with Lok Hui and Ryan Lee making it through to the last eight in the country; the team of Charlie Beales, Matteo Cranchi, Matt Beales and Otis Stuart reaching the last four of the U18 plate competition and Lewis Henderson and Arran Avril; winning the Springthorpe Cup. ◎
Oriel Rolland, Zachary Seymour, Derin Sevin, Dominic Stage, Brodie Bell, Ben Govindan. Boat Club Following a huge uptake in rowing for Year 9 in Michaelmas Term, two crews raced their first race for Dulwich College at Teddington Head, winning their first medals in the sport. Positive results for the Year 9 rowers followed with matched octuples racing the Junior Sculling Head in March with the crews finishing eighth and 10th. Two quads racing finished 21st and 35th. Following an outstanding Easter training camp at Radley College, the Year 9 crews have continued to build their progress throughout the regatta sea- son. The B Octo won Chiswick Regatta whilst the A Octo won silver at the Junior Sculling Regatta in May having a great race for Gold all the way to the finish line. The A Octo finished second at Poplar Regatta ahead of the upcoming National Schools’ Regatta. Congratulations to James Barron for breaking the previous boat club ergo records in Year 9 through- out the season. The Year 10 have continued to build through the winter, regularly racing two eights. At Schools’ Head of the River the J15 A boat finished 9 th with the J15 2 nd VIII finishing 11th in their categories. Positive performances at Wallingford and Poplar Regattas for the A crew throughout May have set up the group well ahead of the National Schools’ Regatta. Congratulations to Milo Jones for breaking the pre- vious boat club ergo records in Year 10 throughout the season and to Dylan Louzado in joining Milo in breaking 7 minutes for a 2km ergo test. Year 11 have shown their strength and depth throughout the season with the A crew picking up sixth place finishes at Quintin Head in January and
Schools’ Head of the River in March. The B crew finished seventh at Schools Head of the River. At Wallingford Regatta the A crew finished fifth place whilst both eights raced well at Poplar Regatta in May with the A boat winning their event, the B crew finishing third in their race. Congratulations to Oriel Rolland Cassina whose impressive performances led to him rowing in the 1st VIII throughout the season, the first time this has occurred in recent years and a mark of his ability. The Seniors have had an excellent season. The 2 nd VIII won their category at Docklands Head ahead of a very positive tenth place at The Schools’ Head of the River race in March. Whilst on training camp in Seville, the 2 nd VIII did a 2km time of 6:05 which is a new record for the 2 nd VIII at Dulwich College. Focus for the remainder of the season will be Schools’ Head of the River and trying to qualify a second boat for Henley Royal Regatta. The boat club continues to build, both in number of participants and the standard of the top rowers. Congratulations to the rowers and coaching team for supporting such a healthy culture at the boat- house. ◎
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