On Thursday 5 February, our Carisbrooke students travelled over to The Bay to take part in one of the most exciting team events in the Isle of Wight Schools Sports Calendar.  

The Indoor Rowing Championship, first introduced by Mr Johnson into the secondary schools from The Bay back in 2012, has grown from strength to strength over the years with athletes from all over the island coming together to produce outstanding performances on a consistent basis.  Carisbrooke, as a small school, are always underdogs, but we always take strength from our very own victory back in 2017 when we were led by the legendary Edwards brothers.

The Bay have proven to be the powerhouse of rowing over the years, but Ryde School and Christ The King have also proven to be worthy winners in more recent years and this is why the motivational pre-competition talk might have compared Carisbrooke to Coach Bombay's 90s Mighty Ducks due to a few of the other schools looking like the intimidating Hawks as they walked in.  Not only did we seem slightly on the small side physically to these schools, but it was clear to see we would be somewhat novices compared to the experience on show on the day.  

However, as we all know, ducks do not only quack, but they like to fly in a V and so this is what the Carisbrooke teams did.  Despite a few students not being able to participate on the day due to last minute withdrawals from the team, there were some very good highlights throughout the afternoon. 

Our year 7 team got the competition underway with Maisie and Fleur leading the way alongside Joshua and Jenson.  All of them put in good endurance races but Jenson was the standout performer as he showed true Mighty Ducks grit and determination to turn a 15m deficit around to take first place in his race with his very last stroke.  Similar performances were put in during their sprint and relay competitions, with Jenson again nearly taking the win on the line, but on this occasion he had to settle for second place by only 0.2 of a second, which for someone who was clearly racing against experienced rowers is an outstanding achievement. 

In the year 8 event, Oakley, Jimmy, McKinley, Maeve and Norah all put in strong performances throughout, with McKinley gaining second in his sprint race.  As a team, they performed amazing in the team relay to win 3rd overall and what was most pleasing was their teamwork throughout the event.

In year 9, Todd, William, Alesha and Rebecca put in strong performances in all races.  William was unlucky not to take a win on a number of occasions, but whilst he just came up short on both occasions, the effort and determination he showed was inspiring for all those around him to see.  It was clear to see the exhaustion kicking in, but it did not stop William pushing through the pain barrier. A special mention goes to Alesha and Rebecca who stepped in on the day of the event and made us proud throughout.

Due to three students in year 10 not being able to take part, only Summer was left, but because two further students in year 11 had to withdraw on the day, Summer was asked to step up into year 11 races to help make a team for Freddie and River to compete with.  Summer never hesitated and immediately jumped in on the sprints to not only do well but to win her race like Russ Tyler's Knuckle Puck (if you don't know what this is, you have clearly missed one of the all-time greatest movies and need to treat yourself).  Summer has always been an incredible all-round athlete but to do this was simply astonishing.  River and Freddie continued the good performances by demonstrating good levels of endurance throughout their afternoon.  

After the final relays came to an end, Carisbrooke finished 5th overall and also came 5th in each separate year competition therefore, showing consistency throughout the team and with a clear baseline to build on for future years to come.

Final overall standings were:

1. Ryde School = 238 points 
2. The Bay = 226 points
3. Island Free School = 193 points
4. Christ The King = 189 points
5. Carisbrooke = 125 points
6. Lift Ryde = 79 points
7. Medina = 73 points
8. Cowes = 70 points

Whilst we were not able to pull off a Mighty Ducks-style win, the team did perform with the same determination, pride and enthusiasm that we have come to know at Carisbrooke this year from our sports teams.  Well done to all of our students, and thank you for representing the school with such pride and never backing down from a challenge.

Thank you to Mr Johnson and his staff at The Bay for always putting on a great afternoon and well done to all the athletes from across the eight schools that took part as the outstanding performances never stopped. 

Looking forward to the 2027 edition already (USA vs Iceland).