Maynard Schoolgirl rows her way to the top

Molly Batchelor, a student at Exeter’s Maynard School, and her crew returned from last weekend’s Junior Inter Regional Rowing Regatta in Nottingham on the crest of a wave having been placed 5th nationally.

“I’m really pleased with this result as the only ones that beat us were four groups of professionals who are so high up in the leagues that they are banned from some regattas altogether! So it was excellent to get into the top six and we posted some really good times as well.”

Molly’s quad team is made up of three other girls all of whom represent the Exeter Rowing Club. Molly, 16, follows a rigorous training schedule at the club, putting in four hours every Saturday and Sunday and she even goes there twice a week after school for a further two hours of training each evening. She couples this with some “core” training for half an hour each day at home just to “keep up with my regime”.

In Nottingham, Molly and her crew qualified with a time of 5:44 over the 1500m course which was good enough to put them in the final of the top six teams over the same course.

On the back of this fine performance, the team has now been invited to race over the Eton Olympic Course in the South Ball Cup regatta in a fortnight’s time. “I am really excited about competing on the Olympic course and I will train like mad to make sure I put in the best possible performance for my school and my club!”