Water
Despite the cancellation of the scheduled Hampton Head, there was still a good deal of racing for Westminster crews over the weekend.
Saturday saw the first fixtures for the J14s, some two months ahead of schedule! Two Westminster Octuples match raced over a mile against Dulwich College and both came out on top. Meanwhile, the top squad raced a two mile time trial in pairs to determine the top two eights for the following day.
On Sunday the top four pairs raced as Westminster 1st Eight and the next four pairs raced as Westminster 2nd Eight in a duelling match with London Rowing Club. Westminster 1st VIII comfortably beat London Rowing Club 1st VIII by 3-0, whilst Westminster 2nd VIII lost to London Rowing Club 2nd VIII by 1-2.
Football
An eventful week saw the 1st XI face two tough away trips to their counterparts from Aldenham and Royal Russell Schools. Tuesday brought the trip to Hertfordshire to face Aldenham who were enjoying a good run in the Boodles ISFA Cup, having reached the quarter-finals thus far. With Westminster sluggish out of the blocks, the hosts dominated the first half but had only a 1-0 lead at the break to show for their efforts. The 1st XI came roaring back in the second half and pushed hard for the equaliser, but with no reward, until, with just a few minutes remaining, Sachin Thuraisingham split the Aldenham defence with a pinpoint through ball to allow Connor to round the goalkeeper and slot the ball home. Both sides huffed and puffed for a winner in the final minutes but the score remained the same for what was a fair enough 1-1 draw. The remainder of the block saw Aldenham take the honours, both home and away in all the other fixtures.
Saturday saw the 1sts, 2nds and both U14 teams travel away to Croydon to face Royal Russell, who have become a powerhouse of Independent Schools football in recent years. Westminster 1st XI knew that they faced a tough proposition as they measured themselves against the current Boodles ISFA U18 Cup holders, and therefore, they could be well pleased with achieving their second 1-1 away draw of the week. However, the 2nd XI went one better as they recorded an outstanding 1-0 away win, but, it was too high a mountain to scale for the U14s as both teams were comprehensively defeated.
