THE boys from Wales’ oldest rowing club launched its 150th anniversary year with a first ever class win in the UK’s junior championship head race.

Remarkably, Monmouth School dead heated for the 1st 8s title after four miles of racing in the national Schools’ Head, as more than 80 River Wye youngsters tested themselves in London on the Thames and the Olympic rowing lake against the best young rowers in the land.

Their top 8 couldn’t be split with Winchester College for the pennant in the Mortlake to Putney race against the clock, with both crews given the same time of 17 minutes 32.2 seconds.

And incredibly, their U16 eight came within 0.2secs of another dead heat, finishing second in their age-group category.

The 1st 8 crew of Cameron Michie, Aidan Mason, Ryan Baldwin, Robbie Prosser-Wrench, Ben Emes, Joe Harrison, Iwan Hadfield, Antony Wright and cox Jack Tottem ranked 18th fastest overall, just under a minute behind overall winners Shiplake College, who beat Eton College by just half a second.

Showing that the school has strength in depth, U16s Ben Morgan, Dan Taylor, Bill Ebsworth, Angus Whitehead, Hamish Lawson, Mattias Webb, Rui de Sousa Stayton, Ed Baker and cox Alex Kulkarni were just shaded out by Bedford School in 18.14.8, as the Wye boat matched the U18 crew of Canford in 45th overall.

A huge armada of 2,268 rowers entered the event in 374 boats, but owing to the strong winds and rough water, all the fours and quads, including those from Monmouth School for Girls, couldn’t race.

But there was better luck at the Dorney Olympic lake four days later as 64 Wye rowers launched out with more than 3,000 others at the 574-boat Junior Sculling Head, with crews doing two timed 2km races for a combined aggregate time.

In the top event, Monmouth Comprehensive School’s U18 boys’ quad scull of Tom Smith, Leon Handley, Tom Heath and Finlay waters placed 10th equal deadheating with Northwich RC in 12min 52secs.

They were three seconds down on the north-west club at the end of the first stretch but clawed their way back level on the line, to finish just 21 seconds off the top three.

The school’s U18 girls Katie Kearsey, Arwen van der Horst, Josie Harrison, and Martha Waterstone also did well to finish 13th out of 36 in 14.27.

They were just 22 secs off bronze, while the U15 girls’ octuple scull placed ninth out of 21 in their category in 15.09.

Monmouth School’s U14 quad scull finished 20th out of 44 in 15.52, with the two Comprehensive boats racing home in 17.12 and 17.22.

The latter’s U18 B quad finished in 14.36, the U15 boys’ quad in 15.21, the U16 girls’ quad in 15.58 and the U15 girls’ quad scull in 18.43, while Monmouth School’s U14 octuple set a time of 17.35.