Portchester School in Bournemouth enjoyed another dose of indoor rowing success as their year 9 team broke the British J14 one hour record in front of 400 enthusiastic spectators to mark the opening of the school's new sports hall on July 19th.

The team of Rhys Branch, Liam Horswell, Ben Vincent and Danny Welch rowed a whopping 17166 metres averaging 1m 44.9s/500m to surpass the old mark of 14741m. The boys are all members of the very successful Portchester year 9 squad which won gold in both fours and eights divisions in the Concept 2 National Schools League this year.

The team executed their race plan to perfection, demonstrating a focused, calm approach to the task which lay ahead. They had spent the previous two months training hard for this challenge, initially building a strong endurance base before fine-tuning to race conditions over the last two weeks. Having successfully reined in their early enthusiasm and excitement at the start of the race to hold a steady 1m 45/46s pace throughout the early and middle stages, the team picked up their rate in the last 10 minutes in a monumental effort to smash the 17k barrier.

Race commentator, Assistant Head Mike Winkworth, worked the audience to perfection throughout the hour, encouraging them to show their support at key times, particularly in the demanding latter stages, as the team firstly passed the old record and then pushed on to crack the 17k mark.

Shortly after finishing their magnificent effort, the team enjoyed a huge reception from fellow students, staff, parents and guests at the Roy Moore Sports Hall opening ceremony in honour of the much loved and respected Portchester School Governor who sadly passed away earlier this year.

Retiring Head Teacher, Chris Bradey, said, "Our new sports hall is a fitting tribute to Roy Moore who put in an incredible amount of time and work for many years to support Portchester School and his dedication is clearly reflected in today's performance. On a personal note, I am absolutely delighted to witness another fantastic performance from our school indoor rowing squad. This British record is a tribute to these students' hard work and dedication and also to the high quality extra-curricular work put in by Portchester staff to enable this to happen."