In the National Rowing Calendar there are two major separate areas in which the rowing teams can compete. There are 2 major rowing Championships, the English Indoors in Manchester and the British Indoors at the NIA in Birmingham, which are watched by between 3,000 and 6,000 spectators, and competitors from all over the world with a number of rowing internationals present and Sir Steve Redgrave in attendance. Then there is the British Indoor Schools Championships which takes place over 9 months between September and the end of April, where there are 6 disciplines, one every 6 weeks, 3 over time limits and 3 over distances which are recorded on a master computer. The top performance obtaining 100% and then graded down according to performance and then added up. Each of these disciplines is competed for by an Olympic 4 and Olympic 8 for both boys and girls in relay form. They compete against schools from as far away as the Isle of Man, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

The school, St Dominic's Catholic Primary School, is only a small one with only 42 boys and girls to choose from in Years' 5 and 6, and yet 20 of these - yes 20 - are either 1st National Champions or 2nd in the Country. 12 are National Champions and 8 are 2nd in the Country in rowing, Taekwondo and Athletics. They are also County Athletics, cross country and football champions. Last year they won 5 national rowing titles, the relay team winning gold at the British Indoor Championships at the NIA in front of 6,000 people, whilst they became the first ever school to win the Olympic 4's and 8's titles for both boys and girls in the British Schools Indoor Championships. Add to this that they bought back 8 of the National Individual Medals out of the 12 that were available for the whole of Great Britain and you begin to recognise the vastness of the feats accomplished. Along the way they also broke 8 British Records which they now hold, they were awarded the Stafford Borough 'Team Award' at the Sports Personality of the Year Awards in March for their efforts.

This year was thought not to be such a strong team as most had left to go to Senior schools, only the twins Madeline and Eve Whitehurst were left to carry the flag - with 2 Gold medal titles each - but not a bit of it as boys and girls stepped up to the chalk face to record another incredible year of success. At the English Championships held this year in Manchester in February the boys filled the 1st 6places returning with gold, silver and bronze in the individual event whilst the girls filled 8 out of the 1st 10 places, Madeline won a silver medal and 4th - 10th all belonged to St Dominic's so 4 of the 6 individual medals claimed. Their greatest achievement however was in the mixed relay where there was no U11 event so the team had to row a year up at U12. Alex Mairs rowed with the twins Madeline and Eve and Christian Hallam. They excelled in coming 2nd even beating the much vaunted Manchester Grammar into 3rd place. Alex Mairs became the school's first Individual Gold Medalist and National Champion.

At the British Indoor at Nottingham in March there was sadly no relay event, but once again the school excelled returning with 4 individual medals out of the 6 available. Alex Mairs so narrowly missed out on becoming double National Champion losing by 1 metre in rowing 478 metres to 479 metres in 2 minutes. Joel Elliott also won a bronze whilst Emily Buckley won silver and Madeline Whitehurst won a bronze. Once again 8 of the 10 top places were filled with girls from St Dominic's.

In the National Schools competition the boys unfortunately had to give way and could only finish 2nd in both the Olympic 4's and 8's a fine effort whilst the 'B' team finished an outstanding 5th. The girls, however shone through as they not only won both the Olympic 4's and 8's titles, but became the only school in the history of the competition to win all 12 disciplines in the 4's and 8's. They also magnificently won the U12 competition to complete 3 major titles and also broke another 2 British Records. The 'B' Team finished a magnificent 3rd all winning a bronze medal whilst the 'C' team finished 9th and the 'D' team 14th, such strength in depth! Amazing.

Because there was not time or space to include the relay events at the Nationals in Nottingham the school have had special license next Monday 30th April to stage 2 events to try and break the existing British Records for both boys and girls at U11. This will be witnessed by Borough Councilors and ladies from the Stafford Borough Leisure Department to give credence to these record attempts which will be videoed and then sent out to the Governing body for verification and inclusion as bonafide British Records, a fitting accolade to the rowing season for St Dominic's.

Probably the schools greatest rowing triumph came when having been given permission by the Governing body to attempt to break the boys and girls British relay records, which would be validated and watched by the Deputy Lord Mayor and Mayoress of Stafford, they not only broke both records but smashed them by a considerable margin. The old girls record of 8mins 36.9 seconds for 2000 metres was reduced to 8mins 10.6 seconds while the boys old record of 8mins 32.6 for the same distance was beaten down to 8mins and 14.2 seconds. This meant that they became the only school - such a small one at that - to hold both the boys and girls Years' 5 & 6 British Relay records at the same time in the history of the competition, an amazing feat and a fitting accolade to a magnificent season. In winning the girls 4 & 8's National Schools Indoor Championships over the season - no other school had retained their title - but they scored 100% success in every discipline over the year, another amazing first for St Dominic's. Adding the Year 7 title to their list of honours they became 5 times National Champions as well as having the Individual National Title holder Alex Mairs. The twins Madeline and Eve Whitehurst probably become the youngest ever decorated performers at National Level with 7 National Titles each at the tender age of 11. They also have 3 Silver and 3 Bronze medals at National level in their trophy cabinet. The school can boast some 30 Gold, 21 Silver and 8 Bronze medals won at National level in rowing with a number of boys and girls 2, 3, 4 and even 5 times National Champions - amazing statistics. All on 2 borrowed rowing machines from a senior school - Blessed William Howard.

Not to be outdone by the rowers Chi Muchauraya continues her progress to the top in tennis. In Birmingham at the end of April she won a highly prestigious U 9 competition at the David Lloyd Centre beating all the other girls from the whole of the West Midlands, while at the Congleton Tennis Centre in Cheshire on Bank Holiday Monday, May 6th and Leicestershire Tennis centre on May 13th she did exactly the same in the Midlands competitions thus retaining her unbeaten record against the best in the whole of the Midlands, some 24 games - an amazing feat at the tender age of 8.