Brisbane Grammar School wins first GPS Head of the River in 13 years

The crew held off a fast-finishing challenge from The Southport School, recording a time of 5:47.06 to the opposition's 5:48.14, and their first open win since 2007.

'Believe in Blue' was the parent support group's catchphrase and one that gave the whole school much elation at the end of the rowing season when the crew notched 10 wins from 10 starts.

In the words of the school's director of rowing Matt Marden, the season was a representation of the crew's strength as a cohort.

"This group of boys are excellent mates, they've done a great job of working together," he said. "There's no secret formula, just hard work and dedication, and the knowledge that plenty were trying to get in the boat and they had to secure their seat."

The crew consisted of Harry Sirett, Riley Lockyer, Tom Clifton, Henry Doe, Drew Weightman, Samuel Atherton, Hugh Weightman, Dan Horsley, and cox Jono Cooke.

Three of the crew plus the cox were also in the BGS 2019 first VIII, which came sixth in last year's Head of the River.

TSS improved one place to take out second place on Saturday while Gregory Terrace moved from second in 2019 to third on Saturday.

Related: Nudgee regains rowing honours

Last year's winning school, Nudgee finished in fifth place on Saturday, behind ACGS Churchie.

Mr Marden, who helped the Stuartholme School break a 20-year rowing drought in 2018, said one of the great things about the season was that crews from rival schools were all very competitive.

"TSS and BBC were in the mix every weekend, and Nudgee stung us too," he said.

ACGS Churchie won the pointscore Old Boys Cup, in front of Nudgee and TSS, while BGS was fifth.

The crew won't be able to test itself against the rest of the country, thanks to the national championships in Sydney being called off as part of the response to the coronavirus epidemic.