This is your weekly Rowing Briefing, covering the key developments of the last seven days on the rowing circuit, both in the UK and beyond. To receive an audio briefing with these stories and more at the start of each week, sign up to Updates. If you have a story to share, contact our news desk – juniorrowingnews@gmail.com.
Domestic Rowing:
“…a heart felt thank you to the umpires, volunteers and clubs that have supported this year’s race.”
Pairs Head
It seems as though the rowing world could finally be staggering back to its feet, with racing getting back underway under fresh guidance from British Rowing.
After March’s lockdown, British Rowing published their return-to-rowing guidance, which set out a rough timetable for a return to competitive racing. The final phase of this return – phage H – was finally implemented on Saturday, meaning affiliated competitions can now run in a covid-secure manner. It remains to be seen, however, how long phase H will stay in place.
As part of this return to rowing, this weekend saw pairs and doubles pass along the Tideway in competition for the headship; this is despite no formal prize-giving ceremony. Provisional results indicated that this year’s winners of the Championship Doubles, Bourne / O’Mahony of Tideway Scullers School, finished over 11 seconds ahead of their closest competitor. You can find our full break-down of the junior results here.
British Rowing has announced their that their latest competition – the Sprint Festival – will take place at the National Watersport’s Centre on the final weekend of the month, with side-by-side racing in small boats finally returning.
There has been further good news for the GB Rowing Team, with British Rowing and SAS continuing their partnership through the re-arranged 2020 Tokyo Games. You can find our full rundown of the story here.
International Rowing:
“This win really meant a lot to us as it’s been such a crazy year.”
Torben Johannesen, German Men’s Eight
Following on from the juniors’ event only a few weeks ago, the European Rowing Championships took the rowing world by storm this weekend, whilst World Mental Health Day once again underscored the importance of all-round health in our sport.
Dubbed “the first, and only, major on-water rowing event of the 2020 season” by World Rowing, the European Rowing Championships certainly tole the crown of the rowing community this week, with rowers from thirty-one European Nations taking to the water in Poznan to battle for the ever-evasive gold medal.
The Netherlands topped the tables with a total of eleven medals, eight of which were gold; whilst Italy and Romania both came home ahead of Germany in the rankings.
Taking a closer look at the results, the PR1 Single Sculls saw scullers from France and Ukraine take the win in the Women’s and Men’s events respectively, whilst it was the Netherlands and Italy who came out on top in the PR2 Mixed Doubles and the PR3 Mixed Four.
In a quiet, two-boat final, Italy took the gold ahead of Germany in the Lightweight Women’s quad, with Italy also being dominant in the Men’s event. The Netherlands and Norway took golds in the Women’s and Men’s Lightweight Sculls.
Romania seemed to have honed their small-boat skills, with a double-gold in the Pairs, with only Italy’s win in the men’s double preventing a clean-sweep across the two categories.
The Netherlands performed even more impressively, with four wins across the Fours and Quads. Denmark and Ireland were crowned victorious in the Men’s and Women’s Sculls, with Germany taking gold in the Men’s Eight, only being beaten by Romania in the Women’s event.
Away from the adrenaline of racing, World Mental Health Day echoed through the rowing world this week. Here at JRN, we’ve devoted time and energy to create resources to support juniors – and the wider community – in these difficult times. You can find those articles here.
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