In its first running since 2019, the British Rowing Senior Championships returns to the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham, in a new form.
One of the new events, the open club quadruple sculls is broadly equivalent to the intermediate events at BUCS Regatta and is open to all rowers from a single club, with the exception of those who have recently represented their country at a world level event or competed at a high level domestically.
London Rowing Club
In an event with entries from all corners of the rowing world, London Rowing Club is probably the most established brand name in the entry, but this does not tell the full story of this crew. Instead, this appears to be more of a flag of convenience as these lightweight scullers are each more traditionally associated with various other clubs around the country. Two years ago, at Henley Royal Regatta, they entered the Double Sculls Challenge Cup in two crews representing Latymer Upper School, Newark Rowing Club, Leeds Rowing Club and London. Regardless of their background, these are experienced scullers with meaningful pedigree and will be hoping to take home top honours.
Derby Rowing Club
After focussing on the eight for much of the season, this Derby Rowing Club crew now turns their focus to the sculling boats. In the eight, this group picked up some great showings at national-level events with a top-fifty result at the Head of the River and racing on Thursday in the Temple Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta. In sculling boats, they are more limited in their results this year but include Ollie Hanks, University of Derby’s only entrant at BUCS Regatta, where he raced in the championship single. He missed out on the final by 11 seconds, but lining up against some of the best scullers in the country here shows he backs his sculling ability.
George Watson’s College
A junior crew from George Watson’s College, this group is from their J18 squad rather than their J16 squad who have the more notable results this season. Doubling-up to race in their own age group earlier in the weekend, this will be the first race for much of the cow since they raced at the Scottish Rowing Championships at the start of June. There, they placed fifth in the six-boat entry of the junior quads in exceedingly challenging conditions, but will be hoping that they have picked up more speed in the last few months to perform well in Nottingham this weekend.
Wallingford Rowing Club
Another junior crew, this time from Wallingford Rowing Club. This unit one is a collection of two J18 athletes alongside two from the J16 ranks competing together. With a rather disrupted winter season on the Wallingford stretch, they may have been playing catch-up throughout the spring and summer, so racing this late in the year could play into the hands of this young crew. Only Jacob Gunn from the provisional entry raced at National Schools’ Regatta for Wallingford, but he performed well there, making it to the A final in the championship pair. Swapping one oar for two, they are competing against adults here and will hope they have power beyond their years as they travel north this weekend.
Rob Roy Boat Club
Lining up alongside the youngsters is an older crew from the Cambridge-based Rob Roy Boat Club. This crew, already British Rowing champions this summer, won the masters D quads at the British Rowing Masters Championships on this water just five weeks ago. Clearly, this crew has some speed and winning pedigree, but with an average age in excess of 50 years old, they may have some difficulty over the full 2000 metre course against their younger competitors. Coming together under the Rob Roy banner after racing the masters championship as a composite, they will be doing it for the old guys this weekend.
Nottingham Rowing Club
With entries from four different events at Henley Royal Regatta, the Nottingham Rowing Club crew has come together very recently. Crew members attempted to qualify in the Diamonds, Thames, Temple and Wyfold Challenge cups last week, with only Chris Finch’s Wyfold Challenge Cup crew making it to the Regatta proper. His crew would be knocked out in the second round by Upper Thames. Like many other crews, their sculling prowess has had little opportunity to shine this spring, but they will be hoping to make a good impression on Saturday.
Sunderland City Rowing Club
As a smaller club from the North-East, you don’t often hear about Sunderland City Rowing Club‘s escapades, as they tend to compete in the thriving local regatta scene in the North of the country. For instance, Deacon Laverick was the top single sculler at Talkin Tarn Regatta. However, all four members of this crew raced in the club’s boat at the Head of the River, finishing 179th overall. Racing again on the national stage, they will want to see how they measure up against some strong crews from the south.
Shoreham Rowing Club
In this event, there is no entry from further south than Shoreham Rowing Club. Typically known for their coastal rowing more than the ‘classic’ version of the sport, the athletes competing in this event have rather limited racing resumes on flat water. This crew containing recent graduates of their junior program as well as veterans of the sport, will be the most unknown factor in the field. With Holme Pierrepont having a reputation for challenging conditions when the wind is blowing in the wrong direction, they may have an advantage over their competition, but barring that it will be interesting to see how they fare against some unknown opposition.
Prediction
With such little information to work with and almost no form card to go on, making a prediction requires even more guesswork than usual. For this one, I think the calibre of athlete in the London Rowing Club boat will be too great for anyone to beat.
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