Photo credit: Daniel Korvermaker
The first race of 2025 occurred in Delft, a student city dedicated to technology and engineering. Proteus-Eretes organized the Van Oord Winter Race, an almost perfectly straight five km course with one reasonable bridge. Although there was initial worry that ice might cancel the race, Saturday morning arrived with a reasonable temperature and very little wind, allowing everyone to row their best. The highlight races of the weekend were the singles, pairs, and novice eights, and the summaries of both follow.
Novice Eights
Women
The race started with 13 entries and saw Gyas win the season’s first race. After taking second place back in December at the RP3 Championships, Gyas was in top form, winning with a time of 18:16. They beat Aegir by nine seconds, who were followed by Skoll, 14 seconds further down. As for the rest of the group, the positions were much closer together and will likely see many place changes throughout the season.
Men
The men’s first-year eights were popular, with 16 entries from different universities. A.S.R. Nereus won after improving on their third-place finish back in December. The men from Amsterdam beat the Royal Association of Njord by 16 seconds. They led by a large margin at the halfway point and held their lead to the finish line. In third place was a combination of Skoll and Phocas, two clubs reasonably separated by distance. Finishing eight seconds behind Njord.
Women’s Elite Single
There were 16 entries in the women’s single sculls, a mix of elite and U23 rowers. Femke de Vliet from the Utrecht club Triton finished in 21:04, leading the runner-up by nine seconds. In sixth place was Marieke Middag from Skoll, the winner of the U23 category, finishing with a time of 21:44. She still has several years before ageing out of the U23 category.
Men’s Development Pair
The development pair had seven entries but only six starting crews. With a clear margin of 22 seconds, U.S.R. Triton once again took the win in the most competitive men’s event of the weekend. Both the men’s elite single and pair did not take place due to a lack of entries. The runners-up in the pair were the home favourites, Proteus-Eretes, closely followed by Asopos, who finished in third place.
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