Tees looked like it was going to be one of the most competitive heads of the season, with vast numbers of entries, from far and wide. George Watson’s College were prepared to venture south of the Scottish border and even Yarm School had readied themselves for a return to the racing of the Northern Region. With 42mph winds predicted, the event was cancelled- but the beauty of the series means that there’s always another opportunity to race, just days later…
This week, the focus switches to Berwick for another gruelling 5km. With Berwick being a small club, entries are limited to 70 which often deters many clubs from entering (who are looking for lots of competition). This is a great opportunity to claim vital points for the VL- if your club does make the effort to visit the borderlands. Entries are becoming increasingly more tactical- particularly from Chester-Le-Street and Durham School, who have been mass entering small boats, in a bid to claim as many points as possible. The more boats you beat, the more points you receive and so individual wins don’t seem to be a priority for these clubs, this year. CLS had four WJ17 1x entries at Tees and Durham School have four WJ17 1x entries for Berwick- if both clubs consistently make this move over the coming weeks, then the women’s singles will be highly competitive.
WJ18/16 4x-
The crews from Tyne will be going for time this week, as the quads are so sparsely entered. This won’t make it an easy race though, as the lack of competition does not provide much inspiration, and the girls will need to be pushing off each other. The Tyne WJ18 quad should aim for fastest women’s boat of the day.
WJ16 2x
Neither of these crews have entered in the LDS series before and this smaller event is a great opportunity for them to gain racing experience. The Tyne WJ16 girls have been consistently strong against various opposition, in other boat classes, so I think they will take the lead over Durham School this weekend.
WJ18 1x
This is an all Durham School battle, with four of their strongest girls going head to head. All of these girls were in the composite eight, that won bronze at the British Junior Championships, which shows that they are all capable of putting out good performances. It will be Gledson who will come out on top; with far more racing experience in a single than the other girls, including a win on the Tyne two weeks ago.
WJ17 1x
The river tweed will certainly be covered in green and white as the Dunelmians have another four single scullers. Their Heslop boat is likely to be their fastest- as she has spent the majority of her junior career in this the boat and collected many wins along the way. Fresh from a win at Pairs Head, on the Thames, though is the Cambois Furness entry. Having collected a silver medal in the WJ16 1x at Junior British Championships, I can only see this win going to Cambois.
WJ16 1x
Rounding off Chester-Le-Street’s uncharacteristically small fleet is Wilkinson who should win this category well. She performed well on the Tyne in her single beating two girls from her own club; WJ17 and WJ16. The Cambois Fairlie entry will struggle to match the experienced CLS sculler but over 5km anything could happen.
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