The British Rowing Junior Championships makes its long-awaited return! Late in the racing season unfortunately the event has been slightly downsized, due to the ongoing heatwave the semi-finals have been taken out to reduce the amount of time athletes spend in the sun. Despite this the enormous entry of 17 crews into the WJ16 coxless quads event promises some racing to look forward to.
Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association
The ASRAs WJ16 squad has been mostly focused on their sweep boat this year with their girls first eight placing third in the A-final at NSR. Interestingly three of the athletes from their eight have been placed into the quad for this weekend, with bow seat Johnston the only one not in the eight previously. A good tactical decision in the coxless event where she likely has more experience steering the sculling boat than her crewmates.
Henley RC
Henley RC based in the iconic Henley-on-Thames are one of the strongest rowing clubs in the country and especially this year at junior level, showing that here as they are the only team to field more than one crew in this event. Henley’s A crew won this event at NSR earlier this year with an incredible gap of nearly 30 seconds to the next fastest crew. However, the crew that competed in that event is not the same as the one that will compete this weekend, with only the stroke seat, Freya Weiser, retaining her seat in the boat. Incredibly Henley’s B crew in this event also won their event at NSR placing 1st in the second WJ16 quads with another huge gap of nearly 10 seconds that would have placed them only two seconds behind fifth in the A-final of the 1st quads event. Definitely a dominant squad, Henley will be ones to watch this weekend.
Hinksey Sculling School
Hinksey Sculling School are perhaps one of the biggest rising stars of rowing, with an enormous junior squad they entered 20 crews at NSR this year though eight withdrew. Unfortunately included in their withdrawals were all three of their WJ16 sculling crews leaving little hint as to how they will stack up against proven boats this weekend. Interestingly this weekend’s crew is made up of a number of athletes from their existing crews from earlier in the year, first up is Amelia Pearson who competed in the girls champ single sculls as a J16 at NSR this year, although overpowered by the vast majority of older athletes she still went on to place fifth in the B-final beating a number of older athletes from many clubs. Two of the quads athletes come from this year’s girls champ eight, five seat Emily Myers and stroke seat Martha Shepherd, with bronze medals from the eights at NSR these two athletes will certainly bring a deal of power and experience into the smaller boat this weekend.
Lea RC
Another crew that has managed to preserve their lineup from NSR is Lea RC who placed 3rd in the B-final. Not to be overlooked however as the gap to second was only 4 seconds and only 10 to place in the A-final, from which many of the competitors will not be competing at Nottingham this weekend possibly giving Lea a chance amongst the top boats.
Tideway Scullers School
Clearly one of the strongest rowing clubs in the country at many levels, Tideway’s girls junior sculling squad has had recent success this year with their J16s placing sixth at NSR amongst tough competition and their senior quad making it through to quarter-finals of the Diamond Jubilee and Henley Royal this year before being knocked out by eventual finalists Redwood High from the USA.
Wycliffe Junior RC
Although not following closely behind Henley at NSR, Wycliffe Junior RC have preserved their medalling crew for this weekend. Their closest competition at NSR came from St George’s College and Sir William Borlase’s Grammar school, neither of which are competing again at Nottingham this weekend, almost guaranteeing them a spot amongst the medals. Interestingly the winning boat in their final at NSR will not be competing in the same lineup this weekend so perhaps will not be matching the 30 second win from Dorney lake.
Globe Rowing Club
A mysterious, but highly impressive outfit once again comes out of hiding for the British Championships. First appearing at Henley Women’s Regatta, the crew stormed to a decisive victory in the time-trial by over 10 seconds, which set them up in good momentum for the knock out stages, in which they comfortably progressed to victory. While the Henley crew raced up an age category, the Globe crew showed poor in overcoming other clubs with had gained recognition earlier in the season, it will be interesting to see what they will be able to produce over longer distance lane racing.
Other Crews
Abingdon RC, Bewl Bridge RC, Doncaster Schools Rowing Association, Globe RC, King’s Ely, Maidenhead RC, Nottinghamshire County Rowing Association, Queen Elizabeth High School, Star Club and Staines BC are also competing in this event.
Predictions
With not one but two dominating crews entered into the event Henley RC and Globe RC are the easy favourites for positions amongst the medals, Hinksey and Wycliffe Junior RC are sure to be close behind with two very strong squads.
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