For what will be the last hurrah for many of the season, this year we see the British Rowing Junior Championships return to more northern waters at Strathclyde Park. The open J16 double looks to be exciting, with many crews also competing as quads deciding to split down into this smaller boat class and test their speeds head to head.
The Windsor Boys’ School
Fielding three top class crews into this event, arguably we expect nothing less from a Windsor Boys’ outfit. Downie and Taylor alongside Barnes and Elliot were the four athletes who took the win at NSR back in May in the quads by a comfortable 9 seconds, a margin I’m not doubtful will have grown since then following the recent months training. If this is anything to go by, don’t be suprised to see Windsor Boys’ taking up at least two of the podium positions by the end of this weekend.
Bewl Bridge
Potentially preventing Windsor Boys from their clean sweep of the podium comes in the form of the Ribbens brothers. These boys are providing a refreshing change to the top end of junior mens rowing which is often monopolised by the likes of Windsor Boys’, Leander and Tideway Scullers. Hence it will be really interesting to see how these NSR champions are able to compare to these bigger named programmes.
Hartpury College and University BC
Taking the silver medal at NSR this year albeit with Page rather than Tyers racing alongside Coates, this Hartpury combo will be wanting to retain their podium positions all the way to the end of the season. Having more time to develop their speed since May, it will be interesting to see this rematch between Bewl and Hartpury come down the track in what will arguably be some very exciting racing.
Predictions
With six NSR J16 gold medal athletes racing, this event is definitely one to watch. However, with their dominant force that they have over the junior men’s sculling work, I suspect it will be Windsor Boys’ taking the top spot, followed by Bewl Bridge then the real battle will occur for bronze. All I can say is you definitely don’t want to miss this showdown of a race.
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