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From the 14th to the 16th of July the 2023 British Rowing Junior Championships will be held at Strathclyde Country Park, Motherwell. An exciting exhibit of Britain’s strongest rowers will be shown, and to close the long weekend with a bang, the women’s junior 15 coxed quads will be racing on Sunday. The 27 crews will compete over a time trial of 900m followed by 1000m finals- the short distances making the races even more intense!
Aberdeen School RA
A fierce club that has been steadily building up its collection of medals over the years with consistent success at rowing events, including winning the Groton Cup at Henley Women’s in 2022. With a strong focus on athlete development and squad power, this crew is highly likely to give a dominating performance.
A B Severn RC/ City of Bristol RC
Two clubs joining together, with the finest members selected from each club, makes this boat optimal to hold a lot of power. The City of Bristol RC has a strong sense of community and encouragement, which has lent them well to give strong performances at a national level over the last few years. This combined with the strong camaraderie and enthusiasm from the A B Severn RC will make a highly motivated, competitive boat.
Glasgow Academy
The rowing programme at Glasgow Academy is renowned for being one of the top programmes in Great Britain, evidenced by their athletes having won 22 international medals in the last three years. Their growth mindset ethos and confidence in their abilities will make them formidable opponents to the rest of the field.
Hinksey Sculling School
This club takes a holistic approach to rowing with their sessions focusing on fostering enjoyment. This appears to have paid off with their women’s J15 double coming first at JIRR back in April, showing the clubs potential in this race.
Kingston RC
One of the oldest rowing clubs in the world, the dedicated squad always aims high and has a large haul of medals to prove their hard work. Look out for their unmissable red and white striped all in ones on the start line!
Nottingham & Union RC
A big name in junior club racing, and with previous success at a national level, this is an intimidating crew to come up against.
Peterborough City RC
This crew came 8th (2nd in the B final) at National Schools’ Regatta, and will be hoping to maintain this performance, and perhaps even push for the A final up in Strathclyde this weekend.
Wallingford RC
Describing themselves as “a dynamic, successful rowing club”, they have had a lot of recent success. The J16 8+ took first place at National Schools’ regatta and then at Henley Women’s Regatta their J16 4+ took the win again. This sets the bar high for the J15s, but with the J16s to aspire to, no doubt they will be motivated to put out an incredible performance at British Championships.
Warrington RC
This crew did remarkably well at York City Rowing Club Summer Regatta in June, coming 1st. They will be excited to see if they will be able to hold this up against the tough competition in Scotland.
Also racing in the final high stakes event of the summer in the WJ15 4x+ category and to look out for will be: Claire’s Court School, Hartpury College RA, St Paul’s Girls’ Schooland York City RC.
Overall I predict 1st and 2nd will be taken by Scottish clubs- the race being on home turf giving them that slight upper hand, but with a large variety of clubs, this prediction is very volatile, and the unexpected could easily happen!
1st – Aberdeen School RA
2nd – Glasgow Academy
3rd– Wallingford RC
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