The Championship Women’s Double is an event in which the best scullers from each university compete, usually broken down from top quads which race on another day at BUCS Regatta. Many of these athletes will have been through the GB trials system and some will have international vests already.
Interestingly, four of the entrants to this event raced each other on the Sunday of Met Regatta in the A final of the Women’s Doubles, where Reading’s Rachel Heap and Olivia Morgan came out on top, and second in the event overall. Following them came Oxford Brookes’ Stevens and Dutton, Bath’s Borrows and Hayden, and Durham’s Lucania and Morrice.
Reading
Rich with experience and previous success, the Reading double will settle for nothing but gold, no doubt the favourites coming in. Reading’s sculling programme has been unparalleled in recent years, proven by the club winning a medal in every sculling event at BUCS Head 2020, the most recent BUCS rowing event.
Bath
Bath’s Rachel Borrows and Phoebe Hayden are part of the World Class Start programme based at the University of Bath, and this year have set their sights on success in the double. In 2019 Bath won bronze in this event, so this new pairing will surely be looking to build on that success this year.
Edinburgh
From Scotland, Edinburgh’s crew of Perri McCluskey and Jane Hardie is a hybrid of the Strathclyde Park WCS group and John Higson’s formidable Edinburgh University women’s squad. Both athletes have been through GB trials and have plenty of experience behind them to go all the way in this event. This double will challenge Reading for the win.
Queen’s
Although very much unknown, the double from Queen’s Belfast are worth watching out for, historically very quick in sculling boats. These athletes were part of the quad that finished third in the B final at Marlow, a little behind sculling competitors Reading and Hartpury who were in the A final. Having just arrived on mainland Britain however, we can expect that Queen’s will pick up some more speed towards BUCS.
Nottingham
Nottingham has two crews entered, clearly backing their women’s sculling squad it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the A crew pushing the front runners. However, Nottingham have not raced so far this season so only time will tell how quick they really are.
Oxford Brookes
Although not renowned for their sculling prowess, the double from Oxford Brookes placed well at Met Regatta, not far behind Reading. It is interesting that Brookes are committing athletes to sculling events as opposed to sweep, given that the women’s fours are on the same day at BUCS one would assume this would be prioritised. This indicates that Brookes are backing this double to do well.
Prediction for the top three: Reading, Edinburgh, then Brookes or Bath (it will be close). Nottingham and Queen’s to fill in the spaces in the A final. There are some quality crews in this category and although Reading are the favourites this event will be tight, and it would not be a surprise to see a bit of an upset on the podium.
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