It’s back. One of the most enjoyable events of the year and certainly one of the largest in terms of scale in this country. BUCS Regatta sits as the pinnacle of the season for many student rowers although in the Men’s Championship Single this is unlikely to be the case. While winning some silverware at BUCS will definitely be on their bucket list, for many of the scullers entered their sights will be set on bigger and better things still to come in the form of Henley Royal and the possibility of international representation. In the past this event has been graced by U23 and senior internationals and many who have competed in this event have gone on to great things, former competitors including the likes of Phil Doyle, now an Irish Olympian, and George Bourne who recently won British senior trials.
This field will include some of the brightest talents in Britain, and with trials just behind us, many of these scullers will have their single-sculling skills honed to perfection. The results from trials will give us an indication of the pecking order though things can turn on their head in the space of a few weeks and these athletes will have spent different amounts of time in their singles since then.
Bath University BC Athletes
Home to one of the more successful World Class Start centres, and run by the programme’s new head, Dan Harris, Bath University BC are enjoying a period of strength on the men’s side. At BUCS Head, the club won silver in Men’s Championship Quads and it recently had two athletes competing at GB senior trials. This weekend they have three athletes entered in the Men’s Championship Single, a show of strength and depth in their sculling stock.
The quicker of the two at GB trials was Jamie Gare, who finished sixth in the C Final. Cedol Dafydd unfortunately got tangled in a buoy in the semi-final, which may have cost him a place in the C Final and the prospect of seeing these two in a head-to-head race. That said, Dafydd won the D Final putting him only one place behind Gare in the overall rankings and I suspect this internal rivalry will play out on the lake this weekend.
The third athlete from Bath University is Angus Pollock, who has previously won the Men’s Intermediate Single (in 2021) and was selected for the European Rowing U23 Championships in 2022 but had to pull out shortly before the event due to injury. Injury has defined Pollock’s season this year although he is a tenacious racer who will still be keen to test himself against the best in the country.
Reading University BC Athletes
Reading were the crew that beat Bath at BUCS Head in the quad, and two of the athletes from that crew will be competing in this event, teeing up an exciting sub-plot as two big brands go head-to-head for bragging rights.
Both athletes, Josh Lyon and Louis Powell, are stalwarts of Reading’s top quad, which took gold at BUCS Head earlier in the year. Interestingly, their teammate, Sol Hewitt, who competed at GB trials is not entered.
Josh Lyon has already experienced the level of competition this event demands, having placed just out of the medals in fourth place last year. He will presumably be targeting a medal this time around to better his result from last year, albeit in an arguably stronger field.
Aidan Thompson (University of Surrey BC)
The obvious favourite to take gold is University of Surrey & Twickenham GB Start’s Aidan Thompson who has been following in the footsteps of his teammate Callum Dixon and making a rapid ascent through the ranks of Britain’s top scullers.
Thompson was a cut above the rest of the student athletes at GB trials with his second place in the B Final putting him amongst the fastest Caversham-based scullers. Following this he has been training there alongside the national team and will be battle hardened after all the post-trials testing.
Having won silver at BUCS Regatta last year, nothing but gold will do this time around.
Konan Pazzaia (Queen’s University, Belfast BC)
If rumours are true, the winner of the Men’s Intermediate Single in 2022 will be stepping up to the top table in this edition of BUCS Regatta. Last year Queen’s athletes dominated this event, coming both first and third, a legacy which Konan Pazzaia will seek to continue with his own performance. Pazzaia is already a championship-level winner, having been part of the crew that won the Men’s Championship Quad last year.
He went on to bigger and better things last year, being called up to the Irish team to compete internationally. Despite no recent data to base this on, it seems that the Queen’s sculling programme has churned out another top competitor and Pezzaia will be right at the sharp end of this competition.
Others
There are a number of other entries which haven’t been covered, including Edinburgh University’s Josh Matthews, who competed at GB trials recently, Charlie Warren from Durham University BC and Max Parker of Nottingham Trent.
Finally, a duo from Cambridge University BC are entered in the form of the bow pair from the Boat Race winning crew, Matthew Edge and Brett Taylor, and it will be fascinating to see how these accomplished sweep oarsmen match up to the established scullers mentioned above.
Prediction
With many of these athletes competing against each other recently this is one of the few events where a prediction can be made with any degree of certainty. For the win, I can’t see anyone getting the better of Aidan Thompson, though Konan Pazzaia might have a crack and come in second. There’s a gap then, to third, which will be claimed by the victor of the Reading versus Bath battle, be it Gare, Dafydd, Pollock, Powell or Lyon.
With the standard so high I’m expecting the Men’s Championship Single to be one of the most exciting events at BUCS this year, and I would bet that some of these athletes will become household names in the future.
Best of luck to all competing, and let the racing begin!
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