An event that I once heard hailed as “The Holy Grail of Rowing” is back. The series epitomises what it is to be a rower; ungodly morning alarms, brutal weather conditions, relentless muscle pain, pure grit and determination- all compressed into a gruelling yet, incredibly rewarding month and a half.
Anyone who knows anything about rowing will agree with me in that the head racing season can be savage. The Northern Rowing council took this concept and gave it whole new meaning. Many junior scullers would be lucky to attend six head races all season- let alone six back-to-back Saturdays on the merciless rivers of the North East. This year we begin on the Tyne (Tyne RC) on the 6th of October, followed by Tees (Tees RC), then Berwick (Berwick RC), next Wansbeck (Cambois RC), the penultimate race is South Hylton (City of Sunderland RC) before the series finisher in Durham (Durham ARC). As usual, at each individual head race there are awards for each event winner; however, the catch is that each win equates to points which creates an ultimate series Victores Ludorum.
Last year, due to conditions that even northerners couldn’t row in, only four races went ahead, and it was Chester- Le -Street that finished head and shoulders above the rest to claim the VL, (though it must be said, they do enter more than anyone else- which has paid off hugely in recent years, as they have been the most successful junior club in the north by all measures). However, the tide does seem to be beginning to change after Durham School won the most junior events at Durham Regatta with Tyne and Tyne United not too far behind. I would argue that all northern clubs have stepped up their game in the last 12 months but due to their smaller, community nature, clubs like Hexham RC, Cambois RC and St Leonards School BC are unlikely to challenge for the VL, which ultimately requires vast quantities of entries before you even get on the river. Durham ARC are always contenders; a consistently good club that produces strong individual athletes but has a tendency to claim a lot of their crew pots in the j14 or j15 categories. It will be interesting to see how they fair this year, particularly as they have the ability to put out at least three wj15 quads. Tyne could also be the ones to challenge Chester-Le-Street, again they reliably turn out fast boats and have recently been on training camp in the Lake District which could make all the difference come October. Queen Elizabeth High School certainly have the number of entries that could see them win, however, they are yet to carry enough momentum to claim the VL- despite their impressive showing at the Junior British Championships where they returned to Hexham with 2 medals. Durham School do appear to be turning things up a notch and, to their rival’s jealousy, even ventured to South Africa for their second international training camp this year. You would hope that this extravagance will pay off- would anything short of dominance this winter suffice? Last season the Dunelmians definitely stepped up their game as the season went on, so I would expect them to have a more commanding head season this year and make up the 39.5 points gap between themselves and CLS that they incurred a year ago. Despite a lot of promise all around the region, I think that this VL is Chester-Le-Street’s to lose, no one else has quite their strength in depth currently, but I don’t think that they will win by as big a margin this year, as they did last.
About The Author
