The first main junior event of the year for the north of England is finally upon us- Chester Long Distance Sculls. After a summer of training, the juniors from the north will finally be able to test their speed along the 5km course in its 67th year.
St Edwards School
Despite Teddies being better known for their sweep, they have previously produced some speedy scullers. Perhaps most notably Joshua Brangan (now rowing at Harvard) who came 2nd at last year’s Early ID trials as well as Isaac Hillicks-Tulip who placed a respectable 27th overall in his J17 year. Isaac is entered into the single at this event and I expect he will be doubling up into the quad. Furthermore, with the Teddies J17 Quad taking a win at Chester LDS last year, and now having another year of experience behind them, it will be interesting to see if they are able to grab their first win of the season.
The King’s School, Chester
The boys from KCS will be aiming to make their mark at their home head race. With one quad entered into the band 1 event and two entered into the band 2 event, they will also be hoping to showcase their depth as well as the speed in the 1st Quad. Notable members include Luke Dillion who raced to an impressive 10th place at Early ID’s last year, a result made even more impressive as it was in his J17 year. Now a year older I expect he will be hoping for a win at his last home head race.
Northwich RC
Despite their appearance at the 2021 edition of HRR, the mainly J17 crew from that year didn’t attend many events last year, therefore, it’s tough to predict how this crew will perform with no recent form guide. However, they did appear at Chester LDS in 2021, winning the J18 Quad by a 7.4-second margin over outfits from both St Edwards and The Kings School. This year’s crew will be looking for a repeat of this result.
Prediction
My prediction for this event would be for St Edwards to take the win with KCS in a very closely battled second place. However, with both of these clubs entering multiple crews, and also likely to be doubling up in multiple events, I would not completely rule out Northwich RC repeating the performance of their 2021 crew.
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