Chester Long Distance Sculls is set to take place on Sunday 25th September and will be competed
over a 5km stretch of the River Dee. This event attracts scullers from all over the North of England
and is the first of 4 events held on the Dee this season.
Queen’s Park High School
Queen’s Park High School have entered two quads for this year after having a successful last season in the J15 quads, winning North West Trials and also laying down an impressive time of 19:23 to win by 51 seconds at Chester LDS last year. They will be looking to repeat last year’s successes despite having a changed crew for the new season.
Trentham Rowing Club
Trentham RC also had an extremely impressive 21/22 season in the J15 quad, coming 2nd at both Junior Sculling Head and North West Trials as well as 3 rd at the National Schools’ Regatta. However, they have also looked to have changed their lineup for the 22/23 season so will be looking to prove
themselves in this first race and build on the successes of last year.
The Grange School
The Grange School have entered two boats this year and also features a changed crew to that of the J15 quad of last season. Last year within this boat class this squad placed 4th in the B final at the National Schools’ Regatta and had another strong performance at North West Trials placing 3rd with a margin of just 3 seconds between them and the winners. This shows that The Grange cannot be ignored when looking for the top contenders for this race.
The King’s School, Chester
With the largest entry into the event, the King’s School Chester has three boats coming down the track consecutively. Alongside the already competitive and tense field of racing this will make for some inter-club competition which could potentially push them that bit further. At the National Schools’ Regatta this year, there was a notable performance in the four placing 4th in the B final. It will be interesting to see if they can build from this and use this racing experience in their sculling going into Chester LDS.
Prediction
Alongside the four clubs mentioned above, this event also sees crews from York City RC, Northwich RC, Royal Chester RC and Runcorn RC. Although the entry list is filled with many competitive crews that have already proven themselves in the quad last season in national competitions, I predict Queen’s Park High School or Trentham RC to win this event after last season’s performances.
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