The first chance from many of these clubs to get some side by side racing the summer, Durham City offers match racing, Henley style over a fiddly 700m course. The J18 4x has an entry of 7 crews who will cram in up to 3 races over the course of the morning.
Doncaster Schools RA
Based on results this year this Doncaster crew appears to be the standout boat in the event. They finished a credible 13th place at Schools Head in a very high calibre field and will no doubt have stepped on over the Easter period. Doncaster sculler Acris won J18 1x at the York Spring Regatta and a quad under his name took the 4x event by 3 lengths over 1000m. For me this is the crew to beat this weekend.
Yarm School
One of the more established programmes in the Northern regions, Yarm will have high hopes of upsetting Doncaster’s applecart on Saturday. With a win at the Tyne United Head and a solid 3rd place at Durham small boats head, Yarm have as good a chance as any of springing a surprise. Whilst they are yet to show their hand this summer, a solid winter will have put this crew in good stead going into this weekends racing.
Queen Elizabeth High School
Another well known name on the junior rowing circuit Queen Elizabeth will be looking for a strong result this weekend. Again, a first summer race means that there are only winter results to go off. In terms of these, they had a very strong 2nd place finish at Tees Long Distance Sculls and then 4th behind Yarm at Durham Small Boats Head. Queen Elizabeth will want to get one back on Yarm so are worth watching out for this weekend,
Durham ARC
Racing on home water, these boys will want to lay down a marker and will be looking for a strong result. Over the winter, the standout result was a win by a second at Durham Small Boats Head. As well as being on home water, these boys will also have a bye through to the second round owing to the luck of the draw. One fewer races in the legs could be important, especially over 700m where margins are bound to be tight. Again, another crew worth keeping an eye on.
The other crews that make up the rest of the field are York City, Tyne United and Tyne ARC. Whilst these crews will all be solid outfits, the way the draw has worked could mean none make it through the fist round as they race the crews mentioned above, so will me up against it in my opinion.
Prediction
With the two abreast format, my prediction is the final will be between Doncaster and Queen Elizabeth HS with Doncaster winning by a reasonable margin, however anything can happen in match racing, especially this early in the summer season.
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