Durham City Regatta heralds the return of side by side racing to the North East. This two day event will take place on the famous course, downstream on the river Wear.
This year’s J18 categories feature some of the best crews the North East Region has to offer. Many of these categories are not filled to the gunnels as clubs and schools may still be putting their preparation in place for the major regattas still to come. Durham City provides competitors with the the unique, gladiatorial style of racing that comes with one-on-one racing. This means that psychological battles become even more important as crews try to get the early advantage over their opponents.
The biggest competition comes in the J18 Single Scull. This has two separate competitions, with one event on Saturday and another on Sunday. The first round of racing sees 8 scullers taking part, with three of them making up five of Sunday’s scullers. This opportunity for at least two races for some of these scullers makes for excellent early season racing practice, thus providing them with plenty learning opportunities for the rest of the season. It is likely that these scullers will have raced each other often throughout the likes of the Northern Sculling series and the various head races such as Durham SBH and Rutherford Head. On home water, the scullers from Durham ARC will be hard to beat but it is likely that given the depth of the Junior Programme at Tyne ARC the Newburn based boys will have the advantage come this weekend.
The absence of Durham School in J18 4x leaves the field wide open for any of the four quads. That being said, when Queen Elizabeth HS came and raced over the Head course back in February, it was them who got the better of Tyne and Durham. As such, with the absence of DS and expect to see QEH step up and win this event.
The J18 Double sculls features four crews. Doncaster, Tyne, Yarm and Chester le Street are all vying to top this event. It is likely, that similar to the single scull, Tyne ARC will go into this event as favourites but both Yarm School and Chester le Street, both with strong junior pedigree will look to challenge for the top spot.
This year’s J18 Pairs race is a straight final between Queen Elizabeth and Chester le Street.
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