The Henley of the North most certainly lived up to it’s title with two jam-packed days of incredible racing. The 750m course never fails to provide tight racing and the junior events this year were no different. Chester-Le-Street looked to take the title of most junior wins for the third year in a row but it was, in fact, Durham School who came out on top. Despite a relatively quiet season for the Dunelmians, they managed to peak perfectly for the prime regatta of the northern calendar. On Saturday they made ten finals from ten junior entries with seven wins and by the end of the weekend they had mustered an unrivaled eleven wins. Chester-Le-Street had to settle for second best, with a combined eight wins over the weekend, giving them a win rate of 29.6%- as usual, the majority of their wins came from single scullers. As I mentioned in a previous article, Tyne RC seam to be building strong momentum and have been fielding some of their strongest junior crews for a number of seasons. With just one win last year and seven this year, the future of Tyne RC looks very promising. Not to be forgotten though, are their rivals from across the way: Tyne United. Who brought home an incomparable 86% win rate. They only had eight entries over the weekend but, in bringing back six pots, Tyne United proved yet again to have quality over quantity. With potentially the smallest junior squad in the northern region, Talkin Tarn definitely asserted themselves with three wins out of four entries. An undeniably impressive result, especially when compared to much larger clubs like Yarm School who managed one event win.
Open Junior
It was Durham School that collated most open trophies, as they dominated the J15 categories, winning everything other than the single- which was won by Chester-Le-Street’s JIRR gold medal winner; Roman Bowery. The J16 category brought much more variety including Durham ARC’s Adam Morris winning the North of England Sculling championship and Tyne United winning the Paul Brady Memorial trophy. After some very close racing over the past few regattas, Queen Elizabeth High School’s Nick Ryan returned home with a win in the Steward’s Cup. Most notably from the J18 events was a victory for Doncaster Schools to claim the Harry Clasper trophy.
Women’s Junior
Tyne United left the Wear with most junior girl’s wins but not without the help of Hexham RC – as their composite octuple won on both days of the regatta. the Hexham girls have had a commanding J14 season but it will be interesting to see if they can maintain this strength for the seasons to come, or if their opposition from the likes of Durham ARC and St Leonard’s School will manage to close the gap. It was Chester-Le-Street’s Caitlin Warren that took the WJ15 North of England Sculling Championship with ease but in the quad events Durham School took both; Saturday and Sunday titles. The WJ16 events saw lots of JIRR crews return including wins for Cambois’s Jemima Furness, the Chester-Le-Street double and St Leonard’s School quad. Again, it was Chester-Le-Street Larson who collected the Stan Turner trophy but with victories in the double and quad, Durham School appear to have most depth in the WJ18 category.
These clubs now have a break from racing after five consecutive weeks of regattas. They will take to the water of Talkin Tarn for some true sprint racing before travelling to Nottingham for Junior British Championships.
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