The two-day trial in Boston sees athletes fight for invitations to Spring Assessments. Last weekend’s racing over 5km was slightly different from other years as the JM scullers raced the single on the Saturday followed by doubles the next day.
Single Scull
Blustery conditions meant athletes faced a tough headwind after the first 2km. However, this didn’t stop Tom Smith of Windsor Boy’s School overturning the previous result from EIDs and beating his TSS rival, Laurence Joss into second place. Bryn Ellery continued the dominant results from the Windsor school rounding off the top three. Maidenhead emphasised the strength and depth of their junior program by having 4 scullers place in the top 11 with Victor Kleshnev topping the lot in fourth place.
Other notable performances came from ASL’s Tyler Skow, slipping one place to sixth from November’s trial and strong row from Fawley winner, Ollie Costley pipping Skow finishing fifth.
Double Scull
Windsor continued their excellent form by finishing 1st and 3rd in the double scull. Smith & Ellery took top honours whilst their crewmates Tom Shewell and Isaac Workman were denied the 1-2 by Maidenhead’s Kleshnev and Eduardo Marshall. It was Marlow’s Joe Wolfin and Ben Simon followed by the TSS/ASL composite that complete the five fastest crews of the day.
Folllowing his huge ergo scores and GB/France selection, it is surprising to see Jens Hullah place relatively low down in the double scull rankings. Hullah will no doubt look to resolve this as trialling continues and team selection grows closer.
At this moment it is clear who the country’s top scullers are and who performed well under the pressures of trials. A solid row for an athlete at Feb Trials will no doubt stand them in good stead for the rest of the season. These results give some interesting insights into potential results for the rest of the season. It is clear from the single and double results that both Maidenhead and Windsor have some of the best athletes in the country and we can be sure that both these crews will feature at the top of races as the season unfolds. The ‘Marlow Mafia’ proved they are still amongst the best in the country and will similarly look to becoming one of the front-running quads this season.
One key point to pick up on is the absence of Leander athletes throughout the trialling process. Leander had three athletes however, their quad has proved to be one of the crews to beat this season and expect this to continue through the coming months.
For those who under performed or feel they did not fully prove themselves, they can redeem themselves at the next GBJRT trial which is the Junior Selection Regatta in Nottingham on the 23rd of April.
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