This month, Boston Lincolnshire once again played host to some of the best talent in U23 and Senior GB rowing as hopefuls looked to make their mark on the rowing machine and the gruelling 5km Boston course. Generally speaking, each year even well-established members of the GB senior team have to attend trials, though this year those who had just taken part in the last Olympics were exempt. Coupled with the fact that many of the best up-and-comers are currently injured, including David Bewicke-Copley, Tom Digby, Lenny Jenkins and Sam Nunn, the senior men’s trial was a little thin on the ground compared to usual.
That being said, there were some great performances that put some key individuals in a very good place going into the rest of the season. Oliver Wilkes made a really strong showing in the 2k, with a low 5:50s score within touching distance of the top 5 overall (Wilkes was 4th out of the trialling seniors). The Brookes athlete, who made his senior debut at the 2021 World Cup II in the 2-, won the pairs time trial the following day with Leander oarsman Harry Glenister, who is no stranger to the GB senior team having raced in the 2- in the run-up to the Olympics before failing to qualify the boat at the Final Olympic Qualification Regatta. The Wilkes/Glenister pair really showed their pedigree in the second half, opening up over 5 seconds on the rest of the field.
Two young athletes clearly making strides towards future senior team success are Freddie Davidson and David Ambler. Both young athletes, they started out together at St Paul’s, graduating in 2016, before Freddie went on to row at Cambridge – rowing in the Blue Boat for all 4 years, and eventually becoming President – and David went on to row in the Harvard 1V and captain the squad. Freddie has gone straight to Caversham as part of ‘Project Paris’, while David is taking a year to row at Oxford University. Between them they’ve a host of U23 golds, and both made their senior team debut at World Cup III this year. Both were well sub-6 on the 2K, and their pairs made up 2nd and 3rd spots on the 5K time trial. These guys are certainly ones to watch in the lead-up to Paris. Freddie’s pair partner for the trial, Sam Bannister, is also a rising talent from the Brookes Olympic Pathway Program, having begun his career as a GB START athlete. He’s a powerful athlete that has seen a huge amount of success as a member of Brookes; he too will be looking to unseat an established senior team athlete in the hunt for Paris selection.
James Robson had the fastest sweep 2K of the trial (though technically he was beaten by Swiss Olympian and OUBC member Barnabe Delarze, in attendance to facilitate David Ambler’s trial), and his pair with Ryan Todhunter took 4th spot. Both stalwarts of Leander Club, the pair have had significant Henley successes, though lack the international experience possessed by some of the other Caversham development guys. They certainly have the power and skill to make a significant impact on the team, though, and with such strong performances in both aspects of this past trial, they’ve established themselves as ones to watch.
Finally, Leander athletes Felix Drinkall and Dan Graham had a strong performance in the pair to improve upon already decent 2K performances. Drinkall has been a rising talent on the GB rowing scene for some time, and has produced some impressive results over the years, though a 4-year stint at Oxford that resulted in no Boat Race wins will surely have fuelled his drive even more. Graham has also showed some impressive speed and was selected for the top boat at the 2021 U23 World Championships, though whether he can mix in with the big guys currently training at Caversham remains to be seen.
These new faces on the senior circuit represent an exciting time in the GB rowing world. Coming off the back of an undeniably disappointing Olympiad for the entire GB team, men’s sweep included, the team has now been imbued with significant depth with the ‘Project Paris’ athletes entering the fray, while still retaining the experience of the older senior team athletes. Funding issues and coaching woes aside, the future of GB rowing is looking pretty bright.
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