In just a few days’ time, Britain’s best rowers will assemble in Caversham to undertake a gruelling week of selection. For the past few months, Caversham has played host to a wide selection of talent, from Olympic veterans to fresh-faced ‘Project Paris’ youngsters. The April final trials will be the ultimate proving ground. For the Olympic returners, a chance to stamp out their authority and prove the value of their experience. For the newcomers, a chance to unseat the old guard and show the GB coaches the new face of the national team.
The trial will begin with a pairs regatta that will see a fierce battle for supremacy amongst the senior pairs – though U23 pairs will also be in the mix, hoping to cause an upset. The pairs race is vital for the senior men’s squad in the tight fight for seats. The fastest pair outright may well secure a protected position as the GB men’s pair for the summer and enjoy racing (and likely winning) the Goblets at Henley Royal, before taking on World Cups and the World Championships. Highly-ranked pairs will be looking for key seats in the four and eight.
This preview will focus on the pairs regatta. The exact lineups of the pairs entered cannot be confirmed until racing begins, though we have a pretty clear idea of who will be racing with whom this weekend. As always, illness and injury has prevented some of the best talent from making an appearance, and as COVID continues to spread, there’s a strong chance that lineups may be altered in the days to come.
Oliver Wynne-Griffith & Tom George
Wynne-Griffith and George won the February trial in convincing fashion and firmly established themselves as the pair to beat on the senior sweep circuit. They’ve got the best international pedigree of any pair that GB could potentially field and are likely to be the physically strongest too. Since February, Wynne-Griffith and George rowed at seven and six in the Cambridge Blue Boat, suffering a defeat to Oxford in the Boat Race only a week ago. Wynne-Griffith has had an extra couple of months, though to hone his bow-side technique and the pair will both be operating on peak form. It will be interesting to see if their speed over long-distance racing will fully translate to the 2km, particularly given Wynne-Griffith’s relative inexperience on bow-side. I would be surprised, however, to see anyone overturn these two. They’re exceptionally efficient, smooth and devastatingly powerful. They’ll only have victory on their minds as they line up on the blocks this weekend.
James Rudkin & Sholto Carnegie
This is a new pairing that could prove very effective. Rudkin comes out of the GB Men’s Eight from Tokyo, and Carnegie the Men’s Four. Both have been in the system since graduating university (Newcastle and Yale respectively) and have a plethora of international vests. They’re both flexible, lanky athletes with tremendous leverage and Carnegie brings a fierce tenacity in the stroke seat. They’ll undoubtedly see this race as an opportunity to right some wrongs from February trials (Carnegie finished seventh with Rory Gibbs, while Rudkin was eighth with Matt Rossiter) and get back on top of the Caversham scene. Both are highly experienced racers, and will be well versed in 2km pairs racing. Expect a podium finish from these two.
Matthew Aldridge & Josh Bugajski
Aldridge and Bugajski had a great run back in February, finishing fourth. Bugajski has been a fixture of the senior national team for some time and rowed at bow in the Tokyo Men’s Eight, while Aldridge comes in as part of ‘Project Paris’ and has seen tremendous success as a part of an exceptional class of Oxford Brookes oarsmen. Aldridge has only been rowing on bow-side for a relatively short period of time so these guys may well have found a serious injection of speed in the couple of months between the last trial and the April regatta. Bugajski has developed a reputation as one of the fiercest and most determined athletes in the squad, so it’ll be exciting to see what these guys can do this weekend.
Tom Ford & Rory Gibbs
Ford and Gibbs are another pair of Tokyo veterans, with Ford having stroked the Men’s Eight and Gibbs at three in the Men’s Four. Both are, like the other athletes listed above, highly experienced and fierce racers. Gibbs had a disappointing run back in February with Carnegie but Ford was absent from the trial altogether due to illness. Ford is pretty technical and supremely efficient, so it will be good to see how these guys fare against the talent of this field. They’ll certainly be in the fight for a podium finish.
Tom Digby & David Bewicke-Copley
These guys are two of the physically strongest ‘Project Paris’ athletes currently in the system and it will be great to see them race down the track this weekend. Both of them rowed in the varsity eight for four years at their US universities (Yale for Digby, Princeton for Bewicke-Copley) and both have completed extraordinary, record-breaking feats on the rowing machine. They come into the Caversham system with Henley wins, U23 golds and undeniably unbelievable physiological prowess. They’re no slouches in the technical department, either; Bewicke-Copley and Freddie Davidson placed a fantastic third back in February, while Digby and Sam Bannister had a great run to finish fifth, notably ahead of many of the athletes in the pairs listed above. While they may not have the Olympic experience of some of the other guys currently at Caversham, there’s no doubt that these guys are fast, and will be looking to prove their speed this weekend. They will be in the hunt for the podium.
Oliver Wilkes & Lenny Jenkins
Another pair of newcomers, Wilkes and Jenkins could be the dark horses here. Wilkes has been having a fantastic season thus far, winning the initial Boston trial with Harry Glenister, then placing second back in February. He also switched into the top Brookes eight at the last minute for HORR, stroking the boat to a stonking victory. Jenkins has spent a good portion of this season out with an injury, but will be looking to make his mark and prove his place on the team here. He’s a very talented athlete – a fixture of the Yale Varsity Eight during his tenure, a U23 world champion and a Henley winner in both the Ladies and the Visitors (on the same day). Both these guys are very competent pairs rowers, and if they click here, they have the potential to cause an upset.
Samuel Bannister & Morgan Bolding
The final pair of the current Caversham squad, Bannister and Bolding could certainly prove to be real contenders. Bolding was a frequent stroke-man at Brookes during their initial dominance back in 2016 and 17, and ended up as part of the spare pair for Tokyo. He’s a great athlete that hasn’t quite established himself fully on the senior team, but will be looking to make his mark here. Bannister was also part of the massively successful Brookes programme over the past few years and comes in as a real powerhouse with a huge degree of potential. These athletes are no strangers to pairs racing and are probably better suited to short-distance racing too. They’ll be well in the mix.
Others
There are a host of other trialists coming from a variety of different programmes, though it’s difficult to know exactly who is pairing with who. By all accounts, we might be seeing a David Ambler & Felix Drinkall pair, which could be one to watch. Ambler is one of the stronger ‘Project Paris’ athletes, and has just completed a successful season at Oxford, culminating in a decisive Boat Race win. He’ll be looking to join the Caversham ranks with a strong performance here, making up for a disappointing one back in February. Drinkall is a great young talent, but has struggled over the past couple of years after some disappointing seasons at Oxford. He’ll be looking to right some wrongs and pull out a great performance here.
Speaking of Oxford, Joshua Bowesman-Jones & Tobias Schroder may strongly represent the Dark Blues here. Both have had great seasons, and Schroder particularly will be thrilled to end his Oxford tenure with a Boat Race win from the stroke seat. Oxford seems to have found a much better style this year than in years prior, lengthening out the back end of the stroke and drastically improving front-end timing. It certainly paid off in the Boat Race; it may well pay off at trials too. Trialists from Leander, including Caversham faces like James Robson and Ryan Todhunter will need to factor into the mix somewhere too; while they likely won’t touch the podium, they will certainly be after some key scalps in the hunt for seats in senior national team boats.
Prediction
In terms of a prediction, I’ll have to go with Ollie Wynne-Griffith & Tom George for the win, followed by Matt Aldridge & Josh Bugajski and then James Rudkin & Sholto Carnegie. I fully expect to be proved wrong, however, by any one of the other pairs listed above. There’s a real wealth of consistent talent at Caversham at the moment, and it makes trials like these incredibly exciting, closely-fought affairs.
Good luck to all crews.
Five Man
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