Image credit: World Rowing
With this season’s only Boston time trial in the books, the top Development and U23 athletes in the UK gathered to lay down a marker as they look to gain selection for World Cup Three in Poznan and the U23 World Championships in St Catherine’s, Canada. The results sheet shows a mixture of dominant performances and close racing.
Women’s Pair
The most impressive victory of the weekend came in the women’s pair as Amelia Standing and Juliette Perry of Leander Club were winners in the event, laying down an impressive benchmark for others to follow. Jessica Martin and Elizabeth Witt of the University of London and Imperial College respectively were the best of the rest in a talented field.
The best-placed U23 crew gave the light blues third overall as Gemma King and Carys-Anne Earl brought Cambridge some small boat success to mix in with their preparation in the eight during the Boat Race fixture season. Combinations from Oxford Brookes and a Durham/Newcastle composite would be the next best on the time sheet.
Women’s Single
It was no surprise to see Kathryn Mole of the University of Birmingham leading the pack as the best sculler in the UK away from Caversham, as the Yorkshire Start graduate looks to break into the national team following her debut in Duisberg last spring. It was a tight race behind her as Sarah McKay of Grosvenor edged out Vwairé Obukohwo of Twickenham for second place on the water, with Elle Cooke of Reading University right behind them.
The Reading sculler put up a commanding victory amongst the U23 ranks, laying down the gauntlet for selection for the sculling team for St Catherine’s. Molly Curry of Queen’s University Belfast beat Cooke’s teammate Zara Povey for next best U23 at the head of a tight group of scullers where Newcastle and Bath were well-represented.
Men’s Pair
The men’s pair went to expectation as Daniel Graham and Douwe de Graaf came out victorious against a deep field of athletes, but a very strong performance from U23s Gus John and Luca Ferraro of Cambridge placed them in second overall, an impressive showing from the men in light blue.
It was a better showing from the Wallingford contingent compared to November’s race at Caversham with Oxford’s James Doran and Oxford Brookes’ Matthew Heywood combining to place third overall and the Brookes combination of Jake Wincomb and Fergus Woolnough finishing as the second-fastest U23s.
Another notable performance came from the combination of Herbie Austin-Baker and Gabriel Reynolds, the former racing in Hinksey Sculling School colours, placing as the third fastest U23 pair despite their tender years – Austin-Baker is still J18.
Men’s Single
The largest event of the weekend was also the closest. Aiden Thompson of Twickenham defeated Rory Harris to claim the top honours in Lincolnshire. Notably, Thompson was the only athlete to finish in the top seven not wearing Leander colours as the usual suspects like Tobias Schröder and Oliver Costley also performed well. The top U23 performance also came from the pink palace in the form of Stephen Hughes ahead of Elliot Donovan-Davies as the Welshman in his first year as an U23 got the better of all other comers while posting the fastest time of any single sculler not wearing some shade of pink.
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