GBRT February Trials 2025 – Review

Image Credit: AllMarkOne

Whilst cold grey clouds skidded across the surface of the south Lincolnshire sky, the best of British rowing converged on the River Witham for the final open trial of the season. Top athletes from across the country raced across the five-kilometre course in singles, pairs and, new for this trial, doubles.

Starting with the men’s doubles, there were several interesting partnerships on show, but top honours went to the rising star Cedol Dafydd and his Olympian partner Callum Dixon, who put almost 12 seconds into their opposition. Behind them were the Leander duo of Gare and Schroder and the GB Start graduates Matthew Haywood and Aidan Thompson who rounded out the podium spots. In fourth was a Reading University crew as Paralympian Ed Fuller joined top U23 Matt Long.

Elsewhere for the U23 scullers, Max Bird and Harry Ruinet of Marlow RC were the best all-youth crew, finishing eighth overall, ahead of another Reading University crew.

While the doubles provided a new dimension to this trial, the female scullers remained in singles, perhaps providing the most unexpected results of the day. With four Olympic medallists in the entry, the fastest time was posted by Sarah McKay, based this season at Leander Club, beating Olympic champion Lola Anderson by 6.5 seconds. The upsets continued as Molesey’s Olivia Cheesmur, a first-year U23, finished third overall, a phenomenal showing in such a strong field, while fourth overall was another U23 in Finnola Stratton of Reading University. Imogen Grant and Heidi Long followed, with Georgie Brayshaw down in 11^th, almost 40 seconds off the pace of McKay – who has earned herself a strong chance of making her World Rowing debut this spring.

For the female sweep athletes, there was a more expected step up from the next generation. Megan Slabbert and Eleanor Brinkhoff’s Molesey–Leander composite was the best of the pack, getting the better of Eve Stewart and Lauren Irwin who won bronze in the eight at last summer’s Olympic Games. Third and fourth were an all-Leander affair for the Perry/Witt and Campbell-Orde/Emery pairs.

With U23 athletes littered amongst the entries, there were very few entirely age-group pairings. Olivia Hill and Aggie Burt of Oxford Brookes University were the fastest of the group, but with Hill listed as a facilitator, Durham University’s Isadora Kennedy and Daisy Jackson were the fastest crew of two age group triallists.

The men’s pair had a distinctly Light-Blue tinge to the outcomes. Cambridge University’s top pair of George Bourne and Douwe de Graaf were picked to be the best of the bunch and lived up to their billing – posting the best GMT percentage across the entire day’s racing. Behind them was the Paris spare pair of James Robson (also racing in Cambridge blue) and Leander’s Will Stewart with the Leander-Oxford Brookes crew of Matt Rowe and David Berwicke-Copley rounding out the top three.

The U23 pairs were pretty far down the rankings as Durham University’s William Morgan-Jones and Charlie Warren were the fastest of the age-group crews, more than a minute behind the Bourne-de Graaf time in 13^th overall. Despite this distance to the senior crews, it was once again very tight among the U23 pairs as the Stacey/Rawlinson (Oxford University) and Beever/Lauchlan (Cambridge University and University of London) combinations were within a second of the Durham crew.

About The Author

Fraser Innes

Fraser joined the JRN team in September 2022 and regularly writes about domestic and international rowing with particular specialisation on US Collegiate Rowing having launched JRN’s coverage and being a staple on the End of the Island’s series on the topic. He has been involved with the sport since 2016 at George Heriot’s School and the Universities of Glasgow and Wisconsin.

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