Founded in 1889, the Ghent May Regatta continues to attract some of the best crews from around Europe. With the UK entrants having started their regatta season at Wallingford and BUCS the previous weekend, Ghent is an opportunity for some of the better crews to seek further high quality racing against their international competition. With racing over two days, Ghent is an opportunity to race across numerous boat classes whilst figuring out their crew selections before the bigger races arrive in June and beyond. Most crews on the Sunday appear as they were on the Saturday. Though subject to change, it provides us with an early indication as to what we can expect and the ‘set’ nature of these boats at an early stage of the season.
Leander Club
Heading to Ghent full of confidence will be the athletes from Leander Club. With victories across seven events at Wallingford Regatta, a number of their athletes attempting to make the Great Britain squad over the next cycle will be in attendance. Races such as these are as close as you can get to being an international athlete without earning the corresponding vest that comes with it. On Saturday we will see a number of these starting with Amelia Standing and Juliette Perry in the women’s pair. Domestically, they’ve dominated in this event and I don’t expect that to change now that they are racing overseas. Fresh off of their wins at the April trials and Wallingford, this is an opportunity for them to make their statement and continue forcing their case to the selectors. Elsewhere, Miles Devereux makes his return in Belgium. Having been touted as one of those scullers who’ll emerge on the international scene, he races in the open double with Bryn Ellery. Leander have used the coxless four event to showcase some of their brightest up and coming talent such as Isy Hawes and Abigail Topp. In the open event, the dominant Douwe De Graaf and Matt Rowe are names that have started to reappear time and time again. Filled with athletes who are on the cusp, these fours are definitely the boats to watch as the field they’re competing against remains equally as competitive. Following the conclusion of racing in the small boats, Leander will then field two eights in both the open, and women’s events. With convincing wins over their club competition only recently, Leander will feel happy with where they’re at at this point in the season though they’ll be wary of the unknown.
Molesey
Molesey are also heading to Ghent after a somewhat resurgence of late. Under the guise of coach Sam Tuck, those in black and white appear to have taken their performances up a notch, winning four events at Wallingford. Whilst not quite on the level of the rowers that are from Leander, Molesey will be looking to continue their good form and be the strongest of the club squads come the summer. Funnelling their athletes into the eights and the fours, they’ll be represented in number. Whether their domestic successes of the week prior will translate is another question but, at this stage in the season, continued pace relative to the highest level opposition is all that can be asked for. Two boats that could compete are the women’s quad, a composite of Molesey and Nottingham RC, and the women’s pair of April Lemmon and Hope Cessford, holder of a GB senior vest. These boats are capable of going toe to toe with Leander and the best of Europe so a medal could be on the cards. Likewise, there’s an open coxed four that will fancy its chances against a number of crews that are, on the face of it, a comparable or weaker level. The eight that performed so well at the Remenham Challenge Cup and the Women’s Head of the River returns to take on a stacked field of primarily UK-based crews, perhaps providing us an indication of what’s to come across the remainder of the season. Two singles will be entered from Molesey; trialist Andre Bass who performed well at GB Trials and former GB start athlete Alex King. Returning from injury, the latter is one to watch as the season progresses and he returns to fitness.
Oxford Brookes University
One of the clubs who keep returning to Ghent on a somewhat recent basis are Oxford Brookes University BC. Fresh off of winning the overall VL at BUCS Regatta, Brookes will have been delighted to have got their regatta season well and truly underway. Their entries for Ghent, it should be noted, are somewhat smaller in scale and could perhaps represent the club athletes that they cater for. Nonetheless, Brookes will be eager to do what we know Brookes do best. Their entries are, primarily, in the eight. With numerous crews entered for the open and women’s event, a head to head with Leander and Molesey will be quite the battle of Britain on the women’s side. They’ll be eager to avenge their narrow defeat at the hands of Leander at the Women’s Head of the River. On the open side, Brookes have no domestic competition and their primary challengers will be ASR Nereus. One of the only clubs to have overturned the Brookes machine at Henley in recent years, this will be no mean feat but the strength that Brookes have is too much for almost anyone. These battles are what we’ll see for the remainder of the season and could very well be the final of a Grand Challenge / Ladies / Remenham / Temple depending on who enters what. Outside of the eight there’s a coxless four representing Brookes featuring Jamie Copus who has made his return to the Wallingford based club. The veteran in the crew, Copus will be hoping that he can claim a rather big scalp here at the hands of some of the best up and coming GB talent. What’s of noticeable interest elsewhere is Brookes dabbling in the sculling scene. With a women’s quad, three doubles and an open single, could we expect to see Brookes turning their hand to a broader range of disciplines than conventionally they would have done before? Whilst interesting to observe, it’ll be a concern for a number of people as a result of the dominance that they already seem to have over certain parts of the sport and the athletes that they continue to attract.
Notable Mentions
From the UK, crews from Nottingham RC, Newark, University of London, Clydesdale ARC, Reading University, York City and Westminster School are heading overseas though in far smaller numbers than the clubs that have been mentioned previously. With seasoned veterans and emerging talent alike, nothing can be said with certainty given the European competition that will be on show. Whilst you have elite clubs from the continent such as ASR Nereus and Frankfurter RG Germania, you also have crews entered from the Czech Rowing Association, Polish Rowing Federation, Swiss Rowing Federation and Fédération Française d’Aviron. There are few events in World Rowing that afford you with similar racing experience than what you can have at Ghent. If you’re racing, look across at your opposition and savour it because in four years time they could be on the start line in Los Angeles.
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