The following review was compiled partly from a guest submission plus the British Rowing review, which can be found here. Imagery credit to Catherine King.
On Saturday, 22 July, in calm if rather rainy conditions at Lough Rinn, County Leitrim in Ireland, the England Rowing Team became the first nation to retain the Junior Women’s, Junior Men’s, Senior Women’s and Senior Men’s trophies at the Home International Rowing Regatta (HIRR). In doing so they also become the first nation to manage the impressive feat of winning all four trophies in Ireland.
All four nations enjoyed wins across the 36 races 2k and 12 500m sprint races: England won 24, Ireland and Scotland nine each, and Wales six. Wales took the first race of the day with a win in the Junior Women’s B single for Millie Hurrell (Hartpury University and College BC). Later on, the Welsh Junior Women’s Squad also won both the Junior Women’s Quad and Eight over the shorter 500m course.
The Scottish Rowing team saw wins in several events with a standout result for the Women’s eight securing victory in both the 2k and 500m course. The boat contained fresher rowers Josephine Briggs and Grace Dawson from Edinburgh University BC, who only started rowing in September 2022. This will be the end of a fantastic opening season for the pair, who also won at BUCS Regatta and took the Development Coxed Fours event at Henley Women’s Regatta earlier this year.
England Team Captain, Gemma King (Cambridge University BC) secured the first win of the day for England in the Women’s Lightweight Single. England retained the Junior Women’s Trophy for the 10th year in succession. This squad had several wins throughout the day starting with success for Sir William Perkins’s School BC in the Women’s Junior Double. This was the first time rowers from the school had competed at the Home International Rowing Regatta. The two scullers were then joined by scullers from Monkton Combe School BC and Marlow RC to secure victory in the Junior Women’s Quad over the 2k course. The Junior Women’s Eight, which featured Headington School’s NSR-winning stern pair and girls from Tideway Scullers, Surbiton High School, Kings School Canterbury and Radley also secured an impressive victory in a tightly fought race with the Irish crew coming a close second.
Moving into the bigger boats later in the day, England secured six of the eight races across the Quads and Eights events. The Men’s Eight in particular produced a fine display of rowing in winning both the 500m and 2k races, clocking an impressive 5:57.2 in the latter. The crew containing rowers from Durham University BC, London RC, Marlow RC and Vesta RC showed their full power coming into the last 250ms pulling away from the other nations to complete the course a full 7.6 seconds ahead of second-placed Team Scotland.
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