One of the most anticipated spring events among junior rowers, the Junior Sculling Regatta is always guaranteed to be a fun event, whilst also providing strong competition and – hopefully – good racing conditions. This year’s WJ18 line up is very strong, so it will definitley be an exciting one to watch!
Molesey Boat Club – DUNFORD
Winner of the 2017 SportsAid One-to-Watch Award, Dunford has proven her credentials as a skilled sculler. Most recently, she has competed at the U23 trials, but has been making her mark for a while now, coming third in the J16 sculls at the 2016 junior trials. Dunford has done consistently well in both single and double scull events, having taken first place at the World Junior Rowing Championships in the women’s double 2017 in addition to having three first place finishes at GB junior trials. I would imagine that she will be the one to beat.
St Pauls Girls School Boat Club SPG-COWAN
Cowan has lots of experience in sweep rowing, having competed in both Fours and Pairs Heads over the years. However, she also came 6th in the J16 1x at the 2016 Brit Champs, and 3rd in the 2017 Scullers Head proving her ability in the single scull as well. The SPG rowing programme is of very high quality, with multiple alumni reaching Olympic as well as Oxford Blue level rowing, so it will be interesting to see how Cowan performs.
Northwich Rowing Club – WOLSTENCROFT
The Northwich juniors have a very strong squad, with multiple members having raced at both inter-regionals and GB trials in April. The girls J18 quad took silver at The Scullery in March this year, with good performances from other Northwich crews as well. Though there are no results from Wolstonecroft’s previous races, it will certainly be interesting to see her performance given the good results from other members of Northwich’s junior squad.
Fulham Reach Boat Club – THOMSON, ALLGAIER
Both Thomson and Allgaier raced in the 2017 Scullers Head, placing 4th and 7th respectively in the WSch/Jun division, and Allgaier also competed in the 2015 Pairs Head. Aside from this, the Fulham Reach juniors seem to be doing rather well this season, with two members taking 2nd place at this year’s National Junior Indoor Rowing Championships, and another participating in the GB junior trials in February.
Isle of Ely Rowing Club – JOHNSON
Johnson is part of the British Rowing START squad and was part of the crew which won the 2016 J18 coxless quad at Nottingham City Regatta, and then went on to take second place at National Schools Regatta the same year. Johnson also raced as part of the coxless quad which got to the finals of Henley last year, losing out on first place to Gloucester RC. This suggests that Johnson’s performance will be of very high quality, and very exciting to watch.
Magdalen College School Boat Club – WJ18.1x
Magdalen College BC consistently produces top quality rowers, so it is likely that the sculler entered here will do well. Whilst it is difficult to make a prediction for this race, the squad has always performed well in the past, so I’m sure they will carry this level of sculling forward this year.
Bryanston School Boat Club – BOND
This season, many of Bryanston junior’s juniors raced, and won, at the Avon County Spring Head Race. There is no information regarding Bond’s past racing history, so it will be interesting to see how she fares when faced with such strong competition.
Predictions:
1. Dunford (MBC)
2. Johnson (IEL)
3. Cowan (SPG)
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