All the way back in September, I wrote as excitement built for the looming northern sculling series and stated that this year, the Victor Ludorum was Chester-Le-Street’s to lose, though, if anyone were to challenge them, it would be Tyne RC or Durham School. For nearly a year now I have been commenting on the impressive crews produced at Tyne RC and that they were the ones to look out for. Their hard work has, in fact, come to fruition as they took the junior VL from the sculling series, followed closely by Durham School.
A large factor to consider this year is that, due to adverse weather conditions, two of the competitions were cancelled, making each race all the more important to gain points. Tyne were one of very few clubs to even enter in all 6 races, which put them in good stead, especially when points collected at Berwick were to become so important. Over the past few years Tyne have not been about producing results, but instead about producing good rowers and this mentality is what has brought them so much success and arguably one of the best starts to a season for them in a very long time. They claimed most of their wins in the J15/16 age categories which shows that they should be able to push for this result again next year. There is no doubt about it, Tyne RC are the junior club in the north carrying the most momentum and it will be great to see how far they progress this year.
Just 3 points behind Tyne were Durham School. The Dunelmians had not entered at Wansbeck or at Tees and so the cancellation of these events was perhaps a stroke of good luck. If other clubs had managed to win at these events then Durham School would have struggled to finish so highly. They must be commended though, most notably their J16 boys quad who showed immense speed and are a great prospect for the future. After claiming most junior wins at Durham Regatta and now second place in the sculling series, Durham School look promising and will definitely not let Tyne ease to domination in northern junior rowing in 2019.
Third place was awarded to St Leonard’s School, just 4 points behind Durham School, despite not attending Berwick LDS. This is a truly excellent result for SLS, a club too often over-looked due to their lack of resources (especially compared to their opposition). Yet again they have proven that an incredible fleet of boats means nothing if you can’t move them quickly! St Leonard’s had a good mix of results, being the only club with points all the way from J13 to J17 and, as they currently run at full capacity, an exciting 2019 awaits.
Next came Cambois RC, in fourth. Most notably, were not just their impressive wins, but also the quality in the scullers they put out this year- particularly as their WJ16 double often beat WJ18 doubles and WJ16 quads. Cambois is home to the northern region’s most successful current junior woman; Jemima Furness – who showed incomparable speed and she will be pivotal in gaining more wins for the club in the season to come.
The club who will be thoroughly evaluating their performance will have to be Chester-Le-Street. CLS have been home to the top scullers in the region over the past couple of years. They have had more athletes than anyone else (from the area) in the GB system but cracks have been starting to appear, in what has been, a medal-producing factory over the past 5 years. Their lack of attendance at Durham LDS was a fatal error in their bid to retain the VL though, perhaps they made the decision to focus on the small group of athletes, they took to GB trials, rather than the club as a whole. How they bounce back now will be interesting. This will either be an anomalously bad result for the club or the beginning of a difficult season for them to take, as yet more clubs have definitely stepped up to their level.
Talkin Tarn hauled in 10 points, arguably down to their consistency in entries but also in strength of results. Being just 2 points behind CLS and having just a fraction of their number of members, shows that this, very small, club is more than capable of creating strong athletes. Most prominently being Ben Norman, their J16 sculler who produced some very fast times across the six-weeks, especially at Tyne.
It was a disappointing performance for Durham ARC in the VL despite having a particularly notable amount of success at South Hylton, including wins in J18 and WJ18 quads. They picked up just 4 points in total but, again, had some crews of a very high quality racing. Their focus will now invariably shift to turning these well-coached boats into victorious crews. I will make an early prediction for DARC to have a predominantly strong end to regatta season, fuelled with motivation after this upset.
Queen Elizabeth High School, Tyne United and Hexham all had competitive crews racing, at various events, but all failed to pick up any points at all for the VL. Had Tees and Wansbeck not have been cancelled then these clubs would have performed better and they must remember that fate of their season is all but written out for them.
The next major milestone will be JIRR trials, where we will get a feel for whether Tyne really are the best juniors this year, or if another club peaks to send the most juniors to Peterborough for JIRR. Until then, a lot of planning by coaches needs to be done and many hard miles put in by the juniors, as a thrilling 2019 awaits.
TheNortherner
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