The turn of the new academic year, alongside the nights starting to draw in, is a strong reminder for northern rowers that the Northern Sculling Series -(and the constant state of DOMS that comes with it!) is upon us. In previous years, the Northern Rowing Council has calculated an overal Victor Ludorum- from the six weekends of back to back racing but this year there will be no such award. Although this is disappointing, the feat remains the same; six head races, six weeks, six opportunities to win.
For those unaware, the sculling series is what it says on the tin. A month and a half of consecutive races – in sculling boats, with the opportunity to row sweep in the corresponding Small Boats Heads – in the afternoon divisions. First up this year was South Hylton (City of Sunderland RC), with the upcoming races being Tees, then Tyne, then Berwick, the penultimate race is at Wansbeck (Cambois RC), with the series being rounded off on the Wear at Durham.
Last year it was Tyne RC juniors as worthy winners of the VL; having built up strength in depth over the last few seasons. The movement of numerous juniors across the river, from Tyne United to Tyne is interesting and could have been sparked off due to Tyne’s recent succeses. Tyne currently have a number of successful individuals and particularly have strong WJ18 and WJ16 squads. Tyne are consistently strong and I would expect for them to be rewarded with many pots over the coming weeks.
Durham School weren’t too far behind, picking up many of their points with boy’s crews, particularly their J16 4x- who placed 5th at the British Championships at the end of last season. As these boys move up in age category, I would expect them to push for fastest boat of the day at every event they enter- they are more than capable of this. Last year their WJ18 girls placed 6th at the National Schools Regatta in the four, despite losing their strongest athlete to university, Durham School should have a strong enough squad to challenge in any boat category they choose to enter.
St Leonard’s School brought home third last year – where they were the only club to collect points across every single junior age category. Last year the school created some dominant performances in the northern region- with 40 event wins across all boat classes- including a highly competitive J14 2x, who placed 4th out of 60+ crews at the British Championships. This was the second consecutive year whereby SLS did not lose any rowers to university and so the momentum created by their current sixth formers is able to continue and progress.
Cambois provided fierce competition last year in every crew they entered – arguably their WJ18 squad being one of the strongest in the region. Their WJ18 quad were unstoppable last head season – it will be really interesting to see how the likes of Tyne and Durham School fair against these girls in the weeks to come. Cambois’s WJ18 single was, in no doubt, the most superior female sculler in the region – it will be good to see how this progresses and also see who will be able to step up to her level.
Chester-Le-Street will inevitably be entering the small boats categories en masse – despite their Henley Royal Regatta campaign being in the quad, they primarily tend to enter the single sculls – particularly through the sculling series. A couple of the prominent characters from CLS left the club this summer – including Adamson – one of their most successful athletes ever. Though, they do have strength moving into the J18 and WJ18 categories, for example their J16 2x who won bronze at the British Championships – which will put pressure onto the other surrounding clubs. I look forward to seeing how the club’s younger age categories perform against clubs similar to themselves, like Durham ARC.
Despite their youth, arguably it was Durham ARC’s J14 squad that were the flagship crews for their club last season. The girls picked up two medals at the National Championships and so should bring this experience with them into the, more challenging, J15 category. Another crew to watch will be their J17 girls, who are definately fast enough to beat WJ18 opposition from other clubs.
Hexham RC juniors have gone from strength to strength and last season they proved this with wins at most local events, wit their J14 boys and girls. Although we are yet to see them produce a competitive J18 crew boat – there is no doubt that their J14/J15 entries will provide great competition, as ever.
The lack of VL means that clubs that do not enter most of the series should still be looked at. Yarm School are likely to attend Tees and Durham and so at these events tend to provide great competition across the age categories. Their joining of the Yorkshire region made it unlikely that they would ever gather enough points for the VL, but their attendence at some of the series remains noticably impactful.
Queen Elizabeth High School recently appointed a new coach and so it would be great see how this edition to their already strong team has impacted them. QEHS will be competitive in the J16 events this season and their ability to enter more than one quad into most J14 and J15 events means that they should be successful in this series.
City of Sunderland, Berwick, Talkin Tarn, Tees and Tyne United have, perhaps, the smaller junior squads in the region yet, this does not limit their capability of producing some excellent crews. Although there are no points for these clubs to vie for this year (in the VL) they will still provide competitive racing across the age categories.
Ultimately, the sculling series provides juniors with valuable racing experience, which allows them to quickly progress and mature as scullers. The temperatures of the North East, combined with the challenging waters and courses of the region, makes it no simple task – but the chance to progress and better yourself every week makes it incomparable to any other junior rowing event.
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