Taking to the River Tees this weekend we have Tees Long Distance Sculls and Small Boats Head. With a vast variety of categories on offer, it will be exciting to see who establishes themselves as early favourites for this event.
Long Distance Sculls
Open Quads
Leading off the day’s racing we have Tees Rowing Club Marriott, this crew placed 18th overall in the championship quad at National Schools’ Regatta; a phenomenal result. However, this was only over 2000m. Competing over a significantly further distance and the established experience of Sunderland and Chester-le-Street how will they fare? With the home advantage, Tees Rowing Club Marriott will be used to the turns and streams of the course potentially giving them the extra edge to have what it takes to secure the win.
Open J18 Quads
The Open J18 Quad appears to be a very popular category at Tees, with five crews competing. Setting off first, is Yarm School Boat Club, suggesting they are a particularly experienced crew, they certainly have previous boats and alumni to look up to with a championship quad placing in the C-final and Archie Norton gaining 2nd place in the B-final championship single at National schools. This category also has two crews from Durham School Boat Club, suggesting some excellent depth in the squad and some potential tight racing we can look forward to come the weekend.
Open J16 Quads
With only four crews competing the racing will be tight. First to set off is George Watsons Boat Club, who had athletes compete at the British Championships in the Open 15 Coxed Quad, placing well in the D-final. There is also some inter-club racing with two crews from Queen Elizabeth High School. Both of these two crews raced at Berwick LDS and were the first and second fastest crews of the day meaning they will certainly be ready for the rematch and will have fresh memories of how to pace a 5k race.
Open J14 Coxed Quad
For what is most likely their longest race so far, three J14 Quads take to the Tees. Leading off is Infinity Boat Club who have already seen success winning at Durham Regatta last year by two lengths. This shows that their young age does not stop them from competing at a high standard.
Womens J18 Double
With another five crews competing in this category, we should be up to watch some intense competition. First off is the double from Hexham Rowing Club. This double secured a confident position in the B final of the WJ16 double at the British Rowing Championships back at the start of the summer and also looks to have competed as part of the GB vs France Regatta. To their local opposition, this double is sure to leave a lasting impact. Setting off next is the pairing from Yarm School Boat Club who were likely part of the quad that medalled at National Schools’ Regatta 2024. These athletes also came in second place at Durham SBH in February in the WJ18 Quad, which indicates more experience than their younger opposition.
Open J18 Double
Another exceptionally exciting race over the twists and turns of Tees LDS is the six crews competing in the open J18 Double with the largest entry of three coming from St Peter’s School of whom are also all setting off first. The doubles of Green, Watford and Tremayne, all have athletes who competed in the Open J15 Coxed Quad at National schools’ Regatta, suggesting athletes must have what it takes to accept the challenge of racing 2 years above their own age category. The crew looking to top the results table will be Yarm School’s Sidaginamale double after having been a part of their Championship Quad at National Schools’ Regatta, gaining a similar placing to the younger competitors from St Peter’s amongst more experienced and competitive opposition which will likely result in them taking the win.
Women’s MasACEF Single
The favourite to take the win in this event is Homa from York City Rowing Club who was a part of the winning four at Henley Masters Regatta taking gold in a commanding fashion. Following her up and fellow teammate is Nicholson who competed at Henley Women’s Regatta in the aspirational quad and qualified to the heats stage of racing. This suggests there should be some exciting racing between these two athletes from York to see who comes out on top.
Women’s J18 Single
There will be fast competition in this event with Scarlet Palmer from Chester-le-Street will be setting off second who has a long list of impressive achievements including A-final at the National Schools’ Regatta, and a win in the WJ18 double at the Scottish Rowing Championships. She will be following Nicholson from Hexham Rowing Club who recently won Durham Head.  She was also part of the GB vs France Regatta quad and hosts multiple national medals. Both of these singles are incredibly fast so the battle for gold will be exciting to watch.
Open J17 Single
An athlete to watch in the J17 single is Ferguson from George Watsons College Boat Club. Ferguson is a spectacular athlete who has previously won silver in both the J18 single and the J16 single at the Junior British Rowing Championships and obtained his first British vest this year winning the GB vs France Regatta in the single. Will his power catapult him easily into first place?
Women’s J17 Single
The Women’s J17 single should also see some good quality performance from all, including Cain from Durham School, Milner from Bradford ARC and Matthews from Chester-le-Street, between these girls there is international racing experience, national medals, and many regional medals including the north of England sprints.
Women’s J16 Single
With nine boats racing it will be down to who can navigate the River Tees to see who will bring home gold. Wesencraft-Colledge from Lambton Boat Club races first and is a favourite to win after her performance in the double at Hexham Regatta where they won by 2 and a half lengths over the 650m stretch. She is clearly a strong athlete given her attempt at trialling for GB v France as a J15. But can she keep her speed in a 5km race? She will be racing Durham schoolboat club’s Tute who raced in double at the British Rowing Championships. Will both of these talented athletes be challenging each other for the win?
Women’s J15 Single
In the WJ15 single, there is an exciting race to look forward to, with a large cohort of athletes entering. Setting off first is Cambois-Lewis, who took an unlikely win this year at the British Rowing Championships; her first national single race. Followed closely behind is Gritton from Chester-le-Street who placed 5th at the British Rowing Championships in the double making for fast racing all round.
Small Boats Head
Open MasHI Quad
Two Durham Amatur Rowing Club crews race in this event. However, this is not the first time they have raced each other. At Durham Regatta 2024 Durham ‘Appleby’ and Durham ‘Merchant’ raced Durham’s regatta course leading Appleby to a win by 3 lengths. Appleby is faster over the shorter distance but will they still win over the 5km stretch of the river Tees?
Women’s J18 Quad
With eight boats racing across bands one and two it will be exciting how all the crews compare. George Watson’s College Boat Club will be the first crew to set off and likely to be the fastest to head down the twists of the Tees. Following closely behind are two quads from Hexham Rowing Club though racing in different bands it will be interesting to see which Hexham crew is fastest.
Open MasDFG Doubles
The Tyne Amatur Rowing Club Senior Squad have a chance at a medal with the first two crews down the track being their athletes. The crews of Sailbury and Kite both have athletes in which raced at Tyne single scullers head coming 3rd and 4th respectively. Leading us to wonder which double is faster?
Womens J18 Doubles
Hexham Rowing Club will be the first of the seven crews to set off in this event. This crew came 7th at the British Rowing Championships racing in the WJ16 quad and the GB vs France Regatta. Will they be fast enough to take the win? The crew from Hexham will have some fast competition from Chester-le-Street who raced up an age group at Durham Autumn Head 2023 in the WJ18 category and won. All is to play for to take the victory
Open J17 Doubles
A crew to watch in this category is George Watsons College Boat Club with the aforementioned Ferguson competing again. Will the power and success of this crew catapult them into first? Yarm School Boat Club, D’ambrogio is also in contention for the win after their impressive 7th place finish in the A-final of National Schools’ Regatta. So who will win this category of five incredible crews?
Open J18 Single
St Peter’s School Boat Club have a strong turnout in entries to this event with the first two band 1 athletes Green and Zauner. Second in band two is Hexham Rowing Club Cantwell who won the J17 single at Tyne Single Scullers Head. Could he be the fastest in band 2 and take his second win of the season?
Womens J17 Single
Graham from Cambois Rowing Club will be an interesting athlete to watch as she recently came third at Tyne single scullers head in the WJ17 single and first in the WJ17 double showing she is a talented athlete with the ability to bring back gold.
Open J16 Single
St Peters School Boat Club have a large turnout in band one of this category with four out of the five competitors being from the club making for some friendly rivalry within the club as these 4 boys battle it out over the 5k stretch of the Tees. Wrack from Durham School Boat Club will also be an athlete to watch after he medaled at the Junior Inter-Regional Regatta 2024 in a single showing his skill in the small boat.
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