Week two of the Northern LDS series takes place this week with the competition moving to the Newburn stretch of the river Tyne. More well known as the host of Rutherford Head and more recently BUCS head, this stretch of water although easy to navigate, often throws up challenging weather conditions, especially for crews in the region who do not train on tidal (and windy) rivers.
Alongside the usual clubs competing in the LDS series, this weekend Durham University Boat Club have a large number of entries, how many of these are “top” crews remains to be seen. It will be very interesting to see the early season pace of some of their athletes.
As was the case at Tees last week, there is also a Small Boats Head in the afternoon organised by Tyne United Boat Club which gives a platform for some interesting match-ups.
As ever, the volume of boat classes means we cannot preview all of the racing taking place, however, there are some categories that look very competitive, as featured below.
Morning Long Distance Sculls
The Women’s quads will be our first look at Durham University this season and expect one of their two quads to produce the fastest time of the whole division although they may be pushed hard by the Tyne Amateur crew.
The first of a packed masters field sees the Op MasCE quads crews from Hexham, Tyne United and Tees go head-to-head again. After a strong win last weekend, expect the crew from Hexham to come out on top once more.
The Open MasFGH quads features crews from across the north with Tees, Tyne United, Talkin Tarn and Berwick. Assuming this is the same Tees crew from last week, who had a big margin of victory on home water seven days ago, to secure a second win in as many weeks.
The Women’s MasFGH quads also has a strong entry list including Tees, Hexham, Tyne United and Tyne Amateur. As with their male counterparts, Tees looked very quick last weekend and expect them to continue a fast start to the season with another victory.
The Women’s J15 quads has six clubs competing, which is testament to the grow of junior rowing in the region. Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association have made the long trip south to compete with crews from Durham School, Hexham, Tyne United, Lambton and St. Leonards. This is going to be a very tight race, with Aberdeen the slight favourites.
Aberdeen Schools RA also feature in the Open J18 double with Tyne United, Durham School and St. Leornard’s providing the local opposition. It’s likely a head-to-head between Aberdeen and Durham school for a win.
Another good looking masters race will be the Open MasGI double. Although there was a huge win for Tees (Stiller) last weekend I expect Durham Amateur to be in the mix for a win, but this is too close to call between them and, not to forget the Hexham crew or second Tees crew!
We should see how some of the club based Open singles compare with the University scullers this weekend. Two winners from last weekend, Baird and Cleugh come up against Warren from Durham University in the top band, plus Gaskarth and Shaw from Tyne Amateur. Warren’s pedigree should show through here and expect a very fast time from him to lead Cleugh for a victory.
In the Open J18 single we might see the battle we hoped for last week. Davidson (Durham amateur) and Welch (Tyne Amateur) both pulled out of the race last Saturday while Cardnell (Durham School) posted a good time for second place at Tees. One of these three will likely provide us with the winner but it is impossible the predict which one.
The Women’s single looks like a time trial for Durham University with a few club scullers in the mix in the second and third band. There is little point in trying to predict the outcome of this, although keep an eye on Sellers, Kennedy and Rijkse who will all be quick. On the club side, Hayes from Tyne Amateur and Jeffries from Sunderland City will probably be the quickest non- Durham University boats.
In the Women’s J18 single, Palmer from Chester-le-Street had a great race last weekend, however, the local girls Seymour and Wildsmith from Tyne Amateur will probably lead the field on Saturday.
Afternoon SBH
Once the tide has changed and hopefully the wind has dropped, the afternoon sees the Tyne United Small Boats Head on the same stretch of water.
Three bands in the Open 4+ should give us some very close match-ups. Good to see some early season entries from the Durham Colleges, although in their band expect the Tyne Amateur (Porteous) to pick up the win. The Berwick/Lambton composite will be very close to the Sheffield City crew in band two and one of these should top the timing sheets.
Some very interesting and not helpful banding in the Women’s 4+ has placed a junior crew from Queen Elizabeth High School against a Durham University crew and an experienced boat from St. John’s College. Durham University should be a long, long way ahead of the other crews, however, what makes this category very interesting will be watching an early battle between the college ladies from St. Mary’s, South College and St. Johns, and whether they can keep up with the girls from QEHS.
The Women’s 4x- should be a straight fight between Durham Amateur and Tyne Amateur, and with an impressive victory last weekend, expect the Chatto crew from Tyne to secure a second victory.
Another time-trail looking event is the Open pairs. Tyne Amateur have six entries going into what appears to be an inter-squad selection race. We can expect the two crews from Durham University to be very quick and likely at the top of the time sheets with two crews from Durham School, both with very little sweep experience will be hoping to hang on to the senior boats.
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