The Christmas festivities have finished, and athletes have returned to their universities and clubs, ready to dive into training as the spotlight shifts to the North East’s opening head race of 2025: Tyne United New Year’s Head. The event will feature some of the biggest names in Northern rowing going head-to-head over the 4,500-metre course upstream on the River Tyne. Division one promises a test of endurance and skill as crews contend with the stream, outgoing tide, and wind, while division two will commence just after the tide turns, adding an element of strategy to the competition.
Men’s Eights
Leading the charge and kicking off the first division is Tyne Amateur Rowing Club’s (Tyne ARC) first eight, stroked by Oliver Varley, an ex-GB lightweight who, in 2016, won gold at the U23 World Rowing Championships in the lightweight coxless quad. Varley boasts over a decade of experience on the Tyne, having previously rowed at Newcastle University. This season, he has returned to coach their men’s squad and row for Tyne ARC, which is sure to come into play when racing against the less experienced students who make up the majority of the field.
Durham University Boat Club‘s first, second, and third eights dominate the list of entries. They will be chasing Tyne ARC down, possibly attempting to secure a 1-2-3 in the results. Despite placing third overall at Rutherford Head, with Edinburgh and Newcastle now out of the equation, Durham’s first eight looks set to claim victory, having beaten Tyne ARC by 26.8 seconds over the same course less than two months ago. However, Durham are unlikely to be fully satisfied unless they can extend their lead further as they build towards BUCS Head in four weeks.
Prediction: I expect Durham University Boat Club to defeat Tyne Amateur Rowing Club convincingly. The latter will beat Durham’s second eight by a smaller margin, with their third eight following by a closer gap again.
Women’s Eights
The 2024/25 season is yet to see local rivals Newcastle University Boat Club and Durham University Boat Club go head-to-head after Durham scratched their women’s crews from Rutherford Head due to illness and injury. This means the opportunity to set a precedent of dominance for the season ahead falls on Saturday afternoon.
After a strong showing last year, Durham University Boat Club’s first and second eights outpaced Newcastle’s top two crews, and replication will be at the top of their agenda. The last time the two clubs met was in the Quarterfinal of The Island Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, where the crews taunted spectators, each taking and losing the lead at various points along the course. Newcastle ultimately rowed through Durham in the enclosures to secure a spot in the Semifinal, which they also won in spectacular fashion.
Both clubs will be looking to surprise the other because they have not directly tested their speeds against one another for six months and will aim to impress with their speed and technical prowess.
Prediction: Having won Rutherford Head by 13 seconds in late November, Newcastle University Boat Club‘s first eight are showing no signs of slowing down, and I think Durham University Boat Club have a challenging task ahead of them if they want to repeat last year’s success and set the tone for the season ahead.
Men’s Pairs
Fortunate to be racing in better forecast conditions than the women’s pairs, the men’s pairs event is stacked with trialists and GB hopefuls. Durham University Boat Club’s top pair, Charlie Warren and William Morgan-Jones, are well-versed in rowing the pair together, having won Open Intermediate Pairs at BUCS Regatta in 2024 and, only a few months ago, placed as the third full-U23 pair at November Trials.
Hoping to overturn the rankings from November are the other contenders in band one: four pairs from Newcastle University Boat Club, which include Ben Brockway, Lucas Bowes, Edward Ridley, Gwilym Johnson, Thibe Vandermeulen, and Harvey Orskov. All are staple members of the first eight, with some having achieved international honours for Great Britain and Belgium, earning medals at the Coupe de la Jeunesse and the U23 European Rowing Championships. These men know how to make a boat go fast and will do whatever it takes to secure a solid result ahead of the big day.
Prediction: I think the fight for the top spot will be between the pairs of Warren from Durham University Boat Club and Brockway from Newcastle University Boat Club. With all crews benefitting from racing on familiar water, it’ll be a test of watermanship to see who can best exploit the tide and conditions to maximise their speed.
Women’s Pairs
With only a fortnight between New Year’s Head and the GB February Trials, Saturday will serve as a dress rehearsal for hopefuls to test speed and combinations before the big day. This time last year, the newly formed pair of Newcastle’s Holly Youd and Durham’s Anna Grace won their category by a staggering fifty seconds. The duo only went from strength to strength, placing as the third U23 pair at final trials before being selected in the pair for the U23 World Rowing Championships in Canada, where they won gold.
Whilst it will be an uphill battle for anyone to knock the world champions off the top spot, especially at a head race on a regional level, the more interesting and likely closer competition will come from the other four entries in band one. Chasing the champions is Durham’s pair featuring Izzie Kennedy and Daisy Jackson. Having represented GB at the Munich Junior Regatta in 2023, winning bronze in the pair, Kennedy has tasted international rowing and will be hungry for another vest, while women’s captain Jackson hopes to win her first this year.
Six more rowers from Newcastle’s first eight will also be challenging for top spots: Annie Bates, Megan Johnston, Tia Lenihan, Lucy Thomson, Lucy Webber, and Scarlette Rijkse. External and internal competition will spur them on to deliver big performances.
Prediction: With the most experience in this combination and a world championship title under their belt, I think the Newcastle/Durham composite of Youd/Grace will claim victory by an even greater margin than last year. The remaining crews in band one will be more evenly matched, and I expect to see some very close times being posted.
About The Author
Discover more from JRN
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
