Vesta Scullers Head of the River 2023 – View from the Towpath

We’re back, baby. The 23/24 season began as all great rowing seasons should – a balmy morning on the Tideway, the last vestiges of a summer stretching in a pale blue sky. Hundreds of scullers took to the water for the first of the staple Tideway heads, taking on the reverse championship course as a cobweb-shaker and dust-settler. Let’s take a little look at what happened.

Men’s Racing

Jamie Copus swung through to claim the men’s headship, fresh off the back of representing the USA in the lightweight quad at the 2023 World Rowing Championships. Jamie is a stalwart of the domestic racing scene and after falling out of love with the British system, he’s gone to ply his trade overseas. Seeing Oxford Brookes at the top of the tree is not an uncommon sight in UK rowing but Jamie was pushed hard by the boys from Leander, namely Rory Harris and Oliver Costley. Both will be hoping to make a dent in the senior squad for the LA Olympiad.

Philip Wolfensberger had the scull of his life to place seventh overall and win the junior category by a convincing 20 seconds over Byron Richards of Leander Club. Philip is one of the country’s most gifted oarsmen – a junior world international and Henley winner – but his prowess in the scull was not exactly his calling card before last weekend. A devastating cameo. Slightly disturbingly for peers in the junior men’s sweep bracket, Alp Karadogan – the junior world champion and prodigious 16-year-old talent – was winner of the J17 category in a time that would have placed him second behind Philip in the J18 division and 11th overall.

Reading University Boat Club had a good day out on the Thames as Josh Lyon took home the U23 pennant ahead of his team-mates and M Long won lightweight honours. Jamie Kirkwood showed that transitioning into the Masters category hasn’t profoundly slowed him down as he won his category by four seconds and finished 14th overall in ASL colours.

Women’s Racing

Georgia Miansarow is the new name on the block as she pitched up to take the women’s headship on her opening bow on UK soil. A former Rowing Australia athlete, Georgia has U23 and senior world championship medal pedigree and it will be interesting to see if and where she continues her sculling exploits. Katie Mole of the University of Birmingham was some 19 seconds back but finishing second in the championship category, beating out Georgie Robinson-Ranger. Jenny Bates picked up where she left off last season by striking hard to win the women’s senior category. On the junior side, it was Wycliffe’s day in the sun as Greg Flower’s charges re-emerged on the domestic scene with a vengeance. Eloise Etherington won the J18 category, nine seconds clear of her compatriot Lily Martin. Wycliffe scullers occupied places one to six in the J18 category whilst Lily Anderson took the J17 prize by over 15 seconds.

Where does this leave us heading into the thick of the head racing season? It would be unwise to draw too many conclusions at this stage. Most athletes are only a few weeks into their program for the year and early-season speed does not win you national summertime medals. That said, Wycliffe and St Paul’s have laid down impressive early markers on the junior side and were both beaten finalists at last year’s Henley Royal Regatta – what is it they say about revenge?

Bring on the next few months.

About The Author

Tom Morgan

Tom is the Founder of JRN. He has been creating content around rowing for over a decade and has been fortunate enough to witness some of the greatest athletes and races to ever grace our sport.

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