A day for margins: Nail-biting racing stuns on Day 3 of the British Rowing Junior and Senior Club Championships

With minor finals coming down to 0.03 seconds, the senior 2000m and junior 1000m racing of Sunday’s Championships did not disappoint Holme Pierrepont’s crowd of spectators.

The sun was shining on day three of the British Rowing Junior and Senior Club Championships – although the temperature kindly remained below 20 degrees, giving our rowers cool (though windy) conditions for their races.

Senior championship events

Our first Championship medals (and dryrobe®)s of the day went to the Women’s Championship Coxless Four winners Thames RC (A), closely followed by Cambridge University BC and Thames RC (B).

The Open Championship Coxless Four category followed suit, with Thames RC (A) coming out on top, followed by Derby RC and a thrilled crew from Hinksey Sculling School.

Toby Reeve from Derby Rowing Club said, “it’s been an insane Championships. Two times gold medallist, now one silver medal – it’s been an incredible weekend really.”

Sculling powerhouse Reading University Boat Club won out in the Open Championship Double sculls, finishing ahead of a composite from Stirling RC and Glasgow RC with a Windsorian crew in third.

GB Olympic Pathway athletes Ella Fullman and Rebekah Court smashed it out in the Women’s Championship Double sculls, finishing ahead of Hartpury’s Chloe Sheppard and Ellie Dash. Third place went to a composite from Oxford University BC and Cambridge University BC, crewed by Catherine and Gemma King, who both won their respective Boat Races this year in Osiris and the Cambridge Blue boat.

Senior club events

In the Open Club Coxed Fours it was Hereford RC’s turn to shine (crewed by another set of brothers – the Frasers) followed by Nottingham RC and Auriol Kensington RC.

Derby RC won their second medal of the day in the Open Club Pairs – coming back from behind Nottinghamshire County RA after the first 500 to claim the top spot. Bronze narrowly went to Aberdeen Schools RA, after putting up a solid fight against NCRA, who ultimately took silver.

The Women’s Club Pairs were up next, and an emotional Leicester RC finished in pole position and took home the event’s medium club pennant – Nottinghamshire County RA won silver, with Gibraltar’s Calpe RC justifying their trip across the sea with a well-earned bronze medal.

Elsewhere, Warwick RC claimed the medium club pennant in several Club and Beginner categories. “We hadn’t realised that we’d won!” Said cox M. Gilbert. “We work really hard, we’ve only had a few boats here. We’re really happy with our results. We’re so pleased to come away with something.”

The Women’s Club Coxed Fours saw a development crew from Cambridge University BC take gold – much to the joy of their coaches, who jokingly commented “they’ve won gold, but they’re still shaky pushing off the medal pontoon – there’s room to improve!” Thames RC came second, followed by University of Surrey BC in third.

Junior events

Sunday’s 1000m  junior events were marked by a truly incredible set of minor finals, backed by enthusiastic supporters who could be heard clear across the lake, from the coaches shouting from their bikes across to proud parents cheering in the grandstand.

Our commentators were on their feet for the Women’s J15 Coxed Quadruple sculls as the City of Bristol RC crew came back from third to take gold on the surge 0.1 seconds ahead of Cambridge 99 in silver and Trentham RC in bronze. Liv Caesar and Lucy Holgate said “We are having a fantastic time – we can’t thank you enough for this exciting, tense racing we’re seeing today.”

City of Bristol RC coach Mike Katholnig said “we are super proud of our girls – they did an amazing race, it was really exciting! They pushed right to the end, well done guys!

Other nail-biting minor finals included the Open J15 single sculls E final, the Women’s J15 Double sculls C final and the Open J15 single sculls D final.

Curtis Dickens kicked off the afternoon’s major finals by winning the first medal of the day in the Open Adaptive Rowing 1 / 2 Single sculls.

Mark Dewdney, the Head Coach of Adaptive Rowing at Stratford upon Avon Boat Club, said “Curtis is one of 20 in my squad and this is the first time we’ve done rowing at this level, so it’s a great win. He’ll be rowing for England next week. I think it’s a great thing for us as a club!”

The Women’s Adaptive Rowing 1 / 2 Single sculls it was Maidenhead RC across the line first, followed by Sudbury RC and Guildford RC.

The second adaptive final of the day saw the Women’s and Open Adaptive Rowing 3 Single sculls race alongside each other. Marlow RC’s sculler A. Morris won bronze in the Women’s event behind the sculler from Boulogne 92 RC, making Morris British Champion.

In the Open event, Deeside Scullers won gold, ahead of Stratford Upon Avon RC in silver and Runcorn RC in bronze.

From the time trials to the finals, the close racing continued in the Women’s J14 Single Sculls event. The afternoon’s time trials showcased the depth of junior sculling, with Hinksey Sculling School ‘B’ crossing the line just 0.2 seconds faster from their ‘A’ crew, leaving the results of the semi-finals impossible to predict. In a tense A final, Cambois RC won gold, with Nottinghamshire County RA in silver and Bewl Bridge RC in the bronze position.

After a C Final for the books, the Women’s J14 Coxed Quadruple sculls saw a Clydesdale RC/Strathclyde Park RC composite win gold, with Trent RC in silver and Nottingham and Union RC taking bronze.

The Open J14 Double sculls A final saw Scotland reign supreme, with George Watson’s College adding another gold to their tally in a decided fashion. Marlow RC’s A boat finished in silver, with Bedford RC finishing in bronze. Falcon RC’s performance in the event was not to be forgotten. After finishing eighth in the time trial and third, 0.3 seconds behind Bedford in their A/B semi final, they pushed Bedford right to the line once more in their last race of the day, this time finishing 0.06 seconds behind their close rivals.

Sticking with the doubles, the next A final to come down the course was the Women’s J15 Double sculls, where Cantabrigian RC won out over Calpe RC by less than a second. Bronze went to Hereford RC. GB Rowing Team men’s coach and Olympic gold medallist Steve Trapmore’s daughter Anna stroked the winning crew. She said, “That was absolutely incredible, this has been so pent up. I’m so excited that we’ve finally done it! I couldn’t be with a better person to do it with”.

Walbrook RC overturned the dominance of Windsor Boys School BC in the penultimate A Final of the day, winning gold in the Open J15 Coxed Quadruple sculls ahead of two WBSBC crews. An ecstatic coach JJ Notter said, “These boys have let me enjoy the winning feeling quite a bit this year! It’s the whole club, our second boat is also in on the action – they keep lifting each other up so that atmosphere results in this performance. Every race we have turned up to these boys have picked up a gold medal, except for National Schools Regatta. My phone is buzzing right now from people messaging in various group chats congratulating them.”

The final medal of the day went to Durham ARC in the Open J15 Single sculls, finishing ahead of Hinksey Sculling School in silver and Scotland’s George Watson’s College BC in bronze.

Victor Ludorum standings after Day 2

Today’s results have seen Wallingford RC retain their lead in the Junior Victor Ludorum and move ahead of Lea RC overall, while Thames RC has now overtaken of Derby RC in the Senior standings.

Award	1st	2nd	3rd
Junior	Wallingford RC	Marlow RC	The Windsor Boys’ School
Senior	Thames RC	Cambridge University BC	Derby RC
Overall	Wallingford RC	Marlow RC	Hinksey Sculling School

The medals were presented today by the Chair of British Rowing Mark Davies (after a stint volunteering on the bank!), who commented, “It’s been an absolutely marvellous day with some great racing and it’s wonderful to see so many smiling faces. We at British Rowing always hoped we would produce something here that in due course would become an unmissable event, displaying the best of rowing at both ends of the spectrum. This is the first year that we are running the combined Championships, and I think today has proved that it very much does work. What more can I say? Everyone has enjoyed themselves, and enjoyed some good, close racing.”

Visit the BRJSCC hub page for full results plus details of the programme for the rest of the Championships and much more:

BRJSCC hub

Racing starts at 8am, tomorrow with racing for four Senior Championship and four Senior Club events over 2,000m, followed by 1000m racing for J14s and J15s as well as Adaptive single scullers.