The Junior squad was well represented at the inaugural British Rowing Junior and Senior Championships held between Friday, July 19th and Monday, July 22nd and produced some impressive results over the four days of racing at Holme Pierrepont.
This year is the first in which Junior and Senior Championships have been combined and the first time since 2018 that a National Senior Championships has been staged. From 1972 to 2012 senior and junior crews were both incorporated into The Championships, but in 2013 separate Championships for Juniors and Seniors commenced as a means of raising the standard of Senior competition. Junior Championships then continued each July, while the Senior Championships moved to October, continuing until 2018 but then being cancelled because of insufficient entries, awaiting a change of date and format.
Senior events this year were divided into Beginner, Club and Championship categories, with Lightweight, Mixed and Adaptive also incorporated. The race timetable included J16 and J18 events on Friday and Saturday, and J15 and J14 ones on Sunday and Monday, with each event scheduled for completion in a single day.
Because of the large number of entries each event commenced with a time trial to determine progression. All but one of the twelve Durham ARC entries succeeded in qualfying for finals.
Friday results were as follows –
Two entries in the J18 single sculls
- An incredible time trial seeded Will Terry in 2nd place, gaining a spot in the semi finals. He finished a comfortable 1st in the semi final. The final came around after a very long day and a strong row finished with a 4th place result in the A final.
- Luke Davison followed Will down the course in the time trial. A very respectable time after a mixed season with injury brought him a place in the D Final. In the height of the Nottingham sunshine Luke finished 4th in the D final.
A stacked field of top J18 talent welcomed DARC’s two entries in the WJ18 double sculls
- First down between the buoys were Grace Beattie and Louisa Scott, finishing with a place in the E final. in which they were unable to finish their race after needing medical attention whilst on course.
- Emily Rodgers and Olivia Heads.followed closely, gaining a place in the G final where they finished 5th, a fine result considering a late change meant they had no training time together before the race.
In the WJ16 4x- Charlotte Foster, Sophie Hancill, Izzy Maddison and Emily Rasmussen had a positive start to their campaign finishing 14th in the time trial, gaining them a place in the C Final. Going into that final second fastest their goal was to win it. They did exactly that with an incrediblely smooth row and clear water at the finish.
Saturday saw some excellent performances with two entries reaching major finals.
After another last minute crew change through illness the WJ18 4x- hit the water on a slightly cooler day in Nottingham. A 10th place finish in the time trial meant a race in the second semi final, in which 6th place booked a place in the B final at the end of the day, in which the crew of Sophie Hancill, Emily Rodgers, Louisa Scott and Charlotte Foster finished an impressive 4th.
Jonny Cleugh soon followed the girls quad for his time trial, finishing in 7th place from 56 entries. With work to do to guarantee a place in the A final, Jonny produced a masterclass to claim 1st place in the semi-final to book his place in the A Final, in which he finished 6th.
On Sunday a fantastic finale to day three saw a Gold medal performance from Quinn Mosley to win the J15 1x in the last final of the day, after finishing first of 56 competitors in the time trial and winning the first semi-final! His time of 3.37.44 in the final was a new Championship record.
Two WJ14 quads added to a successful third day in Nottingham.
- Gem Anderson, Florence Wilks, Scarlett Nicholson, and Poppy Holmes-Morris, coxed by Eve Hollowbread, provided a 3rd place finish in a very close run F Final
- Iris Mitchell, Elizabeth Belsey, Livvy Terry and Georgia Curry, coxed by Maddie Carty produced another 3rd place finish in a thrilling B Final after successfully navigating a 4th place in the semi final.
The J14 boys provided another cracking time trial in a large category with 53 entries, giving them a shot at side by side racing, this time in the E final, with Aidan Lawlor and Simon Graham (Durham School) finishing in 2nd place.
Sadly the WJ15 2x found themselves in the largest event of the weekend with a huge entry of 93 meaning an incredibly tight time trial that resulted in a large portion of the field being separated by a matter of seconds. Finishing in 41st position Izzy Maddison and Olivia Tute (Durham School) were on the wrong side of the cut off.
Racing continued on Monday but DARC had no entries for the last day of the Championships which included J14, J15, Beginner and Adaptive races.
Summary of results –
- J15 1x – Quinn Mosley – 1st in A final
- J18 1x – Will Terry – 4th in A final
- J16 1x – Jonny Cleugh 6th in A final
- WJ14 4x+ (A) – 3rd in B final
- WJ18 4x- – 4th in B final
- WJ16 4x- – 1st in C final
- J18 1x Luke Davison – 4th in D final
- J14 2x – 2nd in E final
- WJ18 2x (A) – E final (dnf)
- WJ14 4x+ (B) – 3rd in F final
- WJ18 2x (B) – 5th in G final
- WJ15 2x – eliminated in time trial
Results and places achieved were as follows –
- 1st, 4th and 6th in A finals
- 3rd and 4th in B finals
- 1st in C final
- 4th in D final
- 2nd in E final
- 3rd in F final
- 5th in G final
Results of all races are available at https://rowresults.co.uk/brjscc24
Event photographs are available from AllMarkOne.
Each day of the Championships was live streamed and is available to watch on YouTube by following the links on the Competition Hub page.
Well done to everyone taking part and to all the coaches, volunteers and supporters for contributing to the success!
As always the final competition of the season couples sadness with celebrations as members will be moving on to pursue careers elsewhere.
After an impressive set of results both this weekend and across the season Luke Davison, Jonny Cleugh and Emily Rodgers end their junior rowing years at DARC. Jonny is heading to Radley School, while Luke and Emily start University in September.
We wish them good luck!