Four members of the Junior squad came through Trials at Cambois Rowing Club on March 16th to earn places in the team to represent the Northern Region at the Junior Inter Regional Regatta (JIRR) at Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham on April 20th.
Results from the Trials are available here and other trials information can be found on the Northern Rowing Council website here.
The cost of the team’s entry to the JIRR is subsidised each year by income from the NRC’s Long Distance Sculling Series. The entry includes commemorative JIRR T-shirts for each team member and the team manager.
A squad of 88 drawn from 13 clubs was named by team manager Pauline Higgins for the JIRR which saw the North take on opposition from 12 other regions in England, Wales and, for the first time, Scotland, on the multi-lane buoyed course at the National Watersports Centre.
Organized by British Rowing the Regatta is for J14 to J16 age groups and consists of a time trial over 1000 metres to determine lane positions, followed by side-by-side finals over 1500 metres.
Quinn Mosley was one of two J15 single scullers in the team, while Izzy Maddison partnered Olivia Tute of Durham School in the J15 girls double sculls. Patrick Lakey represented Durham ARC in a St Leonard’s School/Durham ARC composite J16 boys Eight, and Rebecca Burns joined a composite J16 girls Eight that included members from St Leonard’s, Queen Elizabeth High School, Tyne United, Tyne ARC and Durham ARC.
The team selection included entries in 24 events, one being a Tees RC sculler in the adaptive 1x, with two entries in each of the J15 boys 1x, J15 girls 1x, J16 boys 1x and J16 girls 1x. The revised competition rules for 2024 meant no J14 single scullers but allowed each region to enter two single scullers in events at J15 and J16 level, with separate finals arranged for first-string and second-string scullers. Quinn Mosley was named as the North’s first string J15 1x and Ethan Thompson of Hexham RC was the second string.
The start order for time trials is here, and the race timetable here.
Fine conditions welcomed competitors from the 13 regions to Nottingham on Saturday for a full day’s racing.. Proceedings got off to a flying start for the Northern team with Quinn Mosley setting the second fastest time among the 26 entries in the J15 boys 1x time trial, completing the 1000 metres in 3.49.6, while Ethan Thompson was 3rd in the same event in 3.49.9, each qualifying for their respective A finals.
Next to start, in the J15 girls 2x time trial, were Izzy Maddison and Olivia Tute who completed the course in 4.04.9 to place 4th of the 12 entries and qualify for the afternoon A final.
The J16 boys 8+, including Patrick Lakey, was 8th of 11 in their time trial with a time of 3.20.7 taking them into the B final.
The J16 girls 8+, which included Rebecca Burns of Durham ARC, was 8th fastest of 13 in the time trial for their event in 3.53.3, qualifying them for the B final.
In the finals, contested over 1500 metres, Quinn Mosley achieved DARC’s best performance of the day to secure 2nd place and a silver medal in the first-string J15 1x A final in 5.49.66.
Izzy Maddison and Olivia Tute in the J15 girls 2x A final finished 5th in 6.07.39.
The J16 boys 8+ was 4th in the B final in 5.17.52, and the J16 girls 8+ was 3rd in their B final in 5.59.97.
Ethan Thompson of Hexham RC took the gold medal in the second-string J15 1x A final with a time of 5.57.55.
The Northern team’s only other gold medal and best performance of the day went to City of Sunderland RC’s only representative Elyssa Stoker who won the A final of the first-string J15 girls 1x in 7.31.42.
The JIRR offers an excellent opportunity for Juniors to take pride in representing their region on a national stage. All the results are at Race Information. Photos have been provided by AllMarkOne.
Medals were presented to winners by Deputy Event Chair, and former Durham ARC Junior, Jess Eddie.
Thames Upriver retained the Open and Overall Victores Ludorum, and East Midlands took home the Women’s Victor Ludorum trophy.
The Northern team won 2 gold, 1 silver and 1 bronze medals, gold for Alyssa Stoker (Sunderland RC) in WJ15 1x and Ethan Thompson (Hexham RC) in J15 1x (2), silver for Quinn Mosley (Durham ARC) in J15 1x (1), and bronze for Harry Shaw and Sonny Hughes (Cambois RC) in J14 2x. Strong performances all round saw the North take 6th place overall in the Victor Ludorum, 5th for boys events and 8th for girls.
A points matrix showing where points and medals were won by each region can be found here.
Having moved up from equal 7th in 2023 to take 6th place in 2024 the North was also awarded the Martin Humphreys Cup for being the highest placed region of those who finished 7th-12th the previous year.
JIRR volunteers 2024 – British Rowing
Durham ARC hosts Durham City Regatta on the River Wear Saturday May 4th and Sunday May 5th.