British Rowing Junior Champs

The biggest ever British Rowing Junior Championships was held over the weekend of 19-21 July at the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham.

1,671 junior rowers and coxes from 131 clubs competed against each other in a bid to be crowned British Champions at the three-day rowing event. Junior rowers travelled from all over the UK for what will be the final major rowing event of the season for many of them.

Friday, 19 July saw the J14 rowers compete in an Omnium event, where junior rowers gain points, which are used to determine the winners of the gold, silver and bronze medals. Rowers compete in a number of events including races, skills tests and manoeuvrability. Stand rigger; Hands off; Slalom, amongst others, are some of the exercises that test their technical sculling skills and speed, before the day concludes with the J14 racing in quads over 1000m.

Harry Moule gave an outstanding performance in Omnium, coming third out of 63 competitors and winning the Bronze Medal. A massive Well Done to Harry for a brilliant achievement.

On Saturday and Sunday, J15, J16 and J18 crews raced in a combination of 1500m time trials and 2000m side-by-side racing.

Time trials on Saturday were held in very challenging conditions. A strong head wind created very choppy water, which is always a problem in a fine racing boat. Martha Bullen, rowing as part of the Isle of Ely Start Program WJ16 quad won the time trial with the fastest time, progressing to the semi-final on Sunday. Sam McLoughlin raced up a year in the J18 single sculls event against 62 other crews but unfortunately didn’t progress into the finals. Sam also teamed up with Byron Bullen in the J18 double sculls event competing against 30 other crews, where the conditions were very difficult, however they managed to progress to the D final where they had an excellent race to finish second to Tideway Scullers. Both their times were considerably faster than those in the C final.

Amelia Moule competed in the WJ18 single sculls event in a field of 40. Being a lightweight athlete, the head wind was tough, but she coped admirably and secured a place in the C Final which was another exciting race. Amelia was determined to succeed and rowed through some very good scullers to finish in a very creditable second position.

The last time trial of the day was Martha Bullen and Amelia Moule in the WJ18 double sculls. They had a solid race and finished second in a field of 25, progressing to the semi-finals. On Sunday they finished second in the semi-final taking them into the A final.

The finals on Sunday saw the Juniors continue to shine, as Martha Bullen competing with the Isle of Ely Start crew in the WJ16.4X achieved a GOLD Medal, and becoming British Champions. Later in the afternoon Amelia Moule and Martha Bullen competing in the WJ18.2X, won a Silver Medal. They had a closely fought battle with Hartpury College, missing out on gold by only half a length.

Amazing work and results by all Juniors this weekend, led sterlingly by Tony Moule’s coaching. Sudbury Rowing Club is immensely proud of you all!

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