As the fourth race in the Northern Rowing Long Distance Sculls series, 66 crews will be battling it out over the tidal stretch of water in Berwick. With a mix of junior, open and master’s crews, it should be an exciting day of racing on a challenging course.
Junior Crews
Chester-Le-Street Amateur Rowing Club has a large cohort of both juniors and seniors racing this weekend. Beau Gritton, who finished second at the 2025 British Rowing Championships in the Women’s Junior 15 Single, will be taking to the water on Saturday, with hopes of pushing on as a J16 and perhaps towards a GB vs France appearance next summer.
Owen Thornton from Cambois Rowing Club will be another junior athlete looking to make more progress from his 24-25 season. After a strong performance at the National Schools Regatta and at the GB U19 Trial Regatta, Thornton will be looking to further push himself towards the junior national team.
The junior doubles looks like it will be a competition between the previously mentioned Cambois Rowing Club and Chester-Le-Street across all age groups. On a course like Berwick’s though, the winners will be decided on whoever can keep a cool head and navigate the tidal waters the best.
Masters/Open Crews
Susanna Youlton, again from Chester-Le-Street, is the only Senior Women’s single competing at Berwick, but should have no difficulty in claiming the overall fastest women’s single of the day. The 2025 Home International Regatta silver medalist in Junior Women’s Singles has been on fine form this season, recently claiming victory at Tees Long Distance Sculls in both the single and double, partnering up with junior Beau Gritton.
The Master’s crews make up the largest amount of entries on Saturday, with a range of crews battling it out over the 5000m stretch of water. In the Master’s DFI coxless quad, the composite crew from Durham Amateur Rowing Club, Hexham Rowing Club and Tyne Amateur Rowing Club could prove to be an interesting match up. With their collective experience from three different clubs, it will be interesting to see how they perform.
The Masters GH Doubles category contains four entries, and looks set to be a tight race. With crews from Tees Rowing Club, Tyne Amateur Rowing Club and Hexham Rowing Club competing, this could be one of the categories to keep an eye on.
