The last of the Northern Long Distance Sculling series, Durham LDS involves careful steering, a narrow bridge and fast paced racing. With winter training kicking off, these crews will be glad for a shorter race over 1800m to mix things up.
Open Quads
Starting off the day is the Op 4x-, with Tees Merriot being the same crew that won Tees LDS a month ago. Following them down the course is Yarm School Atkinson-Talib, who placed second in the same category at Tees Small Boats Head, but are racing the J18 4x this weekend. This will surely be a tight race between the two crews given both placed third overall at Tees. Another J18 quad is St Leonards School Roffe, who placed second at the LDS with a slightly faster time than Yarm which should provide an excellent close race to the line. The OpMas DE 4x has a huge influx of entries, with a Durham/Hexham/Tyne composite leading the race. This is the same crew that has already won races this season and was frequently seen topping the leaderboard throughout past regatta seasons, showing a consistently strong crew.
Women’s Quads
In the W4x, Yarm School are racing a huge cohort of Tyne quads, and I believe them to be the likely winners due to their success in qualifying for Henley Royal Regatta this year. In the WJ17 4x we have Durham ARC Anderson leading the pack, a crew who have been very successful over regatta season, often racing up an age category and still making finals. Without Lambton there for their usual fights for gold, Durham should be taking the win this weekend. In the WJ15 quads, we have Tees, Yarm, Durham and St. Leonard’s, two sets of crews that will know each other very well. The latter two will have the benefit of knowing the river, however Durham came out ahead of the rest at Tees LDS with Yarm not too far behind, meaning these two will surely be fighting for the medal.
Open Doubles
With yet another Yarm crew to barrel down the course, the J18 2x Baines looks set to take the win over Hexham and Talkin Tarn ARC with their experience together and collection of medals won. The J16 doubles looks a very exciting category with particularly fast crews hailing from Cambois: Shaw, Hexham: Gould and Infinity Boat Club: Murphy. However the Cambois crew look likely to have the fastest time, having won almost every regional race, and already having national medals together including silver at British Champs and gold at JIRR.
Women’s Doubles
The WJ18 doubles are lead out by the very experienced Hexham: Pugh crew, with both athletes having competed internationally and owners of many national medals. They look like likely contenders for the medal, however Durham: Foster must not be forgotten as they seem to have been in many a close race with Hexham, and are just getting closer every time. In the WJ17 2x we have another four crews racing, half of which are local Durham School athletes who should know the course well and have no issues with steering which is a huge advantage in this race.
Open Singles
Op 1x is lead out by Durham: Baird, an athlete very used to the single as well as the course Baird is sure to be powering down the wear on Saturday, with his eyes on a medal. The J18 1x hosts Hexham: Marston: an athlete previously from Queen Elizabeth High School, he has already won at Tees Head this season, giving us hope he might repeat the performance again at Durham. The J16 category is bursting, and Band 1 includes two Chester-le-Street ARC athletes who were part of a medal winning quad at the British Championships and likely to have a friendly battle for first and second. Also featuring in the start order is Infinity Boat Club: Murphy. Having already raced in division 1, his legs may be sore, but his performances at Head of the Don show this should be no issue for him.
Women’s Singles
With limited entries into these categories, it looks like most races will be close to the line with the athletes being able to see each other all the way down the course, however a notable entry in the WJ16 1x is Chester-Le-Street: Gritton. Having placed second at Champs in the single and third at JIRR, she is clearly a strong athlete over this distance, likely to be fighting against some of the older athletes for times.
