GBRT April Trials 2025 – Men’s Senior Pairs Preview

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While the Boat Race may dominate the headlines in the lead-up to Sunday, Britain’s top athletes have been quietly preparing for an event that, while it might not draw crowds, carries just as much—if not more—significance: the GB Rowing Team April Trials.

In many ways, the April Trials marks the true beginning of the regatta season. Gone is the long, gruelling stretch of the River Witham in Boston—this time, racing takes place at Caversham, the home of GB Rowing. Over a series of intense 2K races, the event establishes a clear pecking order within the national team and offers a rare opportunity for athletes outside the Caversham setup to make their mark. With many Olympians having moved on after Paris or having yet to return to the fold, this set of trials represents a chance for the next generation to make a statement.

As ever, I’ll be previewing the pairs who I believe are the main players of the event – the ones to watch. At the end, I’ll offer a prediction of the top three finishing crews.

Matt Rowe/David Bewicke-Copley – Leander/Oxford Brookes

This is an excellent pairing of two athletes who have spent significant time at the very top of British rowing. Rowe is an ex-Shrewsbury athlete who donned his first GB vest in 2016, rowing at the U19 World Rowing Championships in the men’s coxed four. Another junior vest followed in 2017, before Rowe moved to Oxford Brookes. At Brookes, Rowe was part of two winning Henley Royal Regatta campaigns – The Temple Challenge Cup in 2019, and The Ladies’ Challenge Plate in 2021 – and was part of three U23 World Rowing Championship squads, winning gold in the eight in 2019. He made his senior international debut in 2021 at World Rowing Cup III, making the A-final in a development boat featuring Bewicke-Copley and future Paris Olympian Freddie Davidson. Most recently, having moved to Leander, Rowe was part of the GBRT1 coxless four at the 2024 World Rowing Cup III, earning a bronze behind New Zealand and Australia’s Olympic lineups. Matt’s rise over the best part of a decade has been consistently impressive, and he will certainly be eyeing a seat in a top lineup this summer.

Bewicke-Copley is one of the most experienced oarsmen at Caversham this cycle, having been a mainstay of the national team since 2021. He learned to row at Eton, made the U23 team as a junior in 2016, and was recruited to Princeton, where he served as Captain in the 2020 season. He rowed at four U23 World Rowing Championships, winning a medal in each and finally earning the gold in the eight in 2019. After Princeton, he moved to Brookes for the 2021 season, winning The Grand Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, and subsequently joined the Caversham squad. He enjoyed an unbeaten 2022 season in the M8+, winning World Rowing Cups I and III, the European Rowing Championships, The Grand Challenge Cup, and finally the World Rowing Championships. The stage was very much set for Bewicke-Copley to remain a part of the eight that would, of course, go on to win at the Olympic Games. Still, an injury in 2023 took him out of racing for the summer season, replaced by Olympian Jacob Dawson. This decision would ultimately take Bewicke-Copley out of contention for Olympic selection. Having undergone hip surgery, Bewicke-Copley is now back in fighting form and will be very eager to put his best foot forward this Olympiad. He is an incredibly talented oarsman and certainly will have a view towards making GB’s top boat for the World Rowing Championships this year.

This pairing performed well at the February Trials, coming third behind the top Cambridge pair of Bourne/De Graaf and the experienced pairing of Robson/Stewart. With the Cambridge athletes occupied with the Boat Race, I think Rowe and Bewicke-Copley will have their sights pretty firmly set on the win here – though if I were to hazard a guess, I’d say their relative strength is long-distance racing. Ones to watch, though, for the overall win.

Matthew Aldridge/Sam Nunn – Oxford Brookes

The sole Olympian in the field, Aldridge returns to Caversham after a short hiatus following his bronze medal performance in the GB coxless four at Paris 2024. Aldridge is very much a product of Oxford Brookes, and his time there was characterised by overwhelming success – he won The Temple Challenge Cup, The Visitors’ Challenge Cup, and The Ladies’ Challenge Plate (four times) while at Brookes (and subsequently won The Stewards’ Challenge Cup while at Caversham). He is now probably the most experienced international athlete in this field, notwithstanding his Olympic experience, with two World Rowing Cup wins, three European Rowing Championship titles and a World Rowing Championship win to his name, all in the British coxless four. The big question now is what form he’ll show after time away from racing. If he’s anything close to his pre-Paris best, it’s hard to see many pairing combinations matching the blend of rhythm, efficiency, and relentless drive that made him such a linchpin in the British four. But Trials aren’t about legacy whatsoever – they’re about present performance – and with a wave of younger athletes looking to make their breakthrough ahead of LA 2028, Aldridge must show he’s still the man to beat.

He is partnered with fellow Brookes oarsman Nunn, who had a difficult Olympiad last cycle. Nunn had been part of the four alongside Aldridge until the 2023 season, where he lost his seat to another Brookes athlete, Oli Wilkes. Up to that point, he had enjoyed significant success in the four, winning World Rowing Cup III, the European Rowing Championships, and the World Rowing Championships in 2022. On-and-off injuries have created a complicated set of circumstances for Nunn at Caversham, though he benefitted from a return to his alma mater last season, culminating in a win over Washington in The Grand Challenge Cup. Hopefully, the time back at Brookes will have given Nunn renewed purpose and confidence, and he will be eager to leave an impression on this set of trials. Partnering with Aldridge should make it that much easier.

Neither of these guys are pairs specialists, but they both know how to move the small boats, and their experience should put them towards the top of this field.

Will Stewart/Fergus Woolnough – Leander/Oxford Brookes

This is an exciting pairing, and I think they may well be the dark horses here. Stewart, who rowed at Newcastle before spending a year at Brookes as part of ‘Project Paris’, has a host of international vests to his name and was part of the original GB coxless four lineup that also featured Aldridge and Nunn, winning the World Rowing Championships in 2022. Stewart lost his seat to David Ambler but still attended Paris alongside James Robson as a reserve. He isn’t the biggest or strongest athlete at Caversham, but he’s a fearsome boat mover and is particularly adept in the pair.

Woolnough is a recent inductee to the senior team, having just graduated from Brookes. His development at Brookes was decidedly rapid. He was a member of the winning Temple Challenge Cup crew in 2023, and won in the eight at the U23 World Rowing Championships later that summer. The following season, he was a key part of the winning Grand Challenge Cup crew, and was also part of the unit that took home The Stewards’ Challenge Cup. He earned another U23 World Rowing Championships gold last summer in the top GB coxless four. He is a very powerful athlete but isn’t lacking in finesse, either.

By all accounts, this is a pair that is moving very well, and I think the experience and steady hand of Stewart will nicely balance Woolnough’s power. I could see these guys cracking the top three.

James Vogel/Archie Drummond – Leander

This pairing brings together two athletes on the cusp of significant breakthroughs within the GB senior squad. Vogel, a product of the Twickenham Rowing Club’s GB Start Programme, honed his skills at Merchant Taylors’ School and Durham University before joining Leander. He was part of the fantastic Ladies Challenge Plate crew that took the title in 2022, and has a good amount of international experience, rowing the pair at U23s back in 2018, and in the pair at World Rowing Cup III in 2021, and then the ‘B’ four at World Rowing Cup III in 2024. Vogel has been one of the top guys at Leander for years now, and to see him getting an earnest crack at the national team is fantastic – I think at this point in his career, he has more than enough experience to finally earn a senior World Rowing Championships vest.

Drummond, one of the strongest new members of the senior team, developed his rowing at Twickenham Rowing Club and was recruited to Washington, where he went from strength to strength and ended up as an integral part of the Huskies’ winning Varsity eight at the 2024 IRA National Championships. His rise to the top of British rowing has been incredibly impressive to see from the outside, given his relative lack of experience and accolades.

This pair showcased their potential at the February Trials, finishing fourth – just a second behind Rowe and Bewicke-Copley. By all accounts, this pairing has been going from strength to strength, and I think they’ll be ones to watch this weekend.

Dan Graham/Jake Wincomb – Leander/Oxford Brookes

Graham is another hugely experienced Leander oarsman who has been on the fringes of the British team for some time but has yet to earn a senior World Rowing Championship vest. A Northerner, Graham started at Tyne United RC before studying at Newcastle and was a pivotal member of Leander’s 2022 Ladies Challenge Plate crew that dispatched a talented Cal Berkley boat in the final. He has twice represented GB at the senior level in development boats – in the GBRT2 coxless four at World Rowing Cup III 2023 and the GBRT1 coxless four at World Rowing Cup III 2024, winning a bronze alongside Rowe. He is a fantastically technical athlete – not the most powerful guy, but a smooth, long and efficient rower.

He is partnered with Wincomb, one of the top guys at Brookes for the past few years. His multiple Henley wins with Brookes (in The Grand Challenge Cup, The Stewards’ Challenge Cup, The Ladies’ Challenge Plate and The Temple Challenge Cup) and his three U23 World Rowing Championships gold medals speak for themselves. He is a smaller athlete but is a savage racer and is incredibly effective as a boat mover, as are several of his Brookes contemporaries (Woolnough, Louis Nares, Matt Heywood and Toby Lassen to name a few).

While raw power may be a weakness for this pair, Graham and Wincomb are exceptionally technically savvy rowers, and I think they may well slip under the radar in a hunt for the podium.

Toby Lassen/Tom Ballinger – Oxford Brookes/Leander

Lassen is a Brookes stalwart. He has been instrumental in the club’s dominance at Henley Royal Regatta, securing victories in The Temple Challenge Cup, The Visitors’ Challenge Cup and The Grand Challenge Cup. His tenure at Brookes has also seen him earn two golds in the eight at the 2023 and 2024 U23 World Rowing Championships. A former Great Marlow School oarsman, he is truly a testament to the Brookes machine’s ability to develop athletes into truly formidable competitors.

Leander’s Ballinger is similarly distinguished on the water without much senior international experience. He’s been a key member of top Leander crews over the last few years, including the winning 2022 Ladies’ Challenge Plate, and he made his senior international debut at the 2024 World Rowing Cup III in Poznań, Poland as part of the GBRT2 men’s four. He is yet another athlete who relies more on technical skill than raw power, as seems to be the case with much of this new generation of top British rowers – something that should make this set of trials all the more competitive.

I don’t think these guys will have the speed to hang with the top crews in this category, but they are certainly no slouches and will be aiming for the A-final.

Josh Bowesman-Jones/Miles Beeson – Leander

This is an interesting new combination. Bowesman-Jones developed at Radley College before joining Oxford University, where he competed for the Dark Blues. He lost in the Blue Boat at Ely in 2021 but won in Isis on the Tideway a year later. He was part of the excellent eight that secured gold at the 2021 U23 World Rowing Championships, and in 2024, he was a member of the Leander Club crew that surprised Brookes to win The Visitors’ Challenge Cup’.

Miles Beeson, from Aberdeen Schools Rowing Association, attended Yale University, where he was a fixture of the First Varsity. Internationally, Beeson has been a consistent performer for GB, securing gold medals in the U23 BM8+ (2021), BM4- (2022), and, most impressively, the BM2- (2023) at the U23 World Rowing Championships. He was named British Rowing’s U23 Male Athlete of the Year and made his senior debut in the GBRT2 coxless four at World Rowing Cup III in 2024, alongside Ballinger and Vogel.

While they may not yet have the senior accolades of some of the top pairs in this field, they both have a clear upward trajectory, and Bowesman-Jones will be eager to prove he deserves a look. Their performance at Caversham could signal their readiness to step onto the senior international stage in earnest.

Prediction

This is a very tricky race to predict. The squad at Caversham seems flat at the moment, with significant experience and prowess across the entire field without any absolute ‘superstar’ standouts. The athletes with the most international decoration in this field should lead the charge, but I have a sneaking suspicion that some of the smaller, more overtly technical pairs might cause some upsets. That being said, I will go with the safest prediction here: Aldridge/Nunn to take the win, with Rowe/Bewicke-Copley in second. Third will be hotly contested, but I’m going to give Vogel/Drummond the shout.

Good luck to all crews.

Five Man

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