This race was cancelled after JRN had created the preview.
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Another February, another run down the track for GB hopefuls in sunny Boston, Lincolnshire. The current crop of U23s has a good mix of seasoned veterans and exciting new talent, so racing should be pretty fierce. It’s also always interesting to see the current Caversham pairs pitted against the wider triallist community – will any of these U23 combinations get close to Britain’s top rowers? For this preview, I’ll be looking at specific combinations rather than individual athletes; the pairs that I think will be the ones to keep an eye on this weekend.
Gwilym Johnson and Edward Ridley – Newcastle University BC
This Newcastle pairing might have raised a few eyebrows when they pulled off a cracking 2nd place finish at the GBRT November trials – though they certainly didn’t come from nowhere. Both athletes have been part of the rigorous Blue Star programme for the past few years, and have gelled exceptionally well in the smaller boat. Johnson has international experience, racing for Wales at the 2025 Home Countries Regatta and winning the coxless four. Ridley was part of the GB men’s eight that won gold at the World University Games last year. They are both very technical and move the pair with a kind of aggressive ease. It will be fascinating to see whether these guys can continue to press on, or whether the field will have caught up with them; I would imagine we are in for another strong performance from these two as they forge ahead towards potential GB selection in the summer.
Patrick Wild and Gabriel Obholzer – Cambridge University BC
Wild is the U23 in this pairing – Obholzer, a triple U23 gold medallist from the GB U23 men’s eight in 2023, 2024 and 2025, has now aged out – but he is certainly one of the most promising strokesiders right at the outset of his U23 career. A former St Paul’s oarsman, he won The Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta back in 2024 and rowed in three U19 World Rowing Championships. At the U19 World Rowing Championships in 2025, he won GB’s first gold in decades in the men’s pair alongside fellow Pauline Alp Karadogan (now a Harvard athlete). Wild and Obholzer were invited to internal testing at Caversham last December, where they performed well against the strongest possible opposition; I think this pair is poised to perform very well at this trial, potentially catapulting Wild to the top of the U23 pack in his first year of trialling. Keep an eye out for the boys in Light Blue.
Josh Coulter and George Buckingham – Durham University BC
The second-placing full U23 pair (and fastest U21 pair) from November Trials, Coulter and Buckingham, will have their sights firmly set on their Newcastle-based rivals this time around. Coulter is a former Oundle rower in his first year at Durham; he raced at the Coupe de la Jeunesse last summer. Buckingham, an old Hamptonian, rowed at Coupe and the Munich Junior International Regatta in 2024. This is a young pair, but they are clearly efficient boat movers, and it will be very interesting to see what they can do this weekend and, more broadly, over the course of the season. The Palatinate is in an interesting position: it has dramatically stepped up over the past few years since COVID (after a prolonged period of relative mediocrity pre-COVID), but has yet to capture one of the big prizes at Henley Royal Regatta. Could the tide be turning? Certainly, young talent like Coulter and Buckingham will be instrumental in shaping the future of Durham University Boat Club.
William Morgan-Jones and Harry Wildridge – Durham University BC
Another Durham pair to add to the ones-to-watch list. This combination features the experienced Morgan-Jones, a Durham first VIII athlete for the past few years, who has already earned a U23 vest from the GB coxless four last year. He’s joined by Wildridge, the stroke of last year’s first VIII. These guys will likely be smarting from their November loss to the youngsters and will be eager to reverse the result this time around. This pairing has plenty of racing experience and an eagerness to compete; I expect to see them pretty high up the U23 results sheet.
Kit Gordon-Brown and Abdelrahman Farag – Imperial College BC and University of Bristol BC
An interesting, fresh combination here. Gordon-Brown, a former Radley rower, is one of the best talents at Imperial – a programme that is beginning to rise from a period of pretty lacklustre results over the past few years. Farag is a current fresher at Bristol, having just left the Grange School, where he was part of the GB quad at the Coupe de la Jeunesse. Both of these guys were in successful pairs at the November trials. Gordon-Brown’s combination with fellow ICBC athlete Henry Barham came home as the third-fastest U23 pair; Farag and Antoni Robinski, another Bristol athlete, were fifth-fastest U23. While, presumably, the Gordon-Brown/Farag combination is relatively scratch, these guys are clearly both talents, and if they can click together, I think we might be in for something special from these two.
Kai Schlottmann and Sal Dunn – Oxford Brookes University BC
One of the more experienced full-U23 pair on the roster. Former Llandaff rower Schlottmann has been a force at Brookes for the past few years, winning The Prince Albert Challenge Cup in 2024 and missing out on a Temple Challenge Cup win in 2025 to the exceptional Harvard Lightweights. He rowed in the GB eight at the notorious Netz Cup last year. He’s joined by Dunn, who is entering his second year at Brookes, and who formerly competed for GB at the U19 level, in the quad at the World Rowing Championships in 2024. Certainly a combination to look out for – Schlottmann particularly is long overdue a stint on the U23 team, and I reckon this will certainly be the year.
Carwyn Davies and Finn Mosedale – Oxford Brookes University BC
Another Brookes pairing, another chance for the iconic institution to show that it remains committed to forging towards the pinnacle of university rowing in the UK. This should be a quick pair. Davies was part of the Temple ‘A’ boat that fell to Harvard last year; he placed highly in November trials alongside Benjamin Ferris. Mosedale is also a proven quantity, having rowed in the FISU eight last year after a run in the Ladies ‘B’ crew at Brookes. I can only imagine that the internal competition within the Brookes system has remained as intense as ever, so expect these guys to come out swinging.
Alex Underwood and Luke Dillon – Oxford University BC and Oxford Brookes University BC
A rare joining of the forces between the two great Oxford institutions. Underwood, a long-standing OUBC athlete who rowed in Isis in 2024, then at Leander last year, looks to have stepped on in a big way this year; he seems to currently be occupying the bow seat of the provisional Blue Boat lineup. Dillon will be eager to use this pairing to make his own way up the internal Brookes pecking order; he rowed in a strong Brookes Temple ‘C’ crew at Henley Royal Regatta last year. I doubt these guys will have the power to hang with the front-runners, but I can certainly see them producing a decent result, particularly with Underwood deep in the Boat Race season.
Other combinations
There’s plenty of talent elsewhere in this field, including the Gater/Tolmie pairing from Brookes and the Heathcote/Bernard combination from Thames. The Tideway boys will likely have been somewhat disappointed by a middling finish at November trials, and will be eager to put their best foot forward this weekend. Aside from the full U23 pairings, watch out for James Purves-Liddelle in the Purves-Liddelle/Dean combination from Leander; Purves-Liddelle is a former Beach Sprinter, having rowed in the U19 CJM2x back in 2022.
Prediction
Hard to call a finish order, but I would certainly put Patrick Wild out front as top U23 finisher, as part of the Wild/Obholzer combination from Cambridge. Behind that, I think the Johnson/Ridley pairing from Newcastle will retain the title of top full-U23 finisher.
Best of luck to all crews.
Five Man
