Under blue skies and increasing anticipation of the reduced six lanes of Holme Pierrepont, the girls’ championship single sculls at the 2025 National Schools’ Regatta promises to be one of the most challenging events, requiring grit to battle with the wind and waves of Holme Pierrepont and extreme resilience as one of the slower boat classes across the regatta. With some fierce junior scullers converging from across the UK, this year’s lineup will showcase seasoned athletes and international aspirations, pushing each other on.
Briony Wood – Glasgow Academy Rowing Club
First off in the time trial—perhaps a sign of things to come—Wood comes into the weekend as the favourite. A dominant force since her early years, she won the event as a young 15-year-old and repeated the feat in 2024. Due to ongoing injuries, she has not attended many GB trials or significant races this season, but will undoubtedly bring her A game this weekend.
Scarlett Palmer – Chester Le Street Amateur Rowing Club
Palmer arrives with force this year after finishing eighth in last year’s event. Back for blood, she’s raised her game in 2025, boasting an impressive third place at EIDs earlier this year and coming away from April trials with a solid 15th place. She has shown her high standard and will be eyeing up a medal this weekend.
Ella McDougall – Barn Elms Rowing Club
McDougall returns to the National Schools’ Regatta after placing seventh last year and winning the women’s Junior 16 singles at the British Championships last year. Two weeks ago, she achieved second place at the Junior Sculling Regatta in the Junior 17 single. Representing Barn Elms, a club well known for producing top single scullers, McDougall carries experience and expectation. She will aspire to improve her performance from last year; she’s well placed to challenge for a spot on the podium.
Harriett Bray – Hartpury University & College Boat Club
Bray joins as a wildcard this year. After missing much of the season due to injury, she arrives at the National Schools’ Regatta with limited racing at her back, but with a strong track record to her name. In 2024, she represented Hartpury in their victory in the women’s Junior 16 quads category, showcasing her determination. Hartpury are a club renowned for its strong pedigree of scullers (hark back to their four-year winning streak in The Diamond Jubilee Challenge Cup from 2014 to 2017) plus silverware in this event (Catherine Gardner collected silver in 2024), so Bray will be hoping to carry forward their legacy.
Seren Page – Nottingham Rowing Club
Another sculler to roll off the conveyor belt of talent at the much-revered Nottingham Rowing Club, Page placed ninth at the November GBRT U19 Trials after placing first in the B-final of the quad at this event last year. She followed her November performance up by placing eighth in the single and then eighth again in the double at the February GBRT U19 Trials, so will arrive on home water as one of the stand-out favourites for a tilt at the Internationals Cup.
Jemima Aspinall – University Rowing Aberdeen
Aspinall picked up a silver and a bronze as part of the GB women’s four at the 2024 Coupe de la Jeunesse, so her entry into the fray here has to be taken seriously. She is a gifted athlete with both one oar and two, having also won the Groton School Challenge Cup at Henley Women’s Regatta and the championship girls’ coxed four title at the National Schools’ Regatta last summer.
Maisie Brittles – Warrington Rowing Club
A mainstay of the Northern rowing scene, Warrington are renowned for creating gifted young scullers and helping propel them onto greater heights. Brittles may be the next example of this; she won the Junior Inter-Regional Regatta in 2024 in the single and has been in fierce battle with the aforementioned McDougall for some time now, having finished second in the women’s Junior 16 single at the British Rowing Junior and Senior Club Championships last summer. She finished third in the women’s Junior 17 single category at the Junior Sculling Regatta, again behind McDougall and Walton’s Holly Weddell. If she has found speed since placing 27th at the February GBRT U19 Trials, we can expect a strong performance here.
Anja Knight – Nottingham and Union Rowing Club
Amidst the resurgence of Nottingham as a key provider of rowing talent, the rise of Nottingham and Union‘s junior squad has not gone unnoticed. A glistening part of that rise has been the steady progression of Anja Knight, who takes to the water with age-group accolades to boot; she won the women’s Junior 16 singles at the Junior Sculling Regatta a little over two weeks ago and also holds a handful of U12 female world records on the RP3. Her performance will be an excellent indicator of what to expect from this prodigious talent over the coming years.
Prediction
It will be interesting to see how these scullers fare in the challenging Nottingham conditions. I predict that if Briony Wood has fully recovered from her injuries, her smooth and efficient style will empower her to come away with gold. I think Ella McDougall will win silver, and Seren Page will battle for a bronze.
