This weekend sees the beginning of the head racing season in Nottingham. Over 100 crews will race the gruelling 6000m course in singles, another 100 will tackle the 3700m course in crew boats and 50 will race the 1900m course. Conditions are expected to be far more favourable than last year, so with no threat of cancellation, anticipation is building.
Women’s J18 singles
Leading the fleet of junior women’s singles are Elena Taylor and Naomi Williams of Newark Rowing Club. Williams has had a fantastic start to the season, coming second at Scullers Head two weekends ago, giving her confidence in the long-distance races. Taylor won the Junior 16 event in 2023 and came second in the J17 event last year, so she will be looking to return to the glory of her J16 year. Eleanor Gough of Leicester Rowing Club came ninth last year in the J17 category; however, given that the Wycliffe girls aren’t racing in singles this year, she has a strong chance of finishing in the top three.
Women’s J17 singles
This is the most entered junior women’s event with nine entries, mainly from the Nottinghamshire region. Anja Knight of Nottingham and Union Rowing Club leads the pack and is a contender for the win after a strong regatta season, coming fourth in WJ16 singles at British Rowing Club Championships. She’ll be looking to improve on her two fourth places, both last year and the year before, in the J16 event. Ella Hardman, also of Nottingham and Union Rowing Club, won the J16 event last year and the J15 short course event the year before, so will be looking to add the J17 title to her collection. Ava Russo of Nottinghamshire County Rowing Association (NCRA) performed well at the British Rowing Championships in the J16 quad last year, coming fourth by just two seconds: she’s going off third and is definitely one to watch.
Women’s J16 singles
Elise Stevens of NCRA is a force to be reckoned with in the J16 category, despite only being a J15. Given her two wins this season at Chester Long Distance Sculls in the J15 1x event and at Scullers Head in the J16 1x event, she’ll head in as the favourite for this weekend. Starting one place ahead of her is Sophie Coleman of Nottingham and Union Rowing Club, who despite having a disappointing conclusion to her regatta season last year, had a strong head race season, including second at the Oarsport Junior Sculling Head in the J15 octuple. Given that this is her home water, I expect a strong performance from her on Sunday. Maddie Walker and Jess Atkin from Trent Rowing Club both raced up in this category last year and performed well, coming third and fifth, respectively. They are now racing against their own age group so will be looking to improve on last year.
Women’s J15 doubles
This is looking to be a competitive event with seven entries. Leading the pack is Trent Rowing Club’s Bewley and Brutton, who won at Burton Head two weeks ago in the J15 double. They’ll be looking to add to their collection on Sunday. The NCRA double will know this course well and be looking to move up a couple of places from their fourth place starting position.
Women’s J18 quads
Wycliffe has become a dominant force in schoolgirl sculling over the past few years, and it looks like it’ll be a competition between their two quads for first place. Eleanor Lawrence-Preston, three seat of last year’s Henley-winning quad and stroke of GB’s U19 quad at the World Rowing Championships is one of the standout rowers in this event. Given that there are no Wycliffe entries in the singles events, it’s clear that they are targeting the quad. I look forward to seeing which quad wins!
Women’s J18 doubles
The standout double of the three competitors in this event is the Nottingham and Union combination. Amie Page has had some incredible performances over the past four years, like GB vs France Match, National Schools and British Championships, in sweep boats, so it’ll be interesting to see how she goes in a sculling boat. Her partner, Ella Hardman, is racing in the morning in the single.
Overall, we look to have an exciting day of racing ahead of us- keep your eyes peeled for some close results!
