There’s something about women’s fours on the Tyne that makes Rutherford feel different. Coxless boats demand precision at the best of times, but on this river — a cold, wide, tidal stretch that can turn spiteful without warning — they demand trust. Founded in 1966 by Dr Graham Matthews of Rutherford College, the event has grown from a small local fixture for shell and clinker fours into the largest rowing event on the River Tyne, drawing more than 160 crews each year. It has become a winter rite of passage for northern rowers; a place where Juniors rub shoulders with university squads, and where club crews who know every eddy of this river line up against athletes with international medals.
This year’s women’s coxless fours category spans two bands, with a depth of talent that promises both dominance and genuine unpredictability. With the frost settling on the pontoon and the Newburn Bridge looming at the finish, it’s time to take a look at the crews who will shoulder their oars, push off into the grey-blue cold, and see what the Tyne gives them.
BAND 1
Newcastle University Boat Club ‘A’
Newcastle’s top four remains a heavyweight combination, even with a late change to the line-up. Emily Shaw brings with her a silver medal from the 2024 U19 World Championships in Canada, earned in the coxless four. Fellow Surbiton High alumna Megan Johnston arrives with the same pedigree, having taken silver in the U19 eight at the World Championships in Varese in 2022, before adding a BUCS championship eight title and an Island Challenge Cup final at Henley Royal Regatta (HRR) earlier this year to her belt. They are joined by Mary O’Donnell, who qualified for the Island Challenge Cup at HRR 2025 and reached the final of the Colgan Cup at Henley Women’s Regatta (HWR). The crew is completed by Lucy Lindrea, an academic eights finalist at HWR 2025. It is a rare thing to see so much international and domestic experience compressed into one university four. Newcastle won this category at Rutherford last year, and this refreshed line-up appears every bit as capable of taking Band 1, and likely the entire women’s coxless fours field.
Edinburgh University Boat Club
Edinburgh University enter with far less public information available, but they are never a crew to overlook. They finished at the back of the coxless fours pack at Rutherford last year, though their coxed four took the win. Without Fours Head results to anchor expectations, their form is difficult to predict, but Edinburgh have long been one of the most powerful northern university programmes. If they’ve shifted their training emphasis further toward coxless boats this season, they could well mount a strong challenge on the Tyne.
Newcastle University Boat Club ‘B’
The Newcastle ‘B’ crew is a fascinating blend of proven skill and promising new talent. Rebecca Wearmouth returns to university racing after representing Lambton RC in the single at the British Rowing Club Championships this summer, where she reached the B-Final. Her absence from Newcastle’s 2025 Henley campaign makes her return particularly welcome. She sits alongside fresher Lottie Evered, a Waldegrave School graduate with a strong junior rowing background, and newcomer Jess Wiggs, about whom little is known but who is likely another fresh advantage for NUBC. Completing the crew is the highly accomplished Hermione Brewster, twice a Henley Women’s champion: once in club fours with London Rowing Club (2024) and this year in lightweight pairs for NUBC (2025). This is a boat with real competitive bite — excited, experienced, and well-balanced.
Newcastle University Boat Club ‘C’
The third Newcastle boat is young but carries serious junior credentials. Frankie Butters, formerly of Trentham and later Headington School, arrives fresh from a Peabody Cup campaign in the junior eights at HWR 2025. She reunites with fellow Trentham alumna Ava Fenton, with whom she took second place in junior quads at Chester Long Distance Sculls in 2022. They race alongside fresher Annie Collins from Wallingford RC, who boasts a Schools Head J16 eight silver medal, a HWR J16 coxed four victory in 2023, and a National Schools’ Regatta gold as a J15. The four is completed by second-year athlete Scarlett Conn, former captain of George Watson’s College Boat Club and a member of Newcastle’s aspirational academic ‘B’ crew at HWR 2025 and the Island ‘C’ crew at HRR. If youth, pedigree, and ambition could be measured in watts, this boat would be glowing. Expect them to race hard.
BAND 2
St Andrew Boat Club
Last year’s Band 2 winners return to a significantly tougher field in 2025. St Andrew BC’s standout athlete, Nina Mortimer, brings experience from the historic St Andrew eight that qualified the first Scottish Wargrave crew for HRR 2025. She also raced in this year’s Copas Cup at HWR. The club has been quietly accelerating through Scottish rowing circles and could be well positioned for another strong performance, especially if the conditions reward technical control over brute force.
Newcastle University Boat Club ‘D’
Newcastle’s ‘D’ crew brings together a surprisingly accomplished mix of athletes for a lower-band entry. Bow seat Nicole Manning, now President of NUBC, spent her junior years at Tyne Amateur Rowing Club and knows this river with the kind of intimacy that only comes from learning to row on it. She also raced in both the aspirational academic ‘C’ eight at Henley Women’s Regatta and the Island ‘C’ eight at HRR 2025, giving her far more big-race grounding than most athletes at this level. Alongside her sits Bea Ayers, another returner to the programme, and Nicolette Pagden, a fresher with serious junior pedigree from Henley Rowing Club, where she won the J16 Quad at HWR 2024 and Reading Regatta in the coxed four. The crew is completed by Orla Macdonald, also fresh from the aspirational academic and Island crews this summer. It may be Band 2, but there is nothing “development” about this combination. On paper, they have the experience and composure to challenge St Andrew BC and Tyne ARC directly.
Newcastle University Boat Club ‘E’
Newcastle’s final entry into this category, headed by bow seat Evelyn Woolley, carries more potential than their accolades might suggest. Woolley comes from Bedford RC, where she won Junior Girl of the Year in 2024, while her crewmate Molly Quilty arrives with physiological firepower, having won the 70-second Junior Women’s Challenge at the British Rowing 5-rings challenge in 2024. They are joined by two freshers, Izzy Bertozzi and Maddie Kaye, whose histories are limited but who now fall under the umbrella of NUBC’s well-structured coaching system. They may be young, but Newcastle’s lower boats have a habit of delivering unexpected speed.
University of St Andrews Boat Club
University of St Andrews’ women — known widely as Saints — have been building momentum across both coastal and river rowing. Bow seat Annabel Coe recently placed third in the women’s pair at Inverness Fours and Small Boats Head, an event Saints dominated across both senior and novice categories. The programme also boasts internationally recognised coastal athletes like Ryan Glymond and Cam Buchan, gold medallists in the mixed quad at the 2024 World Beach Sprint Championships. They finished last in this category in 2024, but their recent performances point to a crew on the rise.
Tyne Amateur Rowing Club
Tyne ARC took second in Band 2 last year and return with the same invaluable advantage: home water. Bow seat, Gilbert, will lead a crew that knows every tailwind, every curl of current, and every deceptive flat patch on the approach to Newburn Bridge. The final hundred metres of this race always carry an unmistakable roar from their clubhouse balcony, and no club benefits more from that moment than Tyne ARC. On a river like this, that familiarity is not a luxury — it’s a weapon.
Predictions
Band 1 appears, once again, to be Newcastle’s to lose. Their ‘A’ crew is an extraordinary collection of world-level junior athletes and Henley finalists, and it is difficult to imagine any boat closing the gap. The real contest lies behind them, with Edinburgh and the two other Newcastle line-ups likely jostling for position in what could become a tight mid-pack chase.
Band 2, in contrast, looks far more open. St Andrew BC, Tyne ARC, and the Saints (University of St Andrews) crew all arrive with credible claims to a win, and Newcastle’s younger fours could easily disrupt the expected order if they find rhythm on the day. Much may depend on the weather; calm conditions will favour the neater crews whilst gusts and chop will reward those who know the river’s moods.
Whatever the outcome, Rutherford will reveal more than just speed. On this cold, punishing river, the crews who thrive are the ones who embrace the grit of winter racing and find a way to move together when the wind cuts sharpest – and that’s exactly why I love this race.
