Following the Christmas break, students and seniors alike return to training and racing, looking forward to the warmer weather that will be upon us soon. As usual, the Tyne’s infamous 4500m course looks set to provide us with intense racing from some of the region’s fastest crews. Year after year, though, the Tyne proves a challenge for some crews, with the hidden mudbanks and the tide a test not only of speed but of steering, too.
Open Eights
Durham University Boat Club looks set to dominate the Band 1 Eights, making up six of the seven entries. Tyne Amateur Rowing Club are sandwiched between two DUBC crews and will be looking to defend their patch from the palatinate armada that is Durham.
In Band 2, it’s a Durham college battle with St John’s, St Cuthbert’s and St Aiden’s fighting it out with Queen Elizabeth High School leading them off. With the three colleges racing for bragging rights on the university campus, will QE be able to push away from the pack and lead a mighty charge to a band win?
Band 3 consists of another Durham college, Grey College Boat Club, entering two boats in the mix with Tyne, City of Sunderland and St Cuthbert’s rounding out the pack. Tyne will be looking to cause an upset and aim to overturn their band 1 counterparts, similarly to St Cuthbert’s, with their other crew racing up a band.
Band 4 contains 5 crews, most notably the nine-club composite between Manchester Uni, Sheffield Uni, Leeds Uni, Anglia Ruskin Uni, City of Cambridge, Derby Rowing Club, Loughborough Students, Lincoln Uni and Sheffield Hallam Uni. Drawing students from all over the country with different rowing styles and ideas, this crew is most definitely an unknown quantity, but could be one to watch.
Open Coxless Fours
This grouping of eight crews is evenly split between Band 1 and 2, and on paper looks set to be fast racing from all crews. Three DUBC crews make up Band 1, with William Rathbone, who raced in the Durham 2V at Henley Royal Regatta last year, hoping to catch his squadmates setting off before him as he aims for the 1V this year. Behind them sit Tyne, who year after year perform exceptionally well in the coxles four and will be looking to overturn Durham in their quest to see who wins the internal racing. In Band 2, Tyne have a further two crews jousting it out over their home stretch in an attempt to defend the chasing Sunderland and City of Sheffield, who are looking to build off their Wyfold qualification last year.
Open Coxed Fours
The coxed fours event contains five crews, all from Durham and its colleges. DUBC lead the pack with two crews, followed closely by South College, St John’s and St Cuthbert’s. With some of these college athletes potentially hoping to row for DUBC in the future, this event could be an exciting one to watch, the three colleges will be tussling it out 3rd place most likely.
Open Pairs
The open pairs entries may be small, but the quality is very high. Two St Cuthbert’s College crews have been split by the pair from QE, who, as the only juniors in this event, will look to outperform their age and aim to be up there with the two DUBC crews. Leading the charge in this event is the pair containing Will Morgan-Jones, who last year just missed out on the podium at the U23 World Rowing Championships. After finishing as the fourth fastest U23 at November trials with his pair partner Harry Wildridge, the ex-Yarm school junior. The top two podium spots in this event look safely in Durham’s hands, with third place, I think, going to QE, and the colleges battling it out behind.
Open Singles
The open singles contain just the four crews from Durham Amateur Rowing Club, Durham School Boat Club, St Cuthbert’s, and my own club, York City. Alex Press took the win in the band 2 singles at Chester Long Distance Sculls in September last year and has been training hard in preparation for this race. I predict it could be a close competition between Press and Baird of DARC, who has been on the rowing scene for a while and has become a regular single sculler.
Prediction
Overall, Tyne United New Year’s Head looks set to be an exciting race to kick off 2026. With a range of entries from clubs far and wide, the 4.5 kilometre stretch from Scotswood to Newburn will be full to the brim with high-quality junior, senior and masters crews. Many of the events are dominated by the home favourites, DUBC and Tyne, but, as we know from previous races such as BUCS Head, anything can happen on the River Tyne.
