GB Senior and Under 23 April trials report
While the Senior GB Rowing Team was racing at World Cup I, the next generation of GB athletes took part in invitation-only trials on 13-14 April
The trials competed in singles and pairs took place at the National Training Centre in Caversham.
Olympic Pathway Head Coach Peter Sheppard said after the trials: “We’ve seen a lot of strong performances and competitive racing at these trials, and I’m looking forward to developing and supporting these athletes towards LA in 2028 and Brisbane in 2032.”
Douwe De Graaf and Dan Graham from Leander Club won the Men’s pairs. De Graaf has World Rowing Under 23 gold medals from both 2022 (M4-) and 2021 (M2-), while Graham has a bronze medal from the European Under 23s in 2022 (M8+) and finished fourth in the Men’s fours at World Cup III last year in GBR2.
The only Under 23 crew to reach the Men’s pairs A final – where they finished sixth – was the Oxford Brookes University BC combination of Louis Nares and Toby Lassen. Nares and Lassen had been stroke and bow of the GB eight that won gold at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in 2023.
Leander’s Juliette Perry and Amelia Standing won the Women’s pairs. Standing was a gold medallist at the the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in 2021 in the Women’s four, while Perry competed in GBR2 Women’s pair at World Cup III in 2023.
With all but two of the entries in this event being Under 23, all five of the other Women’s pairs in the A final were Under 23, of which Philippa Emery (Leander) and Jessica Martin (University of London BC) were fastest. Emery was in the Women’s four at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in 2023.
Jenny Bates of Oxford Brookes University BC won the Women’s single sculls. The fastest Under 23 sculler was Ellie Cooke of Reading University BC, who raced in the Women’s quadruple sculls at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in 2023.
Under 23 Matt Long of Reading University BC won the Men’s single sculls. Long raced in the GB Under 19 Men’s quadruple sculls in 2022. The fastest non-Under 23 sculler was second-placed Aidan Thompson of Twickenham RC/University of Surrey BC. Thompson raced in the Double Sculls at World Cupos II and III and at the World Rowing Championships in 2023.
Results of all finals
Photos of all crews can be downloaded free from AllMarkOne.
Mark Lees Award
The Mark Lees Award is presented annually to up and coming female and male rowers for their performances in the previous season. This year the winners were Miles Beeson and Vwairé Obukohwo, who received their trophies at the trials award ceremony.
Miles Beeson completed the ‘set’ of World Rowing Under 23 sweep titles by winning gold in the Men’s pair in 2023 to add to his previous golds at this level in the Men’s four in 2022 and Men’s eight in 2021.
Vwairé Obukohwo won the silver medal at the World Rowing Under 23 Championships in 2023 in the Women’s double sculls, having previously won bronze in the same event in 2022.
Photos: AllMarkOne
