Across The Line: Early season statements in Reading and the Northern Long Distance Sculling series is in Tees
Your weekly roundup of all the racing action across the UK, and the GB Beach Sprint team race internationally
Credit: AllMarkOne
We’re Across The Line! Join us to look back on a massive weekend of rowing from Tees to Reading and everything in between!
Hundreds of boats racing at Reading Small Boats Head
Reading RC hosted three divisions of racing, each over 3500m. Marlow RC had a good day out with the Open J18 Quadruple Scull, topping its category and beating Reading University BC’s top Intermediate boat by two seconds. It was one of several dominant performances from its J18 squad of athletes. The Marlow RC combination of Eve Pinsent and Lauren Kennedy won the Women’s Band 1 J18 Double Sculls and the club also picked up the win in the Band 2 event. Not to be out done, the club’s J15 boys won their Band 1 Coxed Quad race as well.
Eton College BC showed promise across the Fours. The school, who lost to St Paul’s School BC on the Friday of the Princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup, picked up three wins across the Open Intermediate and Beginner Coxed Fours as well finishing first, second, and third in the Open Coxless Fours. The boys of Eton also won the Open Coxless Pairs. Reading Blue Coat School BC also had a good day at the races in the Fours. Their boys took a trio of wins in the Coxed Fours across the J18, J17, and J15 events.
Henley RC were another standout performer, with wins across the age groups. The girls won the Women’s J17 Coxed Four and the Women’s J16 Quadruple Sculls, while their boys left victorious in the J16 Coxless Fours and Double Sculls as well as the Open J14 Coxed Quads.
Across the Women’s J15 Coxed Quad, 27 boats raced across the four bands, producing four different winners. Congratulations to Sir William Perkins School BC, Surbiton High School BC, Lady Eleanor Holles School BC, and Maidenhead RC for winning Band 1, 2, 3, and 4 respectively.
Wallingford RC, winners of the overall Victor Ludorum for the second year in a row at the British Rowing Club Championships, return to their stretch of the Thames with a fine collection of wins. Their Women’s J18 Coxed Four finished top of the bunch in a field of six crews as well as winning the Women’s J18 Coxless Pair. Success also came in the Double Sculls for the junior men. Wallingford RC won both the J18 and J17 events and the youngsters made it three, storming to victory in the Open J15 Double Sculls. Rounding off the weekend for the club was a first and second place finish in the Open J17 Pairs.
In the Single Sculls, it was a great day for the home clubs. Reading RC won the Women’s Open and Beginner Single Sculls whilst Ben Snoxall of Reading University BC was the best on the Open field. The Clams also picked up the win in the Open Intermediate event as well, while Spitefire BC won the Open Beginner event.
City of Oxford RC had a tremendous set of results in the Single Sculls. They took home the titles in the Women’s J14, Women’s J15, and Band 3 Women’s J16 events.
A trip to Tees for round three of the Northern Rowing Long Distance Sculls.
After last weekend’s racing on the Tyne was cancelled due to Storm Amy, the Northern Rowing LDS series returned, this time hosted by Tees RC. Crews travelled from across the region and from Scotland to race across the 5000m course with the LDS in the morning and Tees Small Boats Head in the afternoon, with the latter accepting sweep entries.
George Watson’s College BC had a cracking morning. Their Open J18 Quadruple Scull was the fastest boat in the division and their Open J17 Double Scull also placed in the top five for the morning’s racing. Ezra Ferguson won the Open J18 Single Scull and just missed out on a top 10 finish in the division. Success continued for the Edinburgh-based club as their J16 girls won their Quadruple Scull event as well as the Women’s J16 Single Scull and their Women’s J15 Coxed Quad was also victorious. Speaking of Edinburgh schools, it was a great outing for George Heriot’s School BC. The two schools have their boat houses backing onto each other on the banks of the Union Canal and they both went back across the border with a good collection of silverware. Heriot’s had the fastest Women’s Quadruple Scull of the division in the form of their exceptional J17 unit and their girls also won the Women’s J16 Double Scull.
The home clubs had some strong performances as well. Tees RC won the Open Masters CFGI Quadruple Scull as well as the Women’s Masters GH Quadruple Scull. They had success in the small boats as well, winning the Open Masters I Single Scull. Infinity BC, located just before the finish line picked up a win in the Band 2 Open J16 Single Scull.
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During the afternoon’s Small Boats Head, George Watson’s College BC once again produced the crew to beat. Their Open J18 Quadruple Sculls topped the rankings, almost a minute ahead of Sunderland City RC who won the Open event. In the absence of racing last weekend, Tyne ARC made the trip down to Tees and were rewarded with a win in the Open Coxless Fours, seeing them place fourth overall.
The Scots also produced the fastest women’s crew of the day. The Women’s J17 Quad of George Watson’s College BC were some 30s ahead of the composite of Tyne United RC and Lambton RC that was the best of the J18 crews.
Several of the Durham College were in action too. Collingwood College laid down a significant gauntlet at this point in the season winning both the Women’s Coxed Fours and Band 1 Open Coxed Fours as well.
Check out last week’s results
- Agecroft Head
- Evesham Autumn Head
- Bedford Autumn Fours & Small Boats Head
- Cambridge Autumn Head
- Ancholme Head
Solos stand out at 2025 European Rowing Coastal and Beach Sprint Championships
Great Britain won two golds and a silver medal on the final day of the 2025 European Rowing Coastal and Beach Sprint Championships in Antalya, Türkiye.
Tom Pattichis, GB Rowing Team head coach for Beach Sprints said: “We’ve seen promising results and some good performances here as our coastal athletes continue to build their experience in this new Olympic racing format. We now have a few weeks to focus our training before we return to Antalya for the World Coastal and Beach Sprint Championships.”
Tynemouth RC making waves with Learn to Row courses
Fergus Mainland caught up with Sam Daniell to hear about the impact of the Learn to Row support scheme as well as the British Coastal Championships on the club.
Social Spotlight: Big watts yanked at the PDA Academy
Over the weekend, the GB Performance Development Academy descended on Nottingham for a big weekend of training and testing. Check out what they got up to.
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That’s all from Across The Line this week!
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