The Start Line: Dozens say ciao, SilverSkiff as the bonnie banks of Inverness await for the Scots
Join us at The Start Line as we get ready for a busy weekend of racing from Inverness to Turin
Credit: AllMarkOne
Welcome back to The Start Line! Check out some of the racing that is taking place across the UK and in Italy.
Lauren Henry leads the Brits travelling to Italy for SilverSkiff
While cycling has its Monument races, rowing too has its classic races and the SilverSkiff is one of Italy’s greatest gifts to our sport. Set in the cradle of Italian liberty, Turin’s Baroque architecture provides one of the finest backdrops for 713 scullers from 26 countries to paint their masterpieces. 70 Brits will make the pilgrimage to northern Italy for the 34th edition of the SilverSkiff, it’s more than any other country except Italy. Olympic Champion Lauren Henry will spearhead the British armada as she heads to the River Po to tackle the 11 kilometre course.
Newark RC are travelling en masse. Off the back of a fourth place finish at the Wingfield Sculls, Jen Titterington will be continuing her campaign in the Single Scull hoping to continue racking up a string of cracking results. She’ll be joined by the likes of Ash Cowley and Toby Bell who both cracked the top 100 at Scullers Head.
One of Titterington’s closest rivals at the Wingfields and Scullers Head was Isabelle Maxwell. Vesta RC’s finest was just nine seconds back on Titterington at Scullers Head and the next instalment of this rivalry will be fascinating as it unfolds on a course that is nearly double the length of the one on the Tideway, and crucially, involves a 180 degree turn at the halfway marker.
Newcastle University’s alumni will also return to action. Prince Albert Challenge Cup winner Nathan O’Reilly will don the colours of Crabtree RC while U23 World Champion Ollie Varley will pull on the red, white, and blue of Blue Star.
Racing the Men’s Lightweight will be Clydesdale ARC ‘s Ben Parsonage. Rather than making the trip north to Inverness, Parsonage takes to the Po hoping to replicate his dominant form from last season. One of the most exciting scullers to watch on the domestic circuit, he rounded off his season winning for Scotland at the Home International Regatta and leading Simon van Dorp beyond the end of the island in the Diamond Challenge Sculls at Henley Royal Regatta.
Lauren Henry will be joined by a plethora of international talent at this year’s SilverSkiff. Benthe Boomstra and Roos de Jong, the flying Dutch women who won gold in the Women’s Double Scull in Shanghai will be some of Henry’s top challengers. On the men’s side of things, triple Olympic gold medallist Martin Sinkovic will line up at the start against both silver medallists from Serbia’s Double Scull in Shanghai, Martin Mačković and Nikolaj Pimenov. Olympic silver medallist Gabriel Soares from Italy’s Lightweight Double Scull will be looking to defend his home water, one of 352 Italian scullers racing this weekend.
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The ‘gateway to the highlands’ awaits
Nothing beats the true north. A venture to the Caledonian canal sees dozens of trailers rolling over the Cairngorms, a mountain range dripping in autumnal colours as country braces for winter. One of the jewels of British waterways, the 4500 course, tucked into the tip of the Great Glen is a race track the gods would be proud of.
For Scottish clubs, this weekend is circled long before the season starts. This year’s event will also double up as one of the GB Rowing Team U19 Autumn Benchmarking Events and for some of Scotland’s leading clubs universities, it’s an opportunity to build upon some of the early-season scrimmages.
This year’s Inverness Head is littered with talent. On the junior side of things, George Watson’s College BC’s Ezra Ferguson heads north as favourite in his single. Along with teammates like Harris Fyffe and James Palmer, the Edinburgh school will be hoping to pick up all sorts of silverware across numerous events this weekend. Speaking of Edinburgh schools watch out for George Heriot School RC’s Rosie Hendrie who was in cracking form last season as well as Zoe Noble, fresh off a win at Tees Small Boats Head.
With half a dozen divisions, on offer, Inverness is the perfect playground to test out all sorts of combinations across every boat class apart from the eights. Across the weekend, dozens of athletes who have raced internationally for Great Britain, Scotland, and Ireland will be in action.
It’s a proud weekend for Inverness RC as their very own Heather Gordon who is currently racing for Great Britain in the Coastal Mixed Coxed Quadruple Sculls in Antalya, Turkiye.
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Here’s to 50 years of women at Northwich RC
As the club celebrates its 150th anniversary, Fergus Mainland chatted with several pioneers of women’s rowing at the club as they mark 50 years of women rowing on the Weaver.
Social Spotlight: Introducing: The Coxswain Performance Development Programme!
WOX and British Rowing have launched a fully-funded programme to help emerging coxes develop the core qualities needed for elite performance.
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That’s all from The Start Line this week!
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