JRN Intelligence: Fraser's Winter Notebook

Battle of the Cartoon Crews

As winter lingers, programmes around the globe are beginning to finalise their spring crew selections. For many, a key part of internal selection remains match racing—to that end, many clubs have held trials eights races, the most famous of which are those of The Boat Race squads.

Following the conclusion of the Michaelmas term, Oxford and Cambridge universities relocated their squads to London for their only dress rehearsal along the entire Boat Race course.

Broadcast to the world, the best racing of the week came from the Oxford men who engaged in a tight battle between two crews named 'Wallace' and 'Gromit', with the latter taken to victory by the strong rhythm set by Nick Rusher in the stroke seat, pushing through the roughest weather at Chiswick Eyot to secure victory by two lengths over Nick Kohl's Wallace crew – who drafted in a St Paul's School athlete to fill in for illness in the crew.

Ergs Don’t Lie

Another sure sign of winter in the northern hemisphere is the beginning of the indoor rowing season, with several federations hosting their championships in December. One highlight was the British Rowing Indoor Championships, held as part of FitFest at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.

Many national team athletes entered the top events, giving a rare glimpse into the erg times at Caversham. On the women's side, it was more domination for Lauren Henry, who backed up her commanding victory at GB trials in November with a win here, setting a time of 6:40.9 to claim the gold medal. For the men, however, it was somewhat of an upset as Josh Knight took the gold medal with a personal best score of 5:47.6; the PDA athlete getting the better of some national team stalwarts and announcing himself as one to watch in the coming Olympiad.

Across the North Sea, the Dutch National Federation held their indoor championships on RP3 machines, with a touch of international flair in the entries as Simon van Dorp claimed the men's title ahead of Indoor World Champion Ward Lemmelijn of Belgium, as well as Olympians from Great Britain, Spain and the Netherlands. At the same time, Olympic Champion Tinka Offereins claimed glory in the elite women's event by just 0.39 seconds over Laila Youssifou from the silver medal-winning quad.

Tideway Titans Return

The Tideway hosted the Remenham Challenge, a private event among some traditional club racing powerhouses.

From those results, it would seem we are likely facing a continuation of the narratives from the spring. The first and second men's eights representing London Rowing Club and Thames Rowing Club were separated by just a second each, with the top honours going to London for the second year in a row.

For the women, another season of Thames dominance seems almost inevitable, as they placed four eights in front of any of their rival women's squads. London was in fifth and sixth place, with Molesey serving as best of the rest in both the men's and women's divisions.

As 2024 rolled into 2025, the season resumed with Quintin Head, but once again, the home clubs dominated. London Rowing Club claimed first and third place, split only by St Paul's School, who raced in division one, limiting comparisons to other junior crews.

On the university scene, Imperial College posted healthy results, finishing within eight seconds of the University of London, while Thames were somewhat off the pace, with their best crew in sixth, needing a late-to-start penalty to beat Marlow.

On the women's side, the University of London claimed top honours, ahead of London Rowing Club and Shiplake College, the best of the junior entries. Behind them, Headington School struggled, finishing in an uncharacteristically poor sixth place among junior crews despite starting in the first division.

Southern Stars

While the northern hemisphere buckles down for winter, the summer season is just beginning below the equator. During the last two months, New Zealand has hosted a pair of major regattas: Karāpiro's Christmas Regatta in December and the North Island Championships in January.

In the premier women's singles, Veronica Wall led the way at both regattas, as the Yale graduate got the better of Paris Olympians on both occasions. For the men, the wins were split as Logan Ullrich - a silver medallist from the four in Paris - claimed the top prize at Christmas Regatta, though he did not race at the North Island Championships, allowing the young star Finn Hamill to add to his impressive collection of results so far in his breakout season.

In the larger boats, Dutch Olympic Champion Karolien Florijn made an appearance in the women's doubles in January in a composite with home champion Lucy Spoors. The World Best Time holder in the single, Robbie Manson, won in the double in Karāpiro but settled for minor medals in the three other events he raced in the last two months.

There were no junior events in January's Championships, but at the Christmas regatta, it was advantage to the visiting Australian crews as St Ignatius' College and Shore School – both of Sydney – finished first and second in the junior men's eights. For the junior women, Waikato Rowing Club claimed top honours in an all-Kiwi field.

Gold Rush

Across the Tasman, the Australian season resumed on the Australia Day weekend for both the Queensland State Championships and the New South Wales Small Boats Regatta.

In Sydney, the elite men's single had one of the stories of the day, with Nick Mirrow of Sydney Rowing Club coming from behind to beat Hamish Danks of Sydney University, with the latter catching a race-ending crab under the pressure. Later in the day, Danks returned to claim victory in the sprint.

The junior racing had the most entries of the day, with Luke Purdie of Hunter Valley Grammar coming out on top of 42 in the U19 men's singles, while Mosman's Elouise Stephens claimed the U19 women's gold.

In Queensland, 58 state titles were awarded across the age groups. In the blue ribband events, the University of Queensland took home gold medals in both the men's and women's eights.

This dominance extended to the rest of the women's events, as all six Olympic boat classes were won by University of Queensland athletes, including in the double scull as a composite with Centenary Rowing Club.

The medals were only slightly more evenly distributed for the men as Jackson Free contributed to a sweep of the heavyweight sculling for Griffith University Surfers Paradise.

For the schoolboys, Southport School took home the top honours in the eight by just two seconds over Brisbane Boys' College, setting up an exciting clash for the Head of the River in March.