In division one on the Saturday the junior women raced in single sculls. Ally Brooks, who went off No 1, sculled the course strongly but could see that Cowburn from Worcester RC had closed the gap at the finish. Ally was pleased to have taken second place overall, finishing eighteen seconds ahead of the 3rd place sculler from Molesey.

Katy Lion had an excellent scull overtaking at least one sculler from her No 11 starting position and was very pleased to learn that she finished an outstanding 6th overall in this J18 event.

Alice Ancora who finished 28th at the November trials went off at No 26 and managed to overtake 2 scullers down the course and finished in 16th position overall.

In division 2 in the afternoon, the boys raced over the same course. Conditions continued to be good for this time of year.
 
Phil Clapp who went off No 6 of the J18 boys had an excellent scull and paced himself well to finish in 1st place, some four seconds ahead of Walker from Henley RC. This was just what the selectors were looking to see.

Adam Lilley put in the star performance improvement from the club. After finishing 104th at the November trials, Adam had been working hard with ergo's, land training and sculling. Wanting to do his best, he set off the start aggresively and flew down the course and finished an incredible 13th overall, moving up 91 places which is a very special achievement to make in 3 months.
 
On the Sunday some of the leading athletes were put together in 2x's and 2-'s to try out combinations.
 
Phil Clapp was put with John Preston of Yarm School in a 2x and they went off No 1 and managed to hold off a sustained high rating attack from a Henley Rowing Club 2x. Both crews finished in the same time so jointly won the division.
 
Adam Lilley competed again in the sculling section and finished in 12th place. This result still put him ahead of some local rivals with the knowledge he can still go faster.
 
Katy Lion and Ally Brooks competed in the coxless pairs rowing division and although they finished in a respectable 8th position they had hoped to have gone a little faster at these trails. With limited rowing time they still managed to beat some established pairs.
 
Alice Ancora competed again in the singles sculls. With a change to her length of sculls set up this seemed to do the trick as she sculled the course really strongly to pick up a well earned second place finish position, finishing ahead of 3 scullers she finished behind yesterday.
 
All five junior athletes have done themselves a lot of good and will now be serious selection contenders as they continue training towards the Spring trials in April over 2k at Dorney Lake or Caversham.
 
An excellent weekend for the club, being tested against the best juniors in the country. Entries for the Spring trials will be cut back again to something line 25 girls and 30 boys.

Billy Brooks
Captain Juniors