Junior Update: End of season GB Selection and British Champions

Oscar (left) with the rest of the TRC Fawley crew and coach James Loveday

The final few weeks of the junior season has seen Thames juniors compete at GB Final Trials, Junior British Championships and the Home International Regatta.

Following a credible Henley campaign Oscar Bird moved on to GB junior final trials in Nottingham. The gruelling five days of seat racing is used to select two squads; the Junior World Championship team and the Coupe De La Jeunesse team. It is with great pleasure to announce that Oscar Bird has been selected to compete at the Junior World Championships next month at next year’s Olympic venue, Rio De Janeiro. He will be racing in the 8 with athletes from Aberdeen, Westminster, St Pauls and Eton. This is a first for a Thames junior member, an outstanding achievement and we wish him the best of luck. In addition coach James Loveday has been selected to coach the coxed 4 at the Coupe in Hungary.

The following week the entire squad descended upon Strathclyde Country Park for the Junior British Championships. On Saturday the J18 pair of Sebastien Tyrie and Fred Beaty were the first crew to move into their A final. Sundays racing saw a very mature race from the two of them, sitting comfortably in second place before moving through Great Marlow School to take the win and the title of British Champions. The victory was made even sweeter for the two of them when England Team selectors asked them to compete for their country the following week at The Home International Regatta.

Other notable results came from the Women’s J18 quad of Sarah Riches, Thais Umbelino-Purton, Hannah Havelock-Allan and Charlie Ball, who pulled themselves up from 7th in the time trial to 4th place in the A final over the course of the weekend. A composite double of Alex Kelly and Ashley Cowley (Newark) raced in a very tough J18 doubles field to come away with 6th place in the A final. All other crews were performed credibly in their minor finals with the majority coming in the top half of the B finals.

The following week at the Home International Regatta Seb Tyrie and Fred Beaty travelled with the England team to same venue and compete in the junior pair, with Thames Junior assistant coach Jim Allan. The boys once again approached the racing in a very mature manner, coming away with a 2nd place finish to a strong Irish pair.

Overall the Thames Junior Squad has had a successful season which included wins and medals at The Schools Head of the River, The National Junior Sculling Head, Inter-regional regatta and British Junior Championships. International selections were Oscar Bird (World Championships), Fred Beaty (Home International, England) and Seb Tyrie (Home International, England). We would like to thank all coaches, parents, athletes and London Youth Rowing for their support.