We sum up our top performing junior crews of 2018, from J15 coxed fours to summer GB Junior Worlds crews. We break down their season for one last time.
St Paul's 1st VIII
| Name | Seat | 2019 Club |
| Axel De Boissard | Cox | Princeton University |
| George Dickinson | Stroke | Princeton University (Lwt) |
| Tom Horncastle | 7 | St Paul's School |
| Douwe de Graaf | 6 | Harvard University |
| Calvin Tarczy | 5 | Harvard University |
| Ollie Parish | 4 | St Paul's School |
| Alex Langstone Bolt | 3 | University of California, Berkley |
| Leo von Malaisé | 2 | Oxford University |
| Cameron McInroy | Bow | Harvard University (Lwt) |
Henley RC JW 1st VIII
| Name | Seat | 2019 Club |
| Ella Nolson | Cox | Henley RC |
| Phoebe Fletcher | Stroke | Henley RC |
| Lottie Orr | 7 | University of California, Berkley |
| Daisy Butterworth | 6 | Melbourne RC |
| Mary Wright | 5 | University of Virginia |
| Sophia Hahn | 4 | Henley RC |
| Georgie Robinson Ranger | 3 | University of London |
| Alice Jones | 2 | University of Birmingham |
| Issy Jönsson | Bow | Sydney RC |
Maidenhead RC 4x-
The triple of the coxless quads is a tough ask on the UK circuit. Maidenhead definitely saw the pressure upon them going into the 2018 season. Starting strong, the SL6 squad won SHORR by 8 seconds over their seasons rivals Windsor Boys School, and again at National Schools by 4.7 seconds. Maidenhead led from the off, edging out over their competition through the 250m stepping on again to a length up at the 750m. With 500m to go the clear water between them and Windsor had moved to a length, crossing the line in control and in the important gold medal position. The final race of the season was the toughest of the year, Windsor had been closing throughout the season and took the win in the final of the Fawley Challenge Cup at Henley.
| Name | Seat | 2019 Club |
| Harrison Rowe | Stroke | Nottingham University |
| Victor Kleshnev | 3 | Leander Club |
| Elliott Kemp | 2 | University of Califonia, Berkley |
| Edoardo Marshall | Bow | Reading University |
The Windsor Boys' School 4x-
Windsor Boys' School had their focus on one event all year. The Fawley Challenge cup was theirs to lose and with a strong start to the year from Maidenhead, the pressure was on. Starting the final strong, they led by half a length out of the island. The WBS crew moved out to clear water at the barrier and had the race in their control moving past Upper Thames. Crossing the line, they retained the Fawley for another year.
| Name | Seat | 2019 Club |
| Tom Shewell | Stroke | Oxford Brookes University |
| Bryn Ellery | 3 | Old Windsorian BC |
| Isaac Workman | 2 | University of London |
| Sam Bodkin | Bow | University of Surrey |
Kingston RC WJ164+
Radnor House J15 4+
J15 Coxed Fours rarely get mentioned on our blogs, however, when a crew come from an unknown name to claim victory at NSR, questions start getting asked. The crew from Radnor House, started the year strong with a win at SHORR by over a minute on Durham School, a result matching Norwich Schools' time gap in 2014, which has seen little competition since. The Radnor boys went on to take gold against the mini watt farmers from Walton RC at National Schools by 2.9 seconds. The early stage of these boys' rowing careers has started fast, and over the next few years will be waiting to see if this crew have the drive to not only be gold in colour, but also gold by nature.
Shiplake J16 8+
The Shiplake J16 really stepped on throughout last season and showed real class for a young crew. With a bronze medal at School's Head, they kept building into the summer and had a lot of success come regatta season. Their win at National Schools set the ball rolling and they went on to break the British J16 8+ record by a huge nine seconds, finishing in 6 minutes dead in quick conditions at Marlow. A big achievement was their qualification in the Temple Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta, a category for university eights. We mentioned in an earlier post that they could be showing the potential to be a group to mimic the SPS class of 2018, and as always, only time will tell!
Aberdeen J18 2-
Rob Powell and Miles Beeson were the golden pair from Aberdeen Schools' Rowing Association in 2018. Winning the championship coxless pairs at National Schools was one of the major highlights of their season. At final trials and crew selection at NWSC in July, they were selected at the Junior Worlds pair, to race at Račice, Czech Republic. Talking to AllMarkOne before they flew out, the pair mentioned that the main section of winter and spring training was spent in the ASRA 8, making the move to the pair that little bit harder come the Sunday of NSR.
On the lake in Račice the Scottish pair took the win in the B final, placing them 7th in the world rankings. Both of the guys have now moved to America for their University choices, with Miles joining the team at Yale and Rob joining the Princeton crew for their 2019 seasons.
| Name | 2019 Club |
| Robert Powell | Princeton University |
| Miles Beeson | Yale University |
Bedford School 1st VIII
The end of the 2017 season left a bitter taste in the Bedford School mouth, turning around to see Molesey BC cross the line ahead of them and take home the Child Beale. Starting the season with a win in 1st 8s, for the second year in a row, and a 7th place overall at Schools' Head, the boys in blue were on for a big year. The next surprise came when they beat Radley College at Bedford Regatta leaving everybody questioning what was in store come NSR.
The crew made the A-Final through a strong set of the time trial and semi-finals, and under NSR rules, they had already won their non-championship event in their blistering semi; it was now just an opportunity to take some names. The Bedford crew front-loaded the race, leading the whole pack- bar Paul's- through the first 500m. As they passed the 750m, Radley started to push back, however, they held them off for another 500m. It was only at the 1250m mark when their position was claimed by Radley, with Shiplake moving into third in the last 250m. A fourth place ranking above crews such as Shrewsbury and Eton, who knocked them out at HRR 2017.
Their Henley campaign saw them progress to Friday's quarter-finals, leaving them with the best Henley result the school has had in 20 years, and cementing their underdog season as one to be remembered by many.
| Name | Seat | 2019 Club |
| Christopher Lodge | Cox | Bedford School |
| Lennart Roese | Stroke | Bedford School |
| Connor Sheridan | 7 | Oxford Brookes University |
| Tom Christian | 6 | Star Club |
| George Christian | 5 | University of Birmingham |
| Alex King | 4 | Bedford School |
| Trent Abraham | 3 | Bedford School |
| Oliver Mitchell | 2 | |
| Austin Roberts | Bow | Bedford School |
Molesey J18 4-/+
| Name | Seat | 2019 Club |
| Scott Cockle | Cox | Oxford Brookes University |
| Theo Darlow | Stroke | Molesey BC |
| Mikey Dalton | 3 | Oxford Brookes University |
| Cameron Spurling | 2 | Oxford Brookes University |
| Felix Warren | Bow | University of Edinburgh |
Junior GB Crews
Coupe de la Jeunesse
The GB Coupe squad took the overall title for the third year running this summer, coming home with eleven medals despite gusty winds causing the cancellation of several of Saturday’s finals. The women’s eight, which is generally a relatively scratch crew for GB, started off the weekend positively taking the gold medal on the Friday. This year’s men’s eight, or ’CoupeAchter’, had their work cut out to match the 2017 crew’s gold medal in Hazewinkel, but put in a fantastic performance in their only final on the Sunday to take the gold meal six seconds clear of the Netherland’s. In the same way as the men’s eight, the men’s quad’s final on Saturday was cancelled due to the adverse weather conditions. However, they raced hard come the Sunday to take GB’s third gold of the regatta, just a second ahead of the Italians.
Junior Worlds 4x-
This year's top GB junior quad comprised of Victor Kleshnev, Jake Offiler, James Cartwright and Bryn Ellery took on the Junior World Championships in August 2018. The crew made up of 4 different clubs put themselves in the hands of The Windsor Boys' School coach Mark Wikinson and came away with a silver medal and a second place world ranking.
Junior Worlds 8+
The level of high-quality men's sweep was shown this year in the JM8+. With athletes from clubs both large and small, the coaches of Patrick 'Duggie' Duggan and Antony 'Smithy' Smith, had a big job on their hands with athletes Jake Swann, Oscar Olsen, Max Shakespeare, Dom Sullivan, Connor Sheridan, Ollie Parish, Tom Horncastle, George Dickinson and Axel De Boissard. Gelling multiple styles in a limited time period led to positive times back in the UK, leaving the focus to hold and improve on those times in the Czech Republic. The GB crew went on to claim the all-important Gold Medal in the final race of the day, the first time for any GB JM8+ over a 2km course.
Junior Worlds 4-
The stakes were high for the coxless four, with St. Paul’s School athletes Douwe de Graaf and Calvin Tarczy returning to the crew with gold medals at last year’s event in Trakai already under their belts. They were joined by domestic rivals Mikey Dalton and Theo Darlow of Molesey BC, who had a very successful season under the experienced eye of Helen Taylor after stepping up from the coxless four at the Coupe de la Jeunesse 2017. Shiplake’s Dave Currie did another fantastic job of gelling the crew and the boys really showed their class out in Račice. Another gold medal topped off a week of outstanding performances, including an impressive race in the semis to set a new world record of 5:47.73.
AllMarkOne