News

Posted: 01 May 2025

GBRT April Trial (Senior, U23, FISU)

In early April, five Scottish students travelled down to Caversham for the GB Rowing Team Senior, U23 and FISU April Trials, each of whom were doing so for their very first time.

Katie Robertson & Penny Irvine of Edinburgh University BC put together a strong performance following their training camp in Belgium with the Scottish Rowing Performance Programme by finishing a pleasing 12th in the 1500m Time Trial – a nod to the distance that the LA2028 Olympic Regatta will be held over. Forecast weather conditions meant that the A/B Semi’s were just for the top 10 crews, but Katie & Penny won their semi-final, and eventually the C-Final to leave them ranked as the 11th W2-, a fantastic result for Katie in only her second year in the sport, and for Penny to take the second ranked U23 in the field, and top U21 athlete.

University of St Andrews BC rower Sophia Issberner teamed up with Georgina Thorp from Molesey BC to build a strong case for their inclusion in a U23 team later in the season, progressing from 17th in the time-trial, to winning a blanket finish in the D-Final to place them 15th overall. 

Freddy Foxwell & Murray Bone of Edinburgh University BC joined forces in the M2x to take on a small but high-quality field of crews. This was the first time that the trial has been held in crew sculling boats rather than single sculls, and bought an exciting dynamic to the event. The young U21 crew, drawing experience from their U19 GB Trials racing with St Andrew BC & Aberdeen Schools RA, met quality racing with crews from Reading University BC & Molesey BC, holding their position from the time-trial to finish 10th overall.

Scottish World Class Programme athletes Archie Drummond (Leander) & Miles Beeson (Leander) enjoyed success over the weekend, with Archie winning each of his races over the weekend to take the overall victory with partner James Vogel, while Aberdeen Schools RA OP Miles took third place overall with his partner Josh Bowesman-Jones. In the W2-, Dundee University BC graduate Eleanor Brinkhoff (Leander) won her B-Final with partner Megan Slabbert to finish 6th overall, having missed out on the A-Final by just 0.6s. 

The trial marked a special occasion for many rowers as the Paris 2024 Olympic medallists were awarded their ‘blades’ by GB Rowing – this included Scots Rowan McKellar & Sholto Carnegie, as well as Edinburgh University graduate Oli Wilkes who won Bronze in the M4- – pictured with Edinburgh alumnus Katherine Grainger who awarded him the blade, alongside current students and triallists from the club.

Just a short journey away, several more GB hopefuls were taking part in the Oxford vs Cambridge Boat Race, with Scot, James Robson taking a blue boat victory against Edinburgh University BC graduate James Doran in the Oxford Blue Boat. A rare clash in the racing calendar, but Blue Boat athletes were permitted to miss the trial (with conditions) and permitted to join the trials system later in the week.

Senior athletes will be vying for selection for the upcoming European Rowing Championships in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. 
U23 Athletes will be staking their claim for a seat at the U23 World Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland later in July, while those eligible for the FISU events (U25 students) will also eyeing up a seat to race for GB in Rhine-Ruhr World University Games in Germany.

GBRT U19 Trials Regatta

Just two weeks later saw the next set of trials take place, as the GB Rowing Team U19 hopefuls took to the National Water Sports Centre in Nottingham to race for their placings at the beginning of the regatta season.

Ezra Ferguson of George Watson’s College BC, looked to build on his strong performance in the February GB Assessments. In an intense day of racing, Ezra started off well, finishing 7th in a tightly packed field in his time trial before going on to post the 5th fastest time in his semi-final to earn his place in the A-Final, as the GB U19 selectors tested out World Rowing’s new progression system of ‘fastest non-qualifiers’ in their trial. Ezra fought hard in the A-Final during a glorious day in Nottingham, finishing 6th place overall to put him in a strong place for selection for either the U19 World Championships or Coupe de la Jeunesse later on this year.

Scottish Rowing Junior Academy athlete Lara Bone (Godolphin & Latymer BC) finished off her first season in the GB Trials process to finish second overall in the W2- with her partner from Kew House School.

GBRT Para April Assessments

Jake Woods of Strathclyde Park RC travelled down to Caversham to race at the GB Rowing Team April Para Assessment, where they completed an in-house regatta, the team consisting predominantly of Paris 2024 Paralympic medallists, all raced in 1x’s aiming to top the table on prognostic times. Jake set new personal bests over the weekend as he continues his quest to find a seat in the worlds most successful Paralympic Rowing Team, finishing 5th in the standings across each of his races.

The U19 & Para events rounded up what is always a busy month for those seeking GB Rowing Team selections, but now athletes may turn their attentions in the coming weeks towards domestic racing and Scotland Rowing Team selections at the Scottish Rowing Championships, while many of our Beach Sprints athletes look to keep building on their performance profiles in the Home Nations events ahead of the GB Beach Sprint Trials process beginning.

For more information on the GB Trials processes, please see the British Rowing website.

For more information on rowing for Scotland or the Scottish Rowing Performance Pathway, please see the Scottish Rowing website