Record-Breaking Turnout at 2nd International DRV Junior Regatta in Hamburg

The 2nd International DRV Junior Regatta in Hamburg traditionally represents the dress rehearsal for all junior age and boat classes before the German Junior Championship U17 in a good two weeks in Essen. The regatta took place again this year on the Hamburg-Allermöhe regatta course instead of. The registration result was record-breaking with over 1000 athletes and the organizational challenges were excellently solved by the LRV Hamburg regatta team. In bright sunshine and a light wind, which always allowed good rowing conditions, the races came down the route on the Dove-Elbe from early in the morning until the evening.

This competition is particularly important for qualifying for the U19 national team, as the decisive ranking list for the occupation of the small and medium-sized boats and the allocation of places for team building of the large boats is determined within the framework of the regatta.

“It was a tight program with five races for our national team candidates. In addition to the ranking list, which is held in three races, there were races in the middle boat classes and the big boats on Sunday,” explained U19 national coach Adrian Bretting. The races of the U19 ranking list were decided by Julia Stoeber (Kettwiger RG) in the junior singles, Leonhard Tanneberg (Lübecker RK) in the junior singles, Stella Kreft and Janina Kröber (both SC Magdeburg Dept. Rowing) in the junior doubles Without and Tobias Strangemann together with Johannes Benien (both RV Dorsten) in the junior double without for themselves. “There were new winners in three boat classes compared to our first ranking in April in Brandenburg an der Havel, but we didn’t experience a real surprise with the winning boats. The teams that now prevail have always been among the best in their class over the course of the season,” said Bretting of the ranking winners.

But from Bretting’s point of view, the middle boat races had a few minor surprises in store: “In the middle boat races, both double sculls (male and female – editor’s note) won, as did both foursomes without teams that were so could not prevail in our national comparison races over the course of the season. However, some of these combinations were only formed here in Hamburg,” explained Bretting. So there still seems to be some tension in view of the decisive races for the German Junior Championships, which will be held from June 22nd to 25th in Essen on the Baldeneysee. “We’re going into the final spurt of the season now. Now the trainers are challenged to find the right combinations and prepare them well for the DJM in Essen. In many boat classes I don’t want to give a favorite tip,” said Bretting with a view to the upcoming races in Essen.

When asked about the overall conclusion, Bretting replied: “First of all, it is very gratifying that we can experience such a big regatta in these top conditions. It shows the importance of junior rowing for our clubs throughout Germany and underlines that we are an attractive sport for young people. That’s great! As far as the level of performance is concerned, I already see some hopeful talents in the U17 and U19 area who can make it to the U19 and U23 national teams in the coming years and then hopefully make it further. In the U19s we still have a few problems in some disciplines, less so in others. Here we will have to use our preparatory training camp for the U19 World Cup in order to be competitive in Paris. Unfortunately, in all areas, we have so far fallen short of our potential in too many cases. The potential is significantly greater than the level of performance shown by many athletes. Here, as an association, we must not tire of conveying our concepts and methods in order to increase the quality of rowing education and training. In my opinion, there is too much experimentation here far too early and the rowing technique training in particular is neglected. There is still a lot of work ahead of us!”

The overall result is here to find.