What do you do when you cannot find any competition for your Junior Four, without travelling long distances? This was the problem facing Tim Lucas Master in Charge of Rowing at Lancaster Royal Grammar School in 1999. His solution, developed with Matt Folley of Lancaster John O' Gaunt Rowing Club, has since become an established part of rowing on the Lune.

Red Rose events consist of time trials run during the head season and a side-by-side regatta in early summer. They are contested by the three clubs based on the Lune, the aforementioned clubs and Lancaster University Boat Club.

Both event formats feature innovative features to ensure competition between crews in different classes.

Red Rose Head

The time trial uses a handicap system based on boat type to adjust actual times over the 4000m course (out and back around a buoy) to a handicap basis. The event has been won, over the years, by just about every class of boat from a womens single to an open eight. There are two divisions, to enable athletes to double up and coaches to evaluate different combinations.

Red Rose Sprint

Up to 2010 a side-by-side event was run over the Lancaster Regatta course with three crews in a division and multiple divisions. The fastest crew was promoted and the slowest crew relegated. Each crew raced four times and as racing progressed crews found their level as racing got closer and more competitive. The format was well suited to novices, as it enabled inexperienced rowers to gain experience of side by side racing, with no first round defeat/elimination. In addition, it also promoted club spirit: a boys double racing a veteran single and student women’s four to a tight finish with encouragement from club mates on the bank was not an unusual feature of this racing format.

The first 2010 event took a slightly different format by racing two crews side-by-side over a 500m course above the Aqueduct. Crews were randomly drawn against each other to race quarter-final, semi-final and final; loosing crews would continue to race each other to establish an eight place ranking. For the first time a handicap system was used to ensure that smaller boat types were not unfairly beaten by larger boats; the handicap was based on world record times for junior, veteran and senior events.

The second 2010 event was refined further by increasing the race distance to 1000m and seeding crews into smaller divisions by using a pre-race time trial. Two crews from each club were selected prior to the start of racing to compete for the Francis Russell Trophy and the Ralph Cup.

So what happened to that Junior Four?

After winning gold at National Schools, the crew qualified for Henley Royal Regatta in the highly competitive Brittania Cup. Two of the crew went on to race for England at Home International in Junior Pairs.

Since the Red Rose events started, all three clubs have experienced good and bad years with better athletes from Lancaster moving on to international representation.