A TRIO of teenagers from mid Cheshire will row for Great Britain at next week’s World Junior Championships in Bulgaria.

Northwich Rowing Club’s Lucy Burgess and Emily Ford, from Grange School Rowing Club, are part of a six-strong women’s sculls line-up for the competition, this time in Plovdiv.

Annabel Rogers, a student at St Nicholas RC High School, joins them.

“This is a very mature group of rowers who have been working hard at a training camp and they’re itching to get over there and race,” said team manager John Layng.

“A number of them have shown already that they have the ability to be challenging for a place at the Olympic Games in 2016.”

Burgess, 18, switched to Northwich at the end of last year to work with coach Jed Barlow.

She takes part in a second world championships after making her debut in the women’s quad scull at Dorney Lake last summer.

Two others from that quartet – Katie Bartlett (Nottingham RC) and Jessica Leyden (Hollingworth Lake RC) – have kept their place, while Joanna Unsworth (Henley) completes the line-up.

Ford, who made the grade at trials last month, teams up with fellow 17-year-old Rogers (Runcorn RC), in a double scull.

The group has trained at Caversham, GB Rowing’s headquarters, since the weekend.

“We’ll only really know when we get there what the standard will be,” added Layng.

“It’s after the first race that you find out who’s who and which boats each country has put their best rowers into.”

The draw takes place next Tuesday, with heats for the women’s quad scull starting the next day.

The women’s double sculls competition launches on Thursday.

To find out how the girls feel about making the squad, see this week's Northwich Guardian.