So far, we have been blessed with almost a complete set of early season races. After roughly two years of disruption, races are back on, seemingly for good. We’ve already seen some interesting results, which will hopefully lead to exciting summer racing.
2021/22 Season
The first half of the calendar year can be summarised with the results from Henley Royal Regatta, where Oxford Brookes reasserted themselves as the dominant force of British university rowing by winning both events, the Temple and Prince Albert Challenge Cups. This capped of the season which saw most clubs recovering from the pandemic and getting back into their normal annual schedule after the disruption of what came before.
Scullers’ Head
After being moved to September, Scullers’ Head has come to symbolise the start of the season for many clubs across the country. Sculling specialists Reading University fared particularly well. Most of their top rowers from last season, such as Josh Lyon, Jacob Parrington, Louis Powell and Sol Hewitt produced top results to finish as four of the top six U23 scullers. Imperial College and University of London, who usually stick to sweep, also produced strong results.
One of the nice things about these easy season races is that it’s often easier to do well. Many people coming back from summer holidays aren’t in their best shape, so often they’re not quite as competitive. Also, if you’re someone who maybe enjoyed their summer a bit too much, there’s still plenty of time to get fit for the big races.
Pairs Head
This year’s Pairs Head wasn’t particularly well attended by any universities. However, Reading did enter, featuring the four scullers mentioned above. These two double placed fifth and sixth overall in a highly competitive field. The Bath University double of Jamie Gare and Cedol Dafydd also had a good row, placing eighth.
GB November Trials
On the sweep side, Oxford Brookes dominated the results. Many of their pairs featured last year’s Temple Cup winners and previous GB U23 oarsmen. In fact, six of the top twelve crews were Brookes boats. It will be incredibly hard for anyone to challenge them at summer regattas. Cambridge’s Ollie Parish and Luca Ferraro, who came sixth at last year’s U23 World Championships, were one of the few crews to best the Oxford Brookes hoard, and were the fastest U23 pair.
The sculling side was more of a mixed bag, with athletes from all over performing well. The Bath duo mentioned earlier came 11th and 13th respectively. Talented 19 year-old Joe Middleton from UL had a great row, placing 12th overall. Reading University also had some strong results, and refreshingly, a University of York sculler, Ben Newton came 12th out of the U23s.
Fours Head
The first ‘big’ race of the year is always a great chance to see how crews stack up against each other. Cambridge University claimed the win in the Academic Coxed Four, and Reading topped the Academic Quad, with Nottingham University close behind. Oxford Lightweights won the Academic Coxless Four rounding out the student-level events with a pleasing variety among the winners. It must be mentioned that many university crews also competed in championship level events, though none came out victorious.
Rutherford Head
Usually a race for the northern crews to shine, this year ULBC made the trip up North and defeated Edinburgh, Newcastle and Durham on home territory. UL were the fastest eight and coxless four, and also performed well in other categories.
Trial Eights
Trial Eights always gives a sneak peak of who’s looking fast and who’s not. In the Oxford race, the two crews (Beetle and Wedge) battled it out over the championship course, with it looking fairly close throughout. However, some aggressive steering caused a crab in the Wedge boat in the closing minutes, resulting in a decent win for Beetle.
In the Cambridge race, ‘Youth’ and ‘Experience’ had a close race. The bulletproof rhythm set by the stern pair of Luca Ferraro and Ollie Parish gave ‘Youth’ a small lead early on, which they maintained down the course.
Summary
In short, one of the standout universities so far has been the University of London. Their squad seems even stronger than last season’s. Oxford Brookes are still incredibly strong, and smaller programs such as Bath and York appear to be on the up. As to Boat Race predictions, I’d have to give the nod to the Light Blues of Cambridge. Simply put, I thought the quality of rowing looked better compared to the Oxford race.
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