Men’s Junior 18 Eight
The final few weeks of preparation for NSR are in full swing, and this 1.2k knock-out sprint regatta will be key in showing pace of crews and also for side-by-side preparation. There are a huge number of entries in this category, with many big schools featuring.
Great Marlow School vs Abingdon School
This is going to Abingdon’s Wallingford Regatta-winning crew racing against one of the strongest Great Marlow crew’s for a few years. What may come as a surprise is that Abingdon have also entered this crew into the Op 8+ category, where their race start time is only 50mins after them crossing the finish line in this race. This should not be a problem though, as half Great Marlow crew will be tired out after their race in the 4+ beforehand.
South African Schools Rowing Union vs King’s School Chester
SASRU did not make an impact on other crews at Wallingford, and I imagine this race will play in the favour of Chester. The winner of this race will face either Radley or Bedford’s 8+ in the next round, a tough challenge indeed.
Royal Shrewsbury School vs King’s College School
What promises to be one of the most exciting of the first round races, these crews were separated by 8 seconds at Schools’ Head. King’s senior squad have kept their heads down since their home race, with both J16 and J15 crews racing at Wallingford and Hammersmith Regattas but them not deciding to race. Shrewsbury posted a 6:09 for 2k at Wallingford, a tough challenge for KCS, but they have been gifted an opportunity to challenge a Championship crew.
Radley College vs Bedford School
There are 3 different Radley vs Bedford matchups in the opening round. All clubs’ first to third eights are racing their respective opponents. Extra pressure is on Bedford with it being their home race. I imagine that most of these races will have the bows of Radley’s red boats crossing the line first, especially that of the second crews.
Abingdon School vs Royal Shrewsbury School
This is a matchup between these two schools’ second crews, in which the Shrewsbury School is most likely to prevail. They won the J18 2nd 8+ category at Wallingford on Sunday, where the Abingdon crew missed out on the final.
Mention should also go to the Eton College 3rd 8+ who have been gifted a by into the final of group C where they will face a fatigued Radley or Bedford. Eton have heavily featured in this category in recent years, and I cannot see any other crew winning on Saturday.
Prediction:
Group A: Abingdon School
Group B: Royal Shrewsbury School
Group C: Eton College
Men’s Junior 16 Eight
On a day where the main talking point for this age group seems to be miners, the focus needs to switch back to racing. In such a short race, start will be critical. The lesson from Wallingford last Sunday seems to be that the race cannot be won out the blocks, but it can certainly be lost out the blocks.
Bedford School vs Windsor Boys’ School
Full credit should go to Windsor. Considered to have more of an emphasis on sculling, they have been a shock in the J16 eights scene recently, making the final at Wallingford. Bedford, on the other hand, did not make it past the heats. The winner of this race will face the fresh Norwich School, who have automatically progressed to the second round. Electing to not race at Wallingford, it is difficult to predict their pace over 1.2km based on a Schools’ Read result of a 6.7km course. Nevertheless, they were faster than both these other crews at that race, and should have no trouble beating them with a fresh crew against a crew that has already raced.
South African Schools’ Rowing Union vs Radley College
Radley finished 2nd at Wallingford Regatta, where SASRU did not make it past the heats. I can see this race going no other way than in favour of Radley, who I also imagine will win the event overall.
Radley College vs Windsor Boys’ School
In what I imagine is a battle between the two second crews that are also racing, neither of these crews has raced since Schools’ Head, where Windsor did not start and Radley raced in a 4+. It is hard therefore to predict who will emerge victorious, but whoever does will have an even tough race against first crews afterwards.
Gifted with a pass to the second round where they will face either Bedford Modern School or Borlase’s/Great Marlow, is Shiplake College. They will probably be the finalists from this side of the draw, where they have a challenge to most likely overturn Radley.
It is surprising to not see any entries from King’s College School or St Paul’s School. Both have other squads racing at Bedford. Wallingford may have been the last time we saw these crews until NSR.
Men’s Junior 15 2nd Eight
There are over 30 entries in this category, so my focus will be on the top crews. In Group A, the favourites are Abingdon and Hampton. Both these crews are on separate side of the draw, it could be the case that these two are the finalists. However, they will have some strong competition to overturn first. At the bottom half of the draw, King’s College School or St Paul’s School will be Hampton’s first competitor. Richard Winchester’s KCS crew showed their speed early on in head season, won at Hammersmith Regatta, and narrowly missed out on a spot in the final at Wallingford. St Paul’s did not show at Wallingford, but we know from their 4th at School’s Head they are a quick crew.
It will be difficult for the likes of Royal Shrewsbury School and Eton College. Eton have not spent much time in the 8 recently, and Shrewsbury were well off the pace at Schools’ Head.
The women’s categories only have a few boats entered but this is sure to lead to very close racing between the crews.
Women’s Junior 18 Eight
With both Royal Shrewsbury and South African Schools Rowing Union racing at Wallingford last weekend and placing 5th in their respective heats, we can tell that this has the possibility of being a close race. While Shrewsbury was racing in a faster heat and therefore finished 30 seconds faster than SASRU, their strength could be far more equal over a slightly shorter course of 1200m. Great Marlow School appear to have few results from this year with many of their events being cancelled but recent results in a four suggest that we could see close results between Shrewsbury and Great Marlow when they face each other.
At SHORR, Bedford Girls School placed 5th in the Schools 8+ category which proves that they are very capable in the eight. Shrewsbury was also racing in this category, placing 9th with only 21 seconds separating them which, following on from the strenuous training camps, I imagine that this gap could be a lot closer if they were to face each other in the final. We could see some very close racing here.
Overall, I expect that the victory will be taken by Bedford Girls School.
Women’s Junior 18 Coxed Fours
Putney High School placed 4th in the A final at Wallingford last weekend in an eight proving that they are very capable as a crew. We should expect to see this power and technique transfer across into the four to give a very strong result. With all members of the eight racing in 2 boats, it will be interesting to see how the different members of the crew compare with each other. It will be particularly interesting should they end up racing against each other.
As with the WJ18 8+ from Great Marlow School, many of their events this year have been cancelled but they have achieved results in the four recently at Schools Head of the River where they placed 3rd but only 13 seconds behind the 1st place boat, Henley. St Edwards School makes up the final boat in this category and they appear to be the least experienced out of the four. This could lead to a surprise result due to other crews being unsuspecting but I imagine that the win for this category will go to Great Marlow School.
Women’s Junior 18 Quads
Even though it is the biggest of the WJ18 categories, there are 6 boats entered from 4 different schools. Bedford Modern placed 7th in the Champ 4x- category at SHORR which tells us they are very strong competitors. From Kingston Grammar, we have 2 boats. The first quad placed 4th at Junior Sculling Regatta while a quad from King’s Ely placed a close 5th. Bedford Modern was also in this A final placing 6th. Another of the King’s Ely crews placed 3rd in their heat at Wallingford regatta on Sunday while the Sir William Borlase crew placed 4th. This shows us that all the crews are close in their abilities and so it will be interesting to see how this turns out.
Although it could go a variety of ways due to similar results throughout the recent events, I imagine the overall win in this category will go to Bedford Modern School.
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