On Sunday the 9th of October, the calm of the idyllic water of the river Ouse will be torn up by the turbulent storm of singles, doubles, pairs, quads and fours powering through Bedford city centre. In the third and final race of Bedford rowing Club’s annual regattas, the 2km downstream course, will be a worthy test for the aspirational rowers taking part.
Bedford Modern School
This club, composed of students from within the school have been building a presence on the rowing circuit, with their older athletes racing at Henley Royal Regatta in June. They have entered two boats into this category and being on their home stretch of water, the girls will be leading out with an advantage and will be using this experience to find an extra edge.
Bedford Girls School
Described as a “highly motivated and thoroughly enjoyed club, that promotes a team-based approach” often brings out middle-of-the-pack results competing at a national level. With many novices in their fleet, this is a perfect race for them to put down the work, and find their confidence in the rowing world and gain some invaluable racing minutes. Entering three crews into this category, they’re putting themselves in a strong position to pull off a good result.
Globe Rowing Club
Coming from the South East of London for this weekend is the crew from Globe RC. Having one entry into this boat class and considering the club’s splendid results from the Bedford’s head in April (with three wins and and ten other podium positions) they are one of the strongest clubs to watch out for.
Lea Rowing Club
This is a club that has gained a strong reputation through the years. Training on the busy stretch of the Lea river with its many twists and turns will have put them in good stead for the tricky steering manoeuvres over the race course including through the bridges. They built a strong platform to work from with two crews coming 3rd in the A finals of the 2019 National Schools Regatta, as well as showing a strong performance at Henley Royal Regatta last summer. These results are doubtlessly down to a lot of hard work combined with their state-of-the-art new facilities. Despite only entering one boat in this category, I would say Lea RC has a very good chance of dominating this race.
Putney high school rowing club
Putney High School has become a well-oiled machine with well-established training leading the club on to medal-winning finalists at national schools regatta, and in 2017 both the J16 and J18 crew won at Henley Women’s Regatta so they will be looking to restore this legacy going into the 2022/23 season. This club has the most entrants in this category with four boats racing after the podium positions, and I believe they stand a strong chance of achieving that.
Norwich School
This competitive club has worked hard to prove its worth. They race valiantly, but with mixed success rates. Many different factors could affect the outcome of the race; with two entries they stand a fighting chance.
My predictions
In conclusion, I predict that the final standings of this race to be:
1st – Lea Rowing club
2nd – Globe Rowing club
3rd – Bedford Girls School
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