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Feeling the Henley Blues? So are we, so the only way to fix this is clearly to head off to Strathclyde Country Park to observe yet more rowing at the British Junior Championships to fill the empty void that Henley once was. Held over 3 days, these senior crews will race a 1900m course of endurance and speed for the chance to grab up the last few medals of this rowing season.
Sir William Perkins School
A crew composed of Patient and Cowell have shown a strong performance at NSR in May, placing second just behind Molesey boat club. To add to their reputation, Cowell also competed in Coupe last year and scooped up both a gold and silver, proving that this crew will have high expectations to place on the podium with experience and power at their disposal. They also won their event at Wallingford – demonstrating their impressive calibre and skill and I think they will definitely be on the hunt for a podium spot, dare I say the winning position.
Hartpury University and College Boat Club
Although this Boat Club doesn’t appear consistently at the well-known regattas leading up to NSR, they sure don’t let it hinder their performance. They placed a narrow 4th place at NSR this year just after Wycliffe which caused them to be the underdogs of the category. Hurrel has also shown her strong place in the sport with her impressive performance at the National Junior Indoor Rowing where she placed 3rd. I think this crew will be setting down a strong performance this week and could possibly surprise us with how well they do.
Peterborough City Rowing Club
A strong fleet of crews has been entered from this rowing club, with 4 doubles participating this week. Piccaver and Calver stand out with their high placement at NSR this year along with the rest of their fellow club rowers as they dominated the Peterborough Spring Regatta in both singles and doubles which leads me to believe that this club’s crews will definitely field within the top few.
Predictions
Due to this event having a large cohort of entries, anything could happen – especially with a handful of the crews’ last events being the National Schools’ Regatta. Great Marlow School Boat Club’s double performed well at NSR and placed 2nd in the B final – showing that they were mere seconds off the latter end of the top crews. Owing to this, I have no doubt that they will have improved even further in the last few weeks. Other crews to look out for would be Claires Court School due to their high-performance rowing program and their frequent and consequently largely successful races at Henley Royal Regatta, as well as Lea RC which I think will place within the top half of this event.
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