This particular event has a history of featuring some of this country’s top sculling prospects and this year is set to be no different. Seven crews will contest the 2021 edition of the Men’s Championship Doubles.
Edinburgh
Having bulked from lightweight, Dale Flockhart is ready have a crack at the open-weight BUCS events. He’s had a very successful set of GB Trials in his single so there is no doubt that this combination racing from Edinburgh will be one to watch as one of the favourites for the gold medal. Flockhart has numerous BUCS medals from over the years and he’ll be aiming to add to his collection this weekend.
Reading
As THE sculling university, Reading will be looking to medal in every event they enter. Their Men’s Championship Double has a really good chance of taking gold. Reading put together some stellar results in a variety of doubles combinations at Met Regatta showing that they already have depth across the squad this season. It looks like they will have Olly Dix returning after a stint at Leander too. He will only had extra horsepower to the the top end of the squad.
Strathclyde
It’s hard to say what we can expect from Strathclyde. Training on the Clyde in Glasgow results in some hardened athletes and I’m sure we can expect some tough racers from polka dot central. Strathclyde have close links with the GB Start centre at Strathclyde Park so we may see a couple of those athletes racing.
Bath
Bath features two members of the GB Start programme. They race in Bath’s top quad and most recently they tested their speed at Met Regatta. They’ve got some big ergos onboard, however, they are still to turn this into boat speed as they were edged out by their club mates who will race Intermediate Doubles this weekend.
Oxford Brookes
This will be a fast double, make no mistake. The combination of Quentin Antognelli and Jamie Copus will be incredibly tough to beat. Both of this athletes have years of experience between them and are two of the best that Brookes have produced. Having raced for their respective countries at international level, no one in this field will beat Brookes this weekend.
Durham
Durham are more known for their sweeping pedigree but it is great to see them branch out into sculling over recent years. They came away with gold in champ quads at the last BUCS event, BUCS Head 2020, so they have the ability to find speed with two sticks as opposed to just one. Often with big HPPs such as Durham, the athletes don’t get a huge amount of time to spend in small boat combinations. This day of racing is also the same as the Men’s Championship Fours and the Intermediate Coxed Four so it will be fascinating to see what Durham choose to prioritise. I suspect the Men’s Championship Four given their early indications of speed at Durham Regatta and the history they have with the PA…
Hartpury
This crew will most likely those in Hartpury’s top quad. That quartet had a brilliant outing at Marlow last weekend, placing third overall in the Championship Quad final and actually beating Reading by around a canvas. As such Hartpury have to be medal contenders, provided they have spend a decent amount of time in the smaller boats.
My Predictions…Brookes, Hartpury then Reading
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