The Hedsor Cup is one of the flagship events at the National Schools’ Regatta, containing top-class athletes from all of the leading rowing schools. We will almost certainly have Championship Eight winners racing, alongside junior world medallists and Henley winners. This is likely to descend into a scrap between the schools contesting the eights title the day before, which would be no surprise as the pattern of these events dictate that crews split down into fours for a Sunday’s races.
St Paul’s School
Undoubtedly the fastest schoolboy eight in the country, these boys aren’t too bad in a four either. Having opted not to race at Munich Regatta, Bobby sent his boys out in fours at Wallingford to take on the best of the domestic clubs. He walked away with two wins, in a remarkable show of strength from the Hammersmith-based school. This is the second-ranked crew, coxed by Axel De Boissard and comprised of athletes five to eight in the squad. The majority of this crew raced for in the first eight last year too, in what has been a phenomenal two years for the school. Even though this is the second four, with world champions Calvin Tarczy and Douwe De Graaf opting to race coxless, you still have to make these boys favourites for the win on Sunday.
Eton College
The Eton College J crew is the top-ranked crew in this event, made up of three athletes from the first eight and Simon Nunayon from the second eight. Nunayon is no slouch though, having competed in the fastest second eight in the country all year. Expect this crew to put in a strong performance – Eton are the best of the rest behind St Paul’s School and still represent a proper schoolboy heavyweight. Depending on how Saturday goes, it could be an afternoon for redemption or celebration but this crew will be determined to put in a strong performance in the hope of securing seats for Henley Royal Regatta. Mark Fangen-Hall has had a pretty decent first year in charge at Eton and he’ll be hoping to pick up some silverware to put the gloss on things.
Radley College
With junior world international Archie McChesney on-board, this crew will be aiming for a podium finish. Radley have had a strange season – a sub-standard showing at the Schools’ Head of the River in March was followed up by a third-placed finish in junior eights at Wallingford. They also opted to race at Bedford Regatta, but had a disappointing day – they didn’t final in any of the senior events they entered, although they did lose a cracker of a race in the junior fours to Shiplake by a foot. Well renowned as a late bloomer, Radley will be looking to pick up the pace this weekend as they begin to turn the screw ahead of Henley. It always interests me to see how schools prioritise certain events – some put the National Schools’ Regatta first and tail off for Henley whilst others rank mid-table at the end of May but become world-class crews for the beginning of July. Radley certainly fall into the latter category, and I’ll be curious to see whether they can pick up a medal on Sunday.
Shiplake College
Comprised largely of guys from the top eight, alongside cox Jacob Kirby, this crew will be looking to make a substantial impact on the field. Again, it’s rather tricky to determine when this crew have raced together previously – there was a Shiplake crew present at Bedford Regatta but it’s hard to tell whether or not they were of first eight material. Shiplake were silver medallists in this event last year, and I think they’d be delighted with that outcome in 2018. Shiplake have come on leaps and bounds in the past few years but I feel they may be slightly outgunned by a few big units in this event – I believe their top crew are racing coxless fours. The experience of first eight cox Kirby will be crucial in driving them down the course.
Dulwich College
A well-established first eights school, Dulwich have boated their four best athletes into this crew including junior international Patrick Craig. They were tenth at the Schools’ Head of the River but will be looking to improve on that performance this weekend. This is their top four and they’ll be looking to secure a spot in the ‘A’ final.
Bedford Modern School
This is the top-ranked crew from BMS so I expect them to be pretty fast on Sunday. They’ve fallen by the wayside a little over the past few years, failing to really produce any stand-out results – they had a strong junior quad about two years ago but haven’t managed to really capitalise on that foundation. This crew won open coxed fours at Bedford Regatta and make up half of the boat that will race in championship eights on the Saturday.
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