photo creds to @a_blind_photographer
Fours Head is always a significant event in the racing calendar; presenting a benchmark for the progress already made throughout the initial few months of winter training. Giving us a chance to guess who will be taking the early lead through the beginning of the summer season, the competition will be intense and interesting to watch. Band two of the Women’s Junior Coxed Fours consists of 11 crews and without a doubt, the racing will be close, but who will take the win at this major event on the tideway?
Tideway Scullers School
Tideway Scullers School have seen a lot of success across the board for a long time. From U23 to Junior categories, their crews are usually up to a high technical standard and fierce competition. Freya Lovric-Kemp and her crew have seen much success over the past few years; of significant note, a win at Junior Sculling Head 2019 in the WJ16 4x-. Now WJ17 and rowing sweep, will these girls be able to follow up on their success and come out at the top once again?
Trentham Rowing Club
From the North-West, Trentham RC have one of the strongest junior squads around. Their WJ16 squad has brought home some extremely impressive results; to begin with they came second at Junior Sculling Head 2019 in the WJ15 4x+ and took home a huge win at British Junior Championships 2019 in the midst of a very tight race for 2nd, 3rd and 4th. These girls have always been huge competition and Trentham RC has a history of doing extremely well in the transition from sculling to sweep. Maybe this North-West club will pull it out the bag again to come first at Fours Head.
Marlow Rowing Club
These girls have come a long way over the past few years, at Junior Sculling Head 2019 they came a very respectable 8th in the WJ15 4x+, only 17 seconds off the winning crew. They saw massive improvements in the run up to British Rowing Junior Championships 2019 and made it to the A final, only to be beaten to the medal podium by 0.23 seconds. Perhaps these girls will have kept the impressive levels of improvement going and will take the top spot at this year’s fours head.
Prediction
I think that looking at the top few boats in this field, it will be a very close race. My prediction would be that, despite their distinct advantage of rowing on their home water – navigating the Tideway is no easy feat – Tideway Scullers may be beaten by Trentham Rowing Club. The Trentham Girls have proved countless times their ability to race hard and this could take them to winning the W Sch/Jun 4+ event at Fours Head 2019.