The Open Academic Coxless Four title at this years Fours Head looks to be a straight battle between Imperial College BC and Oxford University Lightweights BC.
Oxford University Lightweight BC
Oxford University Lightweights have two crews entered and with no boats entered into the championship events it is safe to assume these will be their fastest crews. The ‘A’ crew contains Harrison Kieffer and Nicholas Ryan who were part of the Oxford University lightweight quad which competed in the Prince of Wales at Henley Royal Regatta last season. They were also members of the four which secured a silver medal in Championship Lightweight Four at BUCS Regatta. This would suggest that this boat has some good pace as well as experience.
The ‘B’ boat though also contains Agamemnon Crumpton from the BUCS Lightweight Four silver medal winning crew. Olly Featherstone and Mathew Hudson who previously have been in the Oxford Lightweights spare pair look to be moving up to the lightweight blue boat this year. They will therefore be hungry to get a good result here. Ed Campbell maintains his position in the ‘B’ crew from BUCS Regatta.
Imperial College Boat Club
Following on from their show of force at Henley Royal Regatta where Imperial College entered three eights into the Temple Cup, once again Imperial is demonstrating the depth in its men’s squad here at The Fours Head. With the top athletes in Championship Coxless and Coxed Four, these crews are likely to be made up of members from Imperial’s ‘B’ and ‘C’ eights. With two Open Academic Coxed Fours, it is difficult to determine what the exact pecking order of boats is between the coxless and coxed fours. The make-up of these coxless fours appear to be matched crews with a mixture from last year’s highly successful beginner squad and returning members from Imperial’s intermediate squad. It should also be noted that Imperial here is on home waters and so will enjoy the advantage of being in familiar surroundings.
Conclusion
I would predict that Oxford Lightweight ‘A’ is the favourite for this event based on experience, although all three of Imperial crews look to potentially be fast, particularly with the home advantage. Whatever the result the times should be close.
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