One of the major Tideway heads, the Fours Head makes a much-anticipated return to the Tideway in 2021, after a two-year hiatus. Restrictions surrounding navigation under Hammersmith Bridge have been lifted so that this year’s event will be over the full course from Mortlake to Putney, which will prove a stiff test of a crew’s fitness and cohesion. Usually, Fours Head is one of the very few times the squads of Oxford and Cambridge are able to be directly compared. However, with Oxford’s heavyweight men a conspicuous absence from this year’s event, this won’t be the case. Whether or not this was a decision that was made voluntarily or one that was forced upon them due to the speed at which entries filled up remains to be seen, however, the Championship Coxed Four has a draw filled with heavy hitters, so, as you would expect, the quality and competitiveness of the racing should be fierce.
Cambridge University
Cambridge have entered in force, with the Coxed Fours alone seeing six boats entered. As things stand, the top Cambridge crew contains both Ollie Wynne-Griffith and Tom George, and are steered by their President Charlie Marcus. Any crew with two Olympic medallists on board will no doubt be a serious threat, so this will of course be a crew to watch. The second crew appears to be made up of mainly guys who were a part of last year’s winning Goldie crew, and they’ll be looking to make the step up into the Blue Boat for this year’s race. It seems that the remainder of the CUBC contingent are made up from some of the more junior athletes, all of whom will be looking to make a positive impression to Rob Baker, especially as he will no doubt be looking at combinations for trial eights crews. As such, every athlete in light blue will have something to race for, so a strong set of results will be sought from the Cambridge contingent.
Oxford Brookes University
A name that needs absolutely no introduction, Brookes will have three boats racing in the coxed four event. As things stand, the top boat in the event looks to be a fearsome unit, with three athletes and cox from last year’s Grand-winning eight, with the final member being another Tokyo medallist from the eight, in the form of Josh Bugajski. Again, this should be a unit that has a lot of power, as well as time together in a combination. In a style similar to Cambridge, the other two Brookes boats seem to be made up of less experienced athletes, but the Brookes system is well known for the depth of athlete it produces, so these two other boats will doubtless be competitive.
University of Bristol
A club who are steadily on the way up, Bristol came onto the coxed fours scene last year when they made the semi-final at Henley. In that race they gave Newcastle University a stern examination, holding them to just under a length by the finish. It seems that three of that crew are back this year, including the Davies twins in the middle of the boat. This should bode well in terms of continuity in a proven combination, which can make a difference at this early stage of the season. Bristol raced in eights at Upper Thames Autumn Head where they made a good show against still competition in the form of three eights from Oxford amongst others.
Lea
One of the few clubs who have made the choice to race in this Championship event, Lea have put two crews in for this category. Going off the entry lists, the first of these crews is made up of three of the crew who reached the final of the Wyfold Challenge Cup at Henley in August. Clearly, they will be a crew who are looking to go one better with this year’s endeavours. Given their pedigree in the coxless four and given the difference in terms of how to best move a coxed four in comparison, it is fascinating to see this particular set of athletes in this event, rather than the coxless fours. As for the second crew from Lea, this has been harder to find information on the specific athletes, but, as a club who always have good depth, shown by the fact that Lea had a Thames eight and but for illness would have had a Britannia four at Henley shows that this second crew, whilst the front of the field may be a touch out of reach, should nevertheless put down a good showing.
Imperial College Boat Club
One of the Putney-based clubs, for IC this will be one of the first opportunities they will have had to race on their home stretch of water for a long time. As seems to be the trend here, this crew has three returners and the cox from Imperial’s top Temple Challenge Cup eight at Henley, who were runners up to a slick crew from Nereus. These guys will be well versed not only in terms of moving together as a unit, but also in terms of the stretch of river given that they train on it daily. Given the impact that a good line can have on a result on the Championship course, this Imperial crew could be one to watch.
The other two entries in this event come from London RC and Reading RC. Given that their respective coaches have chosen to enter them into the top ranked event suggests that they will have some speed but given the calibre and pedigree of the crews outlined here, they may well find the pace a little too hot to handle, especially with the majority of entries coming from university based athletes.
Predictions
In terms of looking at the win, I think it will be a straight fight between the first ranked boats from Cambridge and Oxford Brookes, and for what it’s worth I think it is a battle that will be won by the Brookes boat. I think third and fourth will be contested between IC and the second Cambridge boat, with Bristol rounding out the top five.
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