The season is really getting going now with the biggest event before Christmas taking place at the weekend as quads and fours from up and down the country take to the Tideway for the Fours Head. This race has grown to new heights in recent years, to the degree that entries need to be made quickly to secure spots, with high profile clubs missing out altogether in recent years.
Presenting a challenge to visiting crews, the fearsome Championship Course takes no prisoners, giving the ‘home’ clubs an obvious advantage.
Leander Club
A mainstay of Fours Head, Leander have entered a couple of crews in the Women’s Championship Quad event and both are stacked. Leander’s top boat features a mixture of athletes based out of Caversham and those based at the club in Henley. Lola Anderson comes fresh from the World Championships where she was part of the bronze-medal winning quad. Likewise, Hannah Scott returns, having put in a strong performance to make the A final in the single. Joining them are Becky Wilde and Imogen Magner, both of whom put in strong performances at trials recently and are vying for spots in the senior team.
Depending on the preparation this crew has had they will be one of the top contenders at the race.
Leander’s ‘B’ boat is also very strong, featuring the likes of Daisy Bellamy and Ruth Siddorn who are also expected to be very competitive on the trials scene this year. Bellamy is known more as a sweeper, but will have spent plenty of time getting used to two-sticks while preparing for the recent set of trials where the women sweep trialists were set to the task of sculling alongside the specialists.
Edinburgh University BC & Tideway Scullers School
This crew is made entirely of athletes based at Caversham and it’s great to see the senior team letting their athletes take leave to come and compete at the Fours Head.
Lucy Glover, the Edinburgh University oarswoman, rowed alongside the aforementioned Lola Anderson at this year’s World Championships in the quad, and will likely be stroking this boat as she did then. The other three athletes are all from Scullers, with Kyra Edwards and Saskia Budgett competing in this year’s Worlds in the double and Meg Saunders travelling as the spare sculler.
Leicester RC, Notts County RA & Twickenham RC
This crew is an interesting combination featuring athletes from three clubs who are all at the top end of the domestic scene. From the World Class Start group based at Twickenham RC, Vwaire Obukohwo and Annabel Ruinet, from Leicester, Lauren Henry and from Notts County RA comes Olivia Bates.
At the recent GB trials in Boston, this group of athletes did exceptionally. The young talent Henry finished one second behind Helen Glover to finish second overall, the lightweight Bates taking a number of scalps to finish fourth just ahead of Obukohwo in fifth. As a set of individuals they will be right up there with the crews above, but the test will come in their cohesion and ability for technique to hold up in potentially tricky conditions.
University of London BC
It is unusual to see ULBC entered in a quad, in recent times they have focussed almost entirely on sweep boats, but this change is symptomatic of the new Head Coach Anthony Smith changing things up.
Georgie Robinson Ranger is the best known athlete in the crew, with several GB vests to her name she too performed well at GB trials recently, placing 14th overall. Jessica Martin and Phoebe Snowden also competed at trials finishing lower down the rankings, expectedly so as sweep specialists.
An interesting name to feature on the team-sheet is the final crew member which appears to be Emily Craig. If indeed Craig is making up the quartet, she will add a huge amount to the crew, she is clearly in good form and ready to race after her win of the lightweight event at the Silver Skiff Regatta.
Prediction
There’s some really exciting crews entered this year but as always the big question will be around how settled the crews are being so soon after trials and who can best deal with the Tideway.
I expect that the Caversham-based Edinburgh/TSS composite will take the win with Leander ‘A’ not too far behind.
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