The scullers, pairs and doubles have already taken to the Tideway this season, and now it is the turn of the fours and the quads to tackle the 6.8km course. In the Women’s School/Junior Coxless Fours there are thirteen crews entered, including some very high calibre crews, promising some exciting racing.
Henley Rowing Club
Henley RC was utterly dominant at Fours Head last year, winning all three junior women’s events. This year they have entered two coxless fours and will be hoping to repeat that feat. Henley’s J16 squad were particularly impressive last summer, winning the quad, second quad and eight at the 2022 National Schools’ Regatta and they also had 13 athletes selected for GB vs France. In addition, they did not have many athletes age out of juniors this year, so can be expected to be an equally dominant force this season.
Surbiton High School Boat Club
Surbiton has been a boat club up on the rise, reaching the final and the semi-final at Henley Royal Regatta in 2021 and 2022 respectively. They also had two athletes in the U19 Junior Women’s Eight that won silver at the U19 World Rowing Championships last summer. As such, I am expecting them to be pushing Henley all the way down the course making for some tight margins.
Hinksey Sculling School
Hinksey has also had a brilliant last two seasons. They qualified for the eight at Henley Royal Regatta in both 2021 and 2022 and had an athlete selected in the stroke seat of the aforementioned U19 Junior Women’s Eight last summer. Having retained a large portion of their squad from last season, I am expecting them to take the fight to Henley and Surbiton.
St Edward’s School Boat Club
Another crew with winning potential is St Edward’s. Affectionately known as ‘Teddies’, they too had a standout year last season. At Henley Royal Regatta in 2022, they pushed Henley all the way down the course, only losing by two-thirds of a length. They also had athletes who gained international experience last summer and it will be interesting to see where they place in a competitive field.
St Paul’s Girls’ School Boat Club
St Paul’s Girls’ fantastic season last year coincided with the arrival of coach Ed Dean from Henley RC. They won silver in the WJ16 8+ and the WJ18 4- at the 2022 National Schools’ Regatta, qualified for the Prince Philip Challenge Trophy at Henley Royal Regatta and had an athlete compete in the GB U19 Coxless Four at the Coupe de la Jeunesse. He has now moved on but has undoubtedly left SPGS in a better place. It will be interesting to see how they overcome that this season, and whether they can really challenge those at the top.
Prediction
I feel that this category will be too close to call. Any one of Henley, Surbiton, Hinksey, Teddies or St Paul’s could take the win. Henley is always very good at head racing, so I think they may have the upper hand, but the victory is definitely up for grabs on race day. One thing is for certain though – we are in for some tight racing.
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