The jewel of Britain’s autumn head season, Fours Head returns to the Tideway on Sunday after last year’s event was cancelled due to excessive flow. The championship quads will lead off the oversubscribed field, with 11 crews from nine clubs fighting for the overall headship. For both clubs and universities alike, this is one of the most significant sculling events of the head season and will give us the first tea leaves to what looks likely to be an unpredictable season in the quads.
Leander Club
Leading out the event are Leander Club, a squad with three entries in the event. The most successful club in the history of this event, the Pink Palace has won ten of the last 12 headships, and they look to have the talent advantage on the rest of the field. Based on provisional crew lists, they have eight of the top 12 from last weekend’s trials, in addition to Tom Barras, who finished fourth in the quad in Paris. Filling out the ranks are two top athletes who had medical exemption last weekend alongside Jamie Hindle-Daniels from the New Zealand senior squad. The ‘A’ quad is entirely drawn from the Project LA group, having raced as two doubles at the Poznan World Rowing Cup last year. Chasing them down the course is the ‘B’ quad containing Barras and Hindle-Daniels, and the battle for the top spots will likely be between these two.
Reading University
The largest sculling-only club in the country, Reading University has dominated BUCS sculling since eliminating sweep from its programme a decade ago, currently holding a streak of two regattas and four heads without losing the premier men’s quad category. However, despite this success, they haven’t been able to get the better of non-academic opponents, with a Fours Head crown and a Henley Royal Regatta win notably absent from their trophy cabinet. This year’s group is among the most talented in some time as they return all but one of their first quad return from last season alongside some notable newcomers. On the provisional crew list is Norwegian Erik Vaktskjold, who has an U23 vest, and Ed Fuller, who returns from the Paris Paralympic Games with a gold medal in the PR3 mixed coxed four. Coming to the home of sculling, the power and experience these two bring may be enough to close the gap to their high-flying opposition from Leander.
London Rowing Club
Quickly establishing themselves as the sculling hotspot in club rowing, London Rowing Club’s entry in this event is loaded with talent. Men’s captain Eduardo Marshall is the only member of this crew who raced for the Putney club in The Prince of Wales Challenge Cup; joining him is Canadian international sculler Rui Xu, who has had great success sculling for London but was in The Thames Challenge Cup eight this summer. Entering the fray is Josh Lyon , who was the number two sculler at Reading last year, as well as Sam Meijer, who has had stints at Caversham during the Paris cycle and stroked the Star and Arrow quad who reached the semifinals at Henley Royal Regatta. This top-level recruitment is a real sign of confidence in Stuart Heap’s sculling project on the embankment, and Sunday will be the first test to see if they can translate it into success as a crew.
Marlow Rowing Club
Another club with a strong sculling group comes from further upriver at Marlow Rowing Club. Max Bird and Harry Ruinet are headlining this act, two recent graduates of successful junior sculling programmes who did not race at BUCS nor in the United States, instead focusing on their sculling on the domestic scene. This decision has been relatively successful, as at last weekend’s trials, both finished within the top 30 single sculls, producing top-ten finishes within the U23 ranks. Joining the two established scullers on the provisional crew list are James Doleman and Alfie Heath, both members of The Wyfold Challenge Cup-winning crew at Henley Royal Regatta this summer. With a clear winning pedigree, they transition to the quad for the step up to intermediate-level racing, looking to place themselves as one of the top club quads in the country.
Molesey Boat Club/Twickenham Rowing Club
The final club entry in the category comes from Molesey Boat Club and Twickenham Rowing Club and is made up mostly of graduates from the old GB start programme. This crew is highlighted by one of the biggest success stories of that programme as Twickenham’s Callum Dixon, the sailor turned Olympic rower who finished fourth in Paris within a few years of picking up the sport, jumps in the boat. Joining them in the crew are Alex King and Sam Moloney from the Twickenham and Nottingham squads who are both now based at Molesey and performed well last weekend at GB trials. Completing the set is Sam Bodkin, a Windsor Boys’ and University of Surrey alumnus who progressed through the sport in a more traditional route. With such talent in the crew and under the experienced guidance of Sam Tuck, the crew will be one to watch this weekend against the club and university opposition.
Queen’s University Belfast
In recent years, the number two university sculling programme in the UK has come from across the Irish sea. As Rowing Ireland’s only performance pathway programme Queen’s University, Belfast combines 24 BUCS medals from 2024 with several national team athletes. This year, they return all four of the quad that won silver at BUCS Regatta but add to their number with Konan Pazzaia, who was the Olympic reserve for the Irish squad. After racing last weekend at Ireland’s premier fours head, they make a rare autumn trip across to the UK for their first Fours Head since 2011. They hope to show that they can be a real thorn in the side of the Reading quad and demonstrate the speed they had in 2022 when they won the championship single, double, and quad at BUCS Regatta.
Durham University
The only high-performance university to be racing a men’s quad this weekend, Durham University has been the more sculling-focused of the northern trio in recent years. Playing no small part in this is Charlie Warren, a member of the all-conquering Windsor Boys’ quad from 2022 who has won several BUCS sculling medals since donning the Palatinate. Now men’s captain, he made his GB trials sweep debut last weekend alongside William Morgan-Jones but the two returning athletes return to their sculling roots on the Tideway alongside two recruits from Scandinavia. Benefiting from an active recruitment effort, Norway’s Fredrik Reite and Sweden’s William Widerberg make their debuts on the Tideway, in what will be the first race for Will Fletcher in the role of Head Coach.
Nottingham University
For the first time in at least a decade, Nottingham University sent an open-weight men’s single sculler to the first round of trials. They didn’t send just one – three athletes represented the green and gold in Lincolnshire, representing a really strong round of form for the midlands programme. All second-year members of their senior group, Hector Downes, Edward Floyd and Joe Palmer produced solid performances, making it on the water to finish in positions ranging from 49th to 58th. Bringing that work in the small boats together this weekend, they are joined by Dylan James, men’s captain on the Trent and a graduate of the Windsor Boys’ School, who will be hoping to lead his squad to a strong performance in this event on Sunday.
University of Bristol
The University of Bristol are making an unusual turn to sculling. In the men’s eight, they have established themselves as best of the rest but have scarcely raced in sculling boats. This crew, all made up of scullers who left top junior programmes three years ago, contains a couple of names that lit up the timesheets in Boston last weekend as Jake Birch and Joe Cunliffe finishing as the sixth and eighth-fastest U23s in the single sculls. Both out of the first eight from last year, they are joined by Freddie Woodall and Max Griffin Sadler, who, despite ending last season in the second eight, completed their junior careers at Leander and Windsor Boys’ School, respectively. Back to their sculling origins, the crew will be looking to match their standing in the eight, especially starting third in the championship division.
Prediction
Despite the ominous name of Callum Dixon in the Molesey/Twickenham composite, I think the talent out of the Pink Palace will be overwhelming for the rest of the field, and the top two positions will be between Leander Club’s A and B crews, with bow number one ultimately taking the victory. Behind them, the battle for the top academic crew in the field will be intriguing, and I wouldn’t be surprised if Queen’s travelled back across the Irish Sea with that honour.
About The Author
Discover more from JRN
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
