Auriol Kensington Rowing Club hosts Hammersmith head in the spring each year. Raced between Chiswick and Hammersmith Bridges on the outgoing tide, this serves as excellent practice for the likes of Schools’ Head and HORR. 10 crews will contest the Junior Coxed Four category. Given the proximity to Schools’ head, these crews will likely not feature the best athletes from schools and clubs as they will probably be in the eights, gearing up for the end of winter finale in a few weeks time.
American School in London
Having seen little of the American school this season, it is difficult to predict their speed coming into this event. That being said, with two entries in this category, they appear to be veering away from their sculling pedigree which they have built up over the past few seasons. Nonetheless, racing on familiar water it will be interesting to see what sort of a season ASL can start to bring together.
Dulwich College
Some would consider this a rebuilding year for Dulwich. They’re under new leadership in the form of Jason Foster who has taken over the mantle from Simon Croucher. Dulwich entered Henley Fours and Eights head not so long ago in a four that placed second, a reasonable distance behind Shiplake College. The transition back to the tideway will be a grateful one for Dulwich who will be used to the challenging twists and turns it presents.
St Pauls
Bobby’s boys… the lads from Hammersmith will be going into this race probably expecting to win. If performances, both coxed and coxless, at Fours Head are anything to go by, then St Pauls will be one of the favourites to take the win. None of their fours were outside the top four back in November and this is a feat they will be hoping to recreate. With their eights trucking on as they should, this should be another fast four from the Hammersmith school.
Some of the bastions of schoolboy rowing will also be descending onto the tideway. Entries from Hamton School, St Edwards and Radley College will be looking to stake their claims come this weekend’s racing. Out of these three, Radley look to be the most on form at the moment. Following their 21st placing in Youth fours at the Head of the Charles, bearing in mind they were beaten by St Pauls out in Boston, they then went on to Fours head where once again, St Pauls put a sizeable gap between the two of them. Reading Blue School and Great Marlow School will also be racing this weekend. Blue Coat will have two crews racing and GMS just the one. Both these schools have always been there or thereabouts in terms of junior sweep, never really progressing further than the first couple of rounds in the princess Elizabeth Challenge Cup. As such, expect these crews to be middle of pack but not challenging for the win.
My prediction…St Pauls followed by Radley
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