Hammersmith Head is generally considered to be the first big junior rowing event of the spring racing calendar, and there’s every chance that with the light winds and sunny conditions predicted this Sunday, this could be just the race to shake of some of those winter rowing blues.
Starting at Chiswick Bridge and ending near Hammersmith Bridge, Hammersmith Head is set over approximately 3 ¾ miles (4.3 km) of the one most iconic stretches of water in the rowing world. It has become the perfect run-up for those crews with aspirations of success at Schools Head, which is raced over a similar stretch of the Thames less than three weeks later.
This year’s J16 8+ category is graced with a whopping 26 crews, which should make for some exciting and perhaps even more unpredictable racing than usual. Although some of the J16 crews might feel the added pressure of the setting off first down the track at 9.30am, the prospect of relatively clear water will definitely be a welcome advantage to any of the early fast starters.
Amongst the crews expected to perform well are:
St Paul’s BC
SPBC have gotten off to a predictably strong start this season and will rightly be viewed as home favourites. It will be interesting to see if this is the point in the season where they start to prioritise their two crews after having been racing in mixed boats so far. Expect an extra strong push from both “A” and “B” boats as they row past the school grounds towards the finish line.
Eton College BC
ECBC have also had an impressive start to the season and have already set down a marker with a recent win over much of the day’s competition at Quintin Head in late January. Even with the early morning start, I don’t think there will be a lack of motivation among the Eton crews, who will be eager to take on their big rivals in a race that they will feel is very much on enemy territory.
Radley College
With a close second place finish behind St Pauls at last year’s National Schools Regatta, you can definitely expect Radley’s J16 boys to be well and truly in the mix at this stage of the season.
Other Crews
Other crews to look out for are Kings College, St Edward’s, Team Keane, Latymer Upper, and Westminster, all of whom will be up for a battle and are more than capable of producing fast times on the day.
Prediction
There is no doubt that this year’s men’s J16 8+ is going to be one of the most eagerly anticipated and fiercely fought races of the competition. That being said, I still feel that the power and pedigree of St Paul’s, Eton and Radley will be more than enough to see off the rest of the field and my prediction is that we’ll see the winning times in that order. The only thing I would add is don’t be surprised if any of these three manage to secure places in the top three spots with both their “A” and “B” boats.
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