This Sunday sees a return to the Tideway for Hammersmith Head, with crews racing roughly 4.5km from Chiswick Bridge to Hammersmith Bridge. The women’s intermediate eights category is made up of 12 entries from 9 different clubs, the majority of which unsurprisingly train regularly on the Thames, but with a few making the journey down from the River Cam to test their speed on a different course.
Cantabrigian BC
A well-established club in Cambridge, Cantabs women have proven their strength over the last year, continuing to hold headship in Cambridge Town Bumps and coming out of last December’s Fairbairns Cup with the fastest women’s eight of the day. Outside of their home city, their entry into the women’s club coxed fours event placed an impressive sixth out of 28 at Fours Head. Among the entries into the event this year, Cantabs are sending two crews to race down the Tideway this weekend, one of which is leading the cohort off the start line, setting a fast pace for the following boats.
Imperial College BC
As one of the entries that are native to the Tideway, the crew from Imperial will have a useful advantage when it comes to navigating the challenging course. In the past couple of months, the university club has had a number of successes on the Championship Course, including coming second in the Women’s Intermediate Band 2 Eights category at Quintin Head, and more recently their women’s quad placing third in the Championship Quads event at BUCS Head. No doubt looking for a win on their home stretch, this crew will be one to look out for.
Caius BC
Alongside Cantabs, Caius BC, of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, make up the cohort travelling from the River Cam to race this weekend. Caius seems to be a particularly strong college crew this year, with their women’s eight and senior women’s four coming fourth and second respectively in the Fairbairns Cup last December. They also finished second on the river in May Bumps last year, which, for anyone who knows Oxbridge bumps racing, is an impressive feat. While Hammersmith Head will certainly constitute some good training ahead of Lent Bumps, taking place in just under two weeks, it will also be interesting to see how they perform at an external race.
Lea RC
Lea has had some good results in the past month, coming second in the women’s senior eights category at Quintin Head, where they also placed third in the Women’s Intermediate Band 2 Eights event. While there aren’t many other results to go off, these recent successes suggest that their entry for this weekend will be one to keep an eye on.
Prediction
While there are a large number of crews racing in the women’s intermediate eights event this Sunday, looking at recent results I think it will come down to either Cantabrigian RC or Imperial College BC.
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