This weekend is the first opportunity of the year for quads to step up and lay down a marker for the rest of the season. A big field of 31 crews will race down the 3000m course, therefore, this is an ideal opportunity to hit the ground running. With GB Trials in Boston only two weeks away, Hampton Head provides a good speed test for high-end crews against tough opposition. Maidenhead will lead off the category, however, they will be chased hard by the likes of Star and Arrow, Windsor Boys School and Marlow. This promises to be an exciting showdown given the close proximity of Fours Head results.
Maidenhead- Kleshnev & O’Mahony
Maidenhead has two crews entered in this event. It is unclear as to whether they have entered matched quads or an ‘A’ crew and a ‘B’ crew. Regardless of the setup of the crews, expect to see Maidenhead at the top of the results. 5th place at Fours head, and with the calibre of athletes such as Victor Kleshnev onboard, they will certainly be looking to take the win this weekend. Both Kleshnev and crewmate Eduardo Marshall produced top ten finishes at E.I.Ds in November and Sean O’Mahony placed 19th. Given the talent of the club’s rowers, if matched quads are raced then I still expect to see both quads towards the top of the results.
Star and Arrow-1
Leander are entering under their other alias ‘Star and Arrow’ this weekend. They were set to do this at TVTH as well before it was cancelled. The Fours Head winners are second off and will no doubt look to take the honours at Hampton too. With athletes who competed at last year’s GB trials and with a semi final place in the Fawley, Leander will hope to use Hampton as a chance to emphasise their strengh in junior quads and prove they are serious contenders for the big regattas later in the year. I expect to see Leander with a podium finish, if not winning.
Windsor Boy’s School- Smith
Another bastion of junior quads, Windor were just under four seconds behind Leander on the Tideway at Fours Head. However, all four athletes raced At E.I.Ds with Tom Smith finishing second and Bryn Ellery placing fifth. Smith also won J18 singles at the Scullers Head with Ellery 20 seconds behind. This is a classy crew who will look to go far this year, particluarly at NSR and at Henley. There is no reason this crew cannot win on Saturday, so it will be interesting to see if they can overcome the result from fours Head.
Marlow- Long
Marlow is another crew with a successful start to the year. Marlow won Youth coxed quads at HOCR and palced fourth at Fours head. These combined with a second and sixth place finish at Pairs Head in J18 doubles proves they are once again at the one of the top junior sculling clubs. More impressive was their victory in Youth Quads at Head of the Charles early in the season, beating their nearest British competition by 28 seconds. Ben Simon and Joe Wolfin produced strong perfomances in the single at GB trials in Boston and will hope to lead this crew to victory on the Hampton stretch of the Thames.
Globe- Sullivan
Callum Sullivan and Baker are two top scullers who have both performed well at GB trials, along with Dominic Sullivan so far this year. Sullivan is looking to have another season in a GB vest, following his double coupe gold last year. Globe were unlucky to miss out on Fawley qualification last year but they will no doubt look to overturn that this season. It is unlcear how the Globe quad stacks up against the country’s best quads given they did not race at Fours Head. However, that being said, given the quality athletes in the crew and the positive results they produced last year, I do expect Globe to finish well this weekend.
Tideway Scullers School- Kelly
The calibre of rowers in this crew indicates that TSS could do something special this year. Marcus Jonas is involved in the U23 trialling process and his crewmate Laurence Joss was the fastest junior sculler at Scullers Head, as a J17, and took top honours at Junior Trials in Boston. Alex Kelly finished in the top 25. TSS produced a 6th place finish on their home water at Fours Head but given the 9 second gap between them at winners Leander, Hampton head is the perfect opportunity for TSS to turn excellent results in small boats into a dominant performance the quad.
Special mention must also be given to Northwich, Lea, Latymer Upper and Claires Court who placed eight through eleven respectively at Fours Head. These crews, particularly Northwich and Claires Court have athletes such as Kevin Dudley and Ollie Costley respectively, who have shown to be amongst the best at junior trials. Out of these crews I envisage Northwich to come away with the best result but it will not quite be enough for a top three finish.
My prediction…Windsor Boys, Tideway Scullers and Star and Arrow, but not necessarily in that order. Watch out for Marlow and Maidenhead though.
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