Welcome to Hampton Head, quite possibly the highlight of the ‘Pre-tideway Heads’ calendar, especially for those who aim to medal at HoRR and similar races later in the season. Already a sizeable proportion of those racing this weekend have stretched their riggers, noticeably at Quintin Head; yet, with clubs up and down the nation still test driving their new J16 crews, this weekend on the river will test even the most experienced crews.
Westminster School
After storming Quintin Head last week, Westminster School are clearly in a strong position coming into the weekend. This recent success only goes to reinforce the dominance that they began to establish toward the end of the season last year – notably a Gold in the second eights, and a Silver in the Championship Eights at National Schools’ Regatta, as well as a strong win at Marlow regatta – this Championship crew, appear to be similar to this years’ crew, for certain Oliver Li will be stroking the crew at the top of the division at Hampton. Interestingly, since Quintin Head, the team at Westminster have taken the decision to only race one Eight at Hampton, in keeping with the trend across the category, as demonstrated by our next crew: Shiplake College.
Shiplake College
The now J16s at Shiplake made very few appearances in the blue ribbon event at the race circuit last season, most notably not attending Marlow. Shiplake were also failing to be successful at the regattas they did attend – remarkably, for a club with such heritage, the crew failed to make the final at Nat Schools’. Despite this apparent lack of strength last year, 2019 seems to have marked a turning point for the Batty crew, impressively coming second at Quintin head, only being beaten by the ever strong Westminster boys. In light of this more recent success, we should hope that Shiplake continue to prove themselves, and place well at Hampton, especially as new names and faces make waves on the Thames.
St. Pauls School
Clear frontrunners from last season, St. Pauls have demonstrated sustained in-depth strength ever since breaking the record in the Championship Eights in 2012 at National Schools’ Regatta. Since then the reputation of St Pauls has stayed strong, despite occasionally wavering over time. In More recent years, last year’s J15s came home with the gold, beating Westminster by a mere 8/10ths of a second in the Championship Eights at NSR, and only a week ago, missed the Silver medal position at Quintin Head by less than a second. We know that at least part of this crew was part of the dominant eight at the tail end of the season last year, and we expect them to be the biggest challengers to Westminster this weekend.
Norwich School
Another crew that have upped their game since last season, Norwich School have shown themselves to be strong coming into the new year. At the end of last season, Norwich were only able to make the ‘B’ final at National Schools’ and made no appearance at Marlow Regatta, where the ever dominant Westminster crew once again stroked to victory. Since then, they have managed to create a far stronger boat, which managed to claim fourth place at Quintin Head. This crew may not have the sheer horsepower to topple the current giants in this field, but they have the determination and strength to be competitive in a tough category.
Hampton School
On home water, we should be able to expect one of the stronger crews from last season to boat a strong squad, in particular in the eights. Hampton were not at Quintin head, and thus their own Head will be the first opportunity to demonstrate the talent and strength that the school are keen to develop. As mentioned, last season their success at J15 level meant they claimed the silver at Marlow in the Eights, and the Bronze in the Second Eights at National Schools’. Hampton are famous for not showing true strength until the later years, so it will be interesting to see how this cohort of J16s face up to the current front-runners in the field.
Predictions
The only sensible suggestion for the win can be Westminster, with their dominance over the start of this season, and the last season. St. Pauls and Shiplake are the other potential frontrunners, but as is to be expected at this point in the season, new crews appearing on the circuit are to be expected to throw a spanner or two in the works.
By all accounts, Hampton head will be an exciting event, and we wish all crews the best of luck, and look forward to seeing the results.
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