With just over the stretch of 3k, Hampton Head is one of the most competitive events in junior rowing, with the J15 8+’s being no exception. The J15 8+ have 17 boats entered in the J15 8+ and 4 in the J15 2nd 8+. The likes of Henley, Headington, Marlow and Surbiton High School are all entered in to these races, definitely making it a tough race to win.
Henley
The J15s have already had some success this year, most recently coming in second at Quintin Head and also winning Wallingford Head in the J15 8+. They lost the top spot at Quintin Head to Lady Eleanor Holles who are also competing in Hampton, so it’ll be interesting to see how well they do over a shorter course. Henley have entered Josie Sawbridge as stoke in the 8+, who competed last year at National Schools’ Regatta in the J14 4x+, which came 3rd in the C final. With Henley competing, it’ll definitely make it hard for the other crews.
Headington
As Headington’s first race of the year, in the J15 8+, it’ll be exciting to see whether or not the winter training has paid off. Headington have chosen to enter one crew into the J15 8+ category. In their first 8+, Headington have chosen to put Georgie Betts as their stroke, who was at bow when they competed in the J14 8x+ at NAT Schools’, which came 2nd in the A final. Last year at NAT Schools’, the Headington J16 8+ came 3rd in the A final, the 2nd 8+ came 1st in the B final and the 1st 8+ came 2nd in the A final, just losing the top spot to Henley. It’ll be interesting to see how quickly Headington has picked up sweeping. As it is one of the first races for the J15s, and it’ll be sure to be a tough one with the likes of Henley, Marlow and Lady Eleanor Holles competing.
Surbiton High School
Surbiton have entered two crews into the J15 8+. In the 1st 8+, Surbiton have put Maia Chaukar as stroke. Chaukar also competed in J14 2nd 8x+ as a cox at National Schools’ Regatta, which came in at 4th in the A final. In Surbiton’s 2nd 8+, they’ve put Amelia Stagg as stroke, who also competed in the J14 8x+, which came in 4th in the A final respectively. Last year at NAT schools’ Surbiton’s J15 8+ came 1st in the B final and their J16s came 4th in the A final, narrowly missing out on the top spot. It’ll be a close one to call so early in the season, when all the crews are still building the basics of sweeping.
Lady Eleanor Holles
Lady Eleanor Holles school absolutely has the upper hand at Hampton since they very recently won at Quintin Head, against many of the clubs that have entered for Hampton, so they’ll definitely be confident. In terms of last year at NAT Schools’, the J14 8x and the J14 2nd 8x came 2nd and 3rd respectively in the B final, and it’s shows that the power from the 8x has been transferred into the J15 8+.
Predictions
I think Lady Eleanor Holles and Henley will do very well in this race, given the past results. It’ll be hard to tell whether Headington and Surbiton will manage to keep up with the other J15 8+’s.
JuniorRowingWriter
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