At long last, the weather gods have relented, and we have sculling back on the River Thames! With the consistently heavy rainfall, there hasn’t been a head race for months! Okay maybe since Quintin, but still feels like months…
It therefore comes as a surprise to see that the 17 entries this year is less than the 21 crews who raced from last year. Why have clubs opted not to race? Have they been more focused on land training? One explanation is the fact that this stretch of river was still on red buoys until very recently, so many might have feared yet another cancellation and not seen an entry worthwhile.
Walton Rowing Club
The home crew in this race, Walton were last year only three seconds off the victorious Tideway Scullers, who notably are not racing this time around. This will give them confidence, alongside their superior knowledge of the river, as their boat club is only situated a few kilometres upstream. Despite this, with the Thames having faced serious flooding in Walton, there is the possibility that the added land training may not pay dividends. Will the lack of experience in steering be a talking point of this race?
Lea Rowing Club
Another club that returns from last year, hoping to improve on their fourth place, where they finished nine seconds behind Walton. Lea RC has seen athletes both leave and join from last season, and they are building up a group of evenly matched rowers, alongside a new, rigorous training plan. One luxury they have had over other crews is that the Royal Docks on which they train have always been, unlike the Thames, rowable. This in theory gives them an advantage over other Thames-based crews.
Claires Court School Boat Club
Having finished third last season, three seconds behind Walton, Claires Court is also aiming to improve and go for gold. They are also a club that has seen notable personnel changes, with the very successful Harry Ruinet now at university. It remains to be seen how the rest of the club fair up, but with the history of this training program, I am left without worry.
Predictions
There are, outside of these three selected crews, other clubs that are also in with a shout. Henley Rowing Club performed well last year, but have also been affected by the epidemic rowers going to other clubs. A club that had a very strong and promising J16 crew was Molesey Boat Club, who also know this stretch of river very well. However, overall it will be between Walton and Lea, with Walton likely to edge it.
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