As we are reaching the depths of the winter season, those who have the potential to be at the top during the summer regatta season are beginning to emerge from the rest of the competition. Hampton Small Boats Head would have presented another benchmark for those aiming towards GB Trials in February and beyond as well as the crews planning to aim high in the 2020 season, all the more unfortunate to see it cancelled. It appears that the WJ17 1x draw was full of experienced crews; the results would have been close.
Nottingham and Union RC – KAY/ADLAM
Over the past few years, Nottingham and Union have seen a significant amount of success within their junior programme. KAY individually did extremely well in coming 5th at Chester Long Distance Sculls in early September against a very strong field. ADLAM, Nottingham and Union’s ‘A’ boat saw a win in the double at Brit Champs 2019, a huge achievement against such a tough crowd.
Sir William Perkins’ School RC – CROSBIE
Like Nottingham and Union, Sir William Perkins have seen many promising results recently. Overall, as a club, their juniors performed very highly at British Rowing Junior Championships 2019. CROSBIE and her doubles partner reached the A Final and came 5th overall – a very impressive performance especially under the challenging weather conditions thrown their way that weekend. Despite the change of boat class, they could have potentially found the speed to have succeeded
Shiplake College BC – BLAKE-HURWORTH
Shiplake’s ‘A’ crew is the final feature in this article; coming 2nd at Pairs Head on the Tideway in her category this rower shows great potential to do well at Hampton Small Boats Head. Despite the change in category, experience on the Tideway will surely assist during a head race
Prediction
I think that the draw presents a very strong field and any of the crews could surprise us – however, it would be my guess that ADLAM of Nottingham and Union would have been the victor most likely.
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