As we move on from Fours Head and delve further into the winter season, with its unruly conditions and unforgiving weather, athletes will be taking on Hampton Small Boats Head this Saturday as a chance to begin their marginal developments towards the regatta season. Awaiting them – a 3000m course. This year we have a relatively small number of entries for this category, but a wealth of competition nonetheless as the crews begin to emerge from the crowd and start to identify their main competition.
Lea Rowing Club
Lea’s crews have had a strong start to the season with their quads among some of the most prestigious and competitive boat clubs in some head races so far. With their doubles placing well at Bedford Autumn Small Boats Head and a quad placing 2nd, this provides a very promising result for Hampton Head. Alongside this, an 11th-place finish at Fours Head too also suggests that there is still some time to climb the ranks which they will no doubt be hoping to achieve this weekend.
Surbiton High School Boat Club
An unexpected 8th and 24th place at Fours Head in the quads for Surbiton. Past results have contradicted last weekend’s results on the Tideway, possibly proving the steering or weather conditions to have taken their toll on the crews. Nevertheless, Surbiton still remains a highly fierce and competitive crew who will almost certainly be aiming for the 1st/2nd place at Hampton. Having much success in their quads at Henley Royal Regatta, this shows the high level of training and depth in their boat club. I believe they have a strong chance at achieving an impressive result this weekend due to their well-established training leading up to the bulk of the head season.
Sir William Perkins’s School Rowing Club
Interestingly, no entries in Fours Head or any recent Head results other than Wallingford which could potentially lead them to be the possible underdogs of the upcoming race! A narrow 4th place at Wallingford in their four shows their impressive level of endurance and skill and I believe they will be using this upcoming Head to as a basis for improvement and to see what the crew can bring come to the shorter distance.
Kew House School Boat Club
Kew House has the most entries within this race with 3 quads having been entered to race this weekend. However, having the majority of their crews racing in the sweeping 4 at Fours Head, it will be interesting to see whether they can transfer the skill and strength to the sculling realm, as well as having to deal with the steering difficulties of the river. By having 3 boats contending for a podium position I am sure that they will be able to achieve one.
Molesey Boat Club
Molesey’s crews claimed an incredibly tight 7th spot at Fours Head which proved to be a highly impressive result considering the narrow cluster of times, despite the arduous stretch of the Tideway. Molesey remains to be a boat club of high reputation with incredible involvement and results from the senior crews, creating a wealth of inspiration for the crew racing this Saturday.
Other crews entered involve Bedford Modern School Boat Club and Kings School Ely Boat Club who I don’t doubt will do very well too! My predictions entail Surbiton taking top spot, followed by a battle between Molesey and Lea Rowing Club.
Good luck!
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