Hampton Small Boats Head 2024 – Open Junior 18 Singles Preview

With cancellations running rampant across the country, we look this weekend towards Hampton School and its home stretch to provide some exciting racing in the early portion of this year’s racing season.

Molesey Boat Club – Raph Hardwick-Skottowe

Molesey Boat Club puts forward a clear frontrunner for this category. Hardwick-Skottowe competed at the Coupe De La Jeunesse last season in the double and was the eighth-fastest U21 at the GB senior trials in Boston earlier this month. This will be a fantastic opportunity to show the pedigree that earned him an international vest. He sets off first in the pecking order and will be looking to keep the opposition at bay.

Hampton School Boat Club – Jerome Sharpe

The highest-ranked sculler from Hampton School Boat Club – no mean feat given the impressive pedigree this boat club has, including GB-France representation last summer and an A-final in open championships eights at the National Schools’ Regatta – this sculler will be looking to set the standard for the rest of his team to follow. With the home course advantage, the ball will be in his court to make the most of this opportunity to show the sculling potential of the program.

Claires Court School Boat ClubJoe Brittain

Claires Court have three athletes entered in this category; Arthur Llewelyn, Teddy Sinclair and Joe Brittain. Joe Brittain stands out to me as the front-runner, having enjoyed a strong performance in the National Schools’ Regatta B-final last season, I feel he should be heading into this weekend confident. Emerging from a historic powerhouse of junior men’s sculling, Brittain and his teammates will be looking to meet and exceed the expectations set before them.

Prediction

I believe that Raph Hardwick-Skottowe is the clear pick of the bunch for this and should be relatively unphased by the prospect of victory on Saturday, having already proven himself across many different regattas. Moving on to the best of the rest, I think the pack will be incredibly tight, but will feature Joe Brittain coming in second with Jerome Sharpe, Arthur Llewelyn and Teddy Sinclair battling it out for the third, fourth and fifth.

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