Be not deceived by the small size of this category – Head of the Nene is a significant race for the three crews entered, marking one of the first opportunities for new sweep forces out of Bedford Modern School Boat Club and Bedford Girls’ School Rowing Club to display their strength in eights. Coincidentally, all three boats are made up of J15s who will have started sweeping just months ago; this race could set up a new rivalry between the neighbouring clubs as they enter a new boat class. While they won’t be racing each other directly (the two clubs are entered in different divisions), all three crews will be eager to put their best foot forward as they foray into the world of sweep.
Short Course – Bedford Modern School Boat Club
As the only crew entered in this category for division two, Bedford Modern School Boat Club have guaranteed themselves a victory and will be racing only the clock across the 2.6km course. This crew appears to be Bedford Modern’s top Junior 15 eight, who have made an impressive step on from their J14 season, where they took twentieth place in the octuple sculls at the National Schools’ Regatta; they’ll be looking to prove their aptitude for sweeping in a fast and feisty race this weekend. On home water at Bedford Autumn Small Boats Head, two of their Junior 15 coxed quads placed seventh and ninth out of 20 crews over a similar distance to this weekend – the 2.6km course is at the shorter end of head races, and Peterborough’s fairly straight stretch will allow this boat to test their absolute maximum speed in a fairly new boat class.
Long Course – Bedford Girls’ School Rowing Club
Like Bedford Modern, Bedford Girls’ School Rowing Club have set themselves up to win as the only two entries in this event. Both boats are apparently Junior 15 crews, a squad who have shown impressive depth with third, sixth, and eighth place finishes in Junior 15 coxed quads at Bedford Autumn Small Boats Head and a more recent eighth place at Quintin Head. Bedford Girls’ actual Junior 16 contingent posted an exciting fifth place at Quintin, and are testing their speed by racing up in the WJ18 category – I’m excited to see how the large Junior 15 squad will match up to the high standard set by their predecessors. Their training for 4.5km Quintin Head will certainly pay off over the 5km long course, but with only half of these girls having raced last weekend, it will be interesting to see how they compare when effectively duelling down the Nene. Matched boats are very much a possibility for these two crews, opening the door for a remarkably tense battle in their small category.
Prediction
I’ll eat my hat if I’m wrong: Bedford Modern School Boat Club to win in Division 2 and Bedford Girls’ School Rowing Club to take it over the long course. In this case, it’s, of course, not the possibility of victory that is cause for excitement, but rather the opportunity for these two clubs to set their own standards in a new boat class. It’ll be particularly interesting to see how the local rivals compare across different distances, with Bedford Girls’ racing over almost twice the distance of Bedford Modern. The latter in particular has improved notably from last season and will look to benefit from this momentum in their Junior 15 crew, while the massive Junior 15 squad representing Bedford Girls’ School are surely looking to match their exciting results so far this season.
About The Author
Discover more from JRN
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
