Considered one of the most significant head races in the world – second only to Boston’s Head of the Charles – the Head of the River serves as the pinnacle of the British head racing season. Hundreds of crews will take to the Tideway in the ultimate test of endurance and race-craft on the country’s most famous – and most notorious – stretches of river to row on.
Among the many prizes on offer, the Bernard Churcher Trophy is one of the most exciting. Open to university and college boat clubs, including international entries, this category consistently draws some of the best crews in the sport – some of which will be looking for very high overall rankings amongst the top crews at HORR. This year, with perennial powerhouses Oxford Brookes having had a disrupted and challenging start to their season, the field may be more open than ever. As usual, I’ll be previewing the ‘main players’ of the event, before offering a final prediction for a top three finish order. It’s also worth bearing in mind that, while I’ll be naming athletes in these previews as per the crew lists, lineups can change by up to 50% by race day – so we won’t know for sure who exactly is in these boats until we see them on the start line.
Oxford Brookes University Boat Club
When previewing any competition that features Brookes, they’re usually the first ones I go to – generally because, more often than not, they tend to win. I don’t think anyone would accuse me of hyperbole if I were to claim that Brookes has the most successful university boat club on the planet over the last decade. Granted, they don’t enjoy the same level of competition as US universities do year-round, but when put to the test, Brookes always deliver, and it’s earned them a plethora of Henley medals, BUCS titles, U23, Senior and Olympic vests… the list goes on.
However, no reign lasts forever. It is difficult to say just how badly Brookes has been impacted by the controversies surrounding coaching practices at Brookes late last year, but it would be naïve to think they haven’t had some effect. The programme has built its dominance on a relentless training culture and a finely tuned system that churns out boats that are very difficult to beat – but any disruption, especially one involving leadership, has the potential to shake even the strongest foundations. The real question is whether this will manifest in their performances on the water. The only indications we have thus far for the men are from GB Trials, where Brookes athletes performed about as well as ever. For the women, WEHORR saw a drop from the top women’s boat to 5th place, down from 2nd in 2024 – still a great result, but troubling nonetheless for a club that has for so long been basically on top or thereabouts.
Will the men suffer a similar fate at HORR? Their top boat – stacked with talent back from Caversham – has bumped some very good oarsmen down into the 2nd VIII, and I imagine these two eights will be right at the top of the field overall. It looks like their top Bernard Churcher-eligible boat (i.e. students at the university) might be a little on the weak side compared to Brookes units we’ve seen before. The bulk of this crew are guys with some lower boat experience – athletes like Max Pianta, Carwyn Davies and Lorenzo Previati. They’re backed up by newcomers like Toby Tegg and Sal Dunn, who were the fastest full U23 pair back in November at GB Trials. These guys won’t be slouches, but will they have the speed to win the Churcher? I think, given the calibre of the crew that I’m going to preview next, they might struggle this year.
Cambridge University Boat Club
The Light Blues of Cambridge enter here with a Goldie lineup for the first time in recent memory. Generally, HORR is a bit too close to the Boat Race for Oxbridge crews to want to enter – it’s a big hand to show, racing over the full Boat Race distance, and the risks potentially outweigh the rewards – but given the lateness of the date of the Boat Race this year, clearly Cambridge feel that they can have a crack, albeit not with the Blue Boat. Following a strong performance from Cambridge at WEHORR, where the Blue Boat took 3rd behind Leander and Thames, the men will be looking for similar successes. I think this Goldie crew will certainly be the ones to beat in the battle for the Churcher, and given their time together – and their recent dismantling of the Leander ‘A’ boat in a private fixture, granted without the addition of the Caversham athletes that will return for HORR – they will probably be aiming for a very high overall finish.
The strength at Cambridge this year has pushed some talented Blues into the reserve boat, including double Boat Race winner Matt Edge – stroke of the 2024 crew – and Boat Race winners Tom Marsh and Brett Taylor, from the 2024 and 2023 Blue Boats, respectively. They’re backed up by some serious horsepower in the form of Harvard 1V oarsman Tom Macky, formerly of Scotch College, AUS, and Simon Nunayon, who was also at Harvard and was a U23 World Champion in the GB BM8+ back in 2021. 2024 Goldie winner Joe Travis, Canadian U23 Connor Attridge, and former Edinburgh star Matt Morgan complete the lineup, alongside cox James Trotman, who coxed St Paul’s School to a win in the PE back in 2022 and the Cambridge Women’s Blue Boat to a Boat Race win in 2023. Clearly, this is a very strong Goldie – perhaps one of the strongest we’ve ever seen – and their results in fixtures thus far prove it; their win against Leander followed a comprehensive victory over Thames’s 1st VIII a few weeks ago. I don’t think any other student crew racing at HORR matches the experience and power in this Goldie boat.
University of London Boat Club
UL’s top boat has had a decent season thus far, with top-placed finishes among university boats at both Quintin Head and Hammersmith Head. It must be noted, however, that UL were beaten on both occasions by St Paul’s – a powerhouse of junior rowing, granted, but a junior crew nonetheless. If UL are to compete at the top end of university rowing in the UK, they will need to pick up a lot of speed, and HORR will be their first true test this season. There’s some good talent in this boat with the likes of Junior World Champion Joe Middleton and smooth strokeman George Lauchlan, and under the guidance of Head Coach Antony Smith – who is at this point one of the most experienced Head Coaches on the Tideway – I have no doubt that these guys will put in a good performance. What will be really interesting is to see whether they can come out ahead of the Northern powerhouses – Durham, Newcastle and Edinburgh. It will be an important test for UL, and it’s difficult to know at this stage how things will play out.
Durham University Boat Club
Durham will head into HORR buoyed by a standout performance at BUCS Head, where they took the Championship Eights title ahead of Newcastle and Edinburgh – reversing their result from Rutherford Head at the end of 2024. It was a statement win – one that reaffirmed their status as probably the leading challenger to the Brookes-Oxbridge hegemony – albeit a little on the narrow side. Charlie Warren, a Henley-winning oarsman from Windsor Boys and current club captain, is expected to lead the charge once again for this HORR crew, joined by pairs partner William Morgan-Jones, former Princeton Tiger Lachlan Toovey, and Norwegian junior and U23 international Frederik Reite. Toovey and Reite are two fantastic pickups for Durham this year, bolstering the depth that Durham is becoming known for. Historically, Durham have struggled to carry early-season momentum into the summer, but right now, they have the edge over their northern rivals. The Tideway will offer another opportunity to prove that their BUCS victory was no fluke. If they can put down another commanding performance, it would be their strongest showing in years at the top end of British university rowing.
Newcastle University Boat Club
A second-place finish at BUCS Head will have stung for Newcastle, particularly given their history of dominance in northern rowing. Under the leadership of men’s captain James Purves-Liddelle, they came in with a point to prove, and while they were bested by Durham, their result still showed they are in the mix at the sharp end. Purves-Liddelle, alongside Gwilym Johnson, Lucas Bowes, and Ben Brockway, could well form the backbone of this squad for Head of the River, joined by young talent from the likes of former Coupe de la Jeunesse sculler Harvey Orskov, Brockway, an U23 European medallist, gives them a punch of top-end power, but Newcastle’s challenge in recent years has been execution rather than talent. The big question that Newcastle faces is whether they can refine their approach and get back ahead of the Durham Palatinate. BUCS showed that they have the speed to be competitive, but to take that next step and return to winning ways, they’ll need to find another gear on the Tideway.
Edinburgh University Boat Club
A third-place finish at BUCS Head for Edinburgh will have been a bit of a confidence knock, particularly considering races at the end of 2024 saw the Scottish powerhouse come out ahead of Northern rivals Durham and Newcastle. The margin at BUCS – over 15 seconds back on Durham, and about 12 back on Newcastle – will trouble them. I think the boys in Baby Blue might be suffering a little from a lack of top-end talent; their squad is pretty flat at the moment relative to some of the other top performing programmes, which is great for lower boats but can result in a tougher time for the top boat. That being said, there are some very strong oarsmen here: Freddy Foxwell and Magnus Heidenreich put in a solid shift in the double at GB Trials, and Australian import Henry Blackwell brings some firepower to the stern. Their win at Rutherford Head earlier in the season suggests they are more than capable of turning up and surprising the more established names. They will absolutely be looking to get the better of Newcastle and Durham after coming up short at BUCS, and while an outright win might be a step too far, another strong showing would further cement their status as a major force in British university rowing.
University of Bristol Boat Club
The new kid on the block when it comes to top-end British university rowing, Bristol put a solid shift in at BUCS Head to take home fourth place behind Durham, Newcastle and Edinburgh. Having established themselves as a genuine contender at the top end of university rowing, they’ll be hungry for another strong result here. Jake Birch, a former junior GB gold medallist in the JM8+ in Varese, leads their charge, and his pairing with Joe Cunliffe at GB Trials suggests Bristol have some legitimate speed in the smaller boats. They’re led by the experienced pairing of Ko Uchida and Thibault Mulot in the stern pair, both of whom have been right at the forefront of Bristol’s rise over the past couple of years. What makes Bristol dangerous is their rapid progression. Their performances at Metropolitan and Marlow Regattas last year showed that they are capable of mixing it with some of the biggest names in the sport, and while they couldn’t quite crack the top three at BUCS, they weren’t far off. Head of the River offers another chance to take a step forward, and if they can put together a complete performance, they could be right in the mix once again.
Imperial College Boat Club
It has been a difficult few seasons for Imperial, and their fifth-place finish at BUCS Head won’t have done much to inspire confidence. Once a consistent challenger at the top level of British university rowing, they’ve struggled to replace the talent lost in recent years, and results have reflected that. Despite winning the senior eights category at Quintin Head, the margin behind UL and even St Paul’s suggests that they still have significant ground to make up. Imperial’s technical proficiency is rarely in doubt, but as of the last few years, the raw horsepower hasn’t been there to truly challenge for the top spots. They’ll be looking to use this race to build towards regatta season, but given the depth of competition ahead of them, it’s difficult to see them making a serious impact at the front of the field.
Prediction
Bristol’s fourth-place finish at BUCS Head was a continuation of the momentum they’ve been building over the last couple of years. Having established themselves as a genuine contender at the top end of university rowing, they’ll be hungry for another strong result here. Jake Birch, a former junior GB gold medallist, leads their charge, and his pairing with Joe Cunliffe at GB Trials suggests Bristol have some legitimate speed in the smaller boats.
What makes Bristol dangerous is their rapid progression. Their performances at Metropolitan and Marlow Regattas last year showed that they are capable of mixing it with some of the biggest names in the sport, and while they couldn’t quite crack the top three at BUCS, they weren’t far off. Head of the River offers another chance to take a step forward, and if they can put together a complete performance, they could be right in the mix once again.
Prediction
For the first time in a long time, Oxford Brookes won’t be going into HORR as the favourites to take home the university title. That honour certainly goes to Cambridge this year, and I’m going to predict the Goldie boat for 1st, with Brookes 2nd and Durham in 3rd.
Good luck to all crews.
Five Man
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