As we move towards the end of the head season, with Schools’ Head looming large on the horizon, this race provides a valuable opportunity for crews to iron out certain aspects of their race plan over the long 5700m course.The fact this event is on the same weekend as the Hammersmith Head, means that the entry for the J16 8+ is a small one, with crews looking to put the final gloss on race plans heading into the final training block to schools’ head.
Royal Shrewsbury School BC
The complication with this crew is that tbere is no name given with the entry. Despite being tagged as Shrewsbury-3, this is the only J16 8+ with Shrewsbury 1 and 2 being J18 crews. Shrewsbury always have depth at every level throughout the program, and as such I think this crew should be good. Looking at the J16 squad as a whole this season, they haven’t done a great deal of racing, in fact the J16 crew that was entered into the recent Wycliffe Head scratched, so as such this crew are a bit of an unknown. Having said that Shrewsbury are known for producing outstanding crews across all ages groups so they will no doubt put in a good performance.
Kings School Chester BC
A very strange situation here from Kings Chester with the draw claiming that 3 J16 8s have been entered for this race. However a closer look at the crew lists published on the boat clubs website suggests a single entry with none of the names on the draw appearing in the crew. Again as a club, Kings have done very little racing in J16 events whilst younger age groups have been doing a lot more racing. Not racing at Hampton suggests a desire to keep their cards close to their chest, but a very strange situation here from Kings Chester that makes it very hard for me to give any sort of judgment on this crew/crews.
Bedford Modern School
The final entry here comes from Bedford Modern School. It is quite uncommon to see a J16 8+ from this school so this is a welcome addition to the event. In terms of racing this season a J16 4+ entered under the same name as this crew of Fox beat their second 4 in a two boat field at the Star New year head and then an 8+ raced at Bedford Head where they finished 5th in Band 2 of Open 8s. How this crew has progressed since then will be intresting to see, particularly against the more established schools in the event.
Predictions
This is a tough one to call, a prediction not made any easier by the situation with the Kings Chester crew. If I had to pick an order I’d say:
1. Shrewsbury School
2. Bedford Modern
3. Kings School Chester
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