he Henley Fours and Eights Head early in the season provides a chance for quads to get back on the water. With every junior age group starting at J15, this will be a very large event with many impressive boat crews competing on the 3000 metre course from Greenlands to the Royal Regatta finish at Henley. The Henley Fours and Eights were cancelled for the past two years, once due to a storm and ocne due to COVID. The WJ15 4x+ event will have a total of eight boats competing from three schools, and the J15 4x+ will have five boats from four schools. Here is a bit about some of the competitors.
Surbiton High School BC:
This Surbiton Boat Club has registered four boats for the WJ15 4x+ race, which means that half of the competitors in this race will be competing for the school. Though the Surbiton BC was not seen racing at some of the bigger regattas in the last year, they put up great times in ther races they did attend. Just last week, the Surbiton WJ15 4x+ won the Hampton head with a time of 10:08.6, besting 39 other boats! They nudged out the victory over Henlery RC by just over three seconds. Their proven experience and ability to put up fast times will be a point to them going into the Henley Regatta.
Henley RC:
Henley Rowing Club will be putting up three boats to row on their home court in the WJ15 4x+ race. The record for the Henley Boat Club in this race speaks for itself. Their WJ15 4x+ boat placed first out of ten at the annual Wallingford Long Distance Sculls last year. Their time was 18:37.8 on the 4250 metre course, beating the next closest boat crew by almost 16 seconds. This sort of experience on a similar length course will allow them to maintain focus through the 3000 metres. In addition, the Henley Rowing Club took home a few medals in the WJ14 4x+ category, who racers are now in the WJ15 spots.
Sir William Borlase’s Gram School BC:
Sir William Borlase’s Gram School BC is the only boat club registering two boats for the J15 4x+ race. Last year in the Wallingford Long Distance Sculls, they edged out a victory by less than a tenth of a second over Magdalen College School Boat Club, proving their ability to fight for the win in the final seconds of the race. They rowed at a pace of 14.49 km/hour, a very solid speed for a long distance race such as this one. They also placed third at the Marlow Town Regatta in the 4x+ event, proving their aptitude on the shorter courses as well.
Marlow RC:
The Marlow Rowing Club, which has one boat in the J15 4x+ race, is the only club competing in this race which also competed in the J15 4x+ event of the Henley Sculls Head in 2021. Last year, the Marlow RC rowed a time of 13:20 and 13:30, which put them in second and fourth place in the race. Their familirity with the course and the distance its rowed on will work to their advantage going into the Henley race.
Prediction:
I predict that the Surbiton High School Boat Club will take the win in the WJ15 4x+ race. Their proven dominance over other boats in the pack, especially on a distance similar to the one that will be raced at Henley is an undeniable sign of their good chances going into the regatta this weekend. For the J15 4x+ boats, there is a less clear front runner. Marlow RC, SWBG BC, and Henley RC have all shown their aptitude on races of this distance in the last year, so that race will be up in the air.
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