Taking place simultaneously with the second round of GB trials in Boston, Lincolnshire is the Henley Fours and Eights Head. This race is run with the support of the Henley Royal Regatta Stewards and goes through the warm-up area before racing down the course of the fabled summer regatta, without the booms to cause coxswains headaches. This event has attracted thirty five men’s eights entries in the first division with the first band having the five highest pointed eights under the British Rowing CRI system being sorted into this Band 1 category to fight for the overall headship of the race.
Oxford Brookes University Boat Club
At this time of year Oxford Brookes are able to flex their strength and depth of their men’s squad. Despite having among the largest representations in Boston this weekend, they have managed to enter five eights into this event. This will be the first weekend of racing for their men’s squad but will look to build on their results in the autumn. While many of the athletes who finished first and third fastest at Wallingford Head will be otherwise engaged at trials, those in the boats who finished fifth and sixth will be wanting to step up and pick up some medals against in this event.
Marlow Rowing Club
This crew from Marlow clearly have some prestige behind them as they have the CRI points to be banded highly in many head races so far this season, but they have been unable to pick up that winning momentum so far this season. A tough time in the challenging conditions at Wallingford Head finishing 13th in November before being the 14th fastest Eight on the Tideway in January’s Quintin Head, both behind their eighth place start position. This was compounded by their top crew at Quintin Head being among five Marlow crews penalised for being late to the start leaving them with a 23rd position finish on their record.
With Hammersmith Head being the only major race between this one and the Head of the River, the men in red will look to use their second place in the start order to spring some momentum into the tail end of the head season.
Shiplake College Boat Club
The only school crew racing in the open category, this Shiplake crew will be hoping to test their mettle against some top senior crews. Racing matched eights at Quintin head they positioned themselves well for a good set of results in 2023, coming 24th and 26th overall as the third and fifth crews in the junior event. This time around they seem likely to boat a genuine first eight and will look to gain some speed from that as they race down the Henley course they will revisit at the start of July.
Predictions
With their only direct rivals Leander not entering any men’s eights this year, the headship seems almost certain to head back to Wallingford with the Oxford Brookes. The question will be how the other two eights entered into this top band perform. The most recent direct comparison with their competition was at Wallingford Head in November where Marlow’s first eight narrowly lost to the Oxford Brookes sixth eight. Even with Brookes’ top athletes away at trials I would expect the speed differential to be too much to overcome and I would expect Oxford Brookes to sweep the top three spots in this division. For the remaining spots in the category, Shiplake will gain some speed from consolidating into a first eight but barring another time penalty I would expect the senior athletes at Marlow to have enough to hold them off.
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