With 14 people competing in this category, I think that this could be a very interesting race especially as clubs have all seemingly entered their top rowers rather than giving those who are less experienced an opportunity. It appears that many of these entrants are more commonly associated with doubles with a few results for singles so it will be interesting to see how this transfers to their racing on the day. Henley Long Distance Sculls is relatively short in terms of head races and we’re still early on in the head season. Last year, the WJ16 1x category was won by a time of 13:55 so we should expect similar, fast results this year.
From Ross RC, we have Banks-Martin and Phillips who will probably be a very close competition for each other as they have been very successful together in a double and their single results also feature them against each other. I imagine that they will know what they need to do in order to beat the other. Recently, at Monmouth Autumn head, Phillips and Banks-Martin both competed, taking 1st and 3rd place respectively in their category. They proved their strength in singles as they finished faster than any WJ18 1x and Banks-Martin also secured a Head Pennant for the fastest single scull of the day at 8m 25s over 2200m.
SUA-Browne and SUA-Wellstead have brought in impressive results as a double but do not appear to have many results in singles so it will be interesting to see how they adapt this power to a single.
While neither of these boats seem to have many results to use as comparisons with other boats in this category, at Nottingham autumn head, Henry from Leicester RC beat McKean from Nottingham County Rowing Association which gives us a comparison of these 2 boats together. LER-Henry also took home a win at Bewdley Regatta and although it was a small event, proves her competence in a single. Last year as a WJ15 1x, NCR-McKean won at this event with quite a large margin over the other boats which gives us a good idea of what she’ll be capable of especially on this course. From this data, I imagine that Henry will be bringing in exceptional results this year.
Rowley from Henley RC also has the advantage of knowledge of the course meaning she can focus on putting in the power over this distance instead of worrying to much about the steering which definitely gives her an upper hand on this race.
This category also features boats from Reading RC, Abingdon RC, Nottingham and Union RC and Bryanston School BC who have a big chance of placing highly but in my opinion, the top 3 will be taken by: LER-Henry, ROS-Banks-Martin and ROS-Phillips with the possibility of a win from HEN-Rowley or NCR-McKean as well.
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