The second of the events to be hosted on this stretch of river, Henley Sculls is raced over around 3km down the famous Henley reach that hosts Henley Royal Regatta each summer (albeit this time without the booms). The course is one of the more straightforward to steer and being quite a short race, the margins between crews are often fairly small. The J18 2x looks to be quite an open field, with a decent entry of 11 crews, all of who will want a good row as coaches start to get more of an idea how their squads look this year.
Dulwich College Boat Club
A 3 boat entry here from Dulwich all of which will be looking to make an impression. The first crew comes under the name of Robinson, who was the stroke of last year’s 1st 8 so is clearly a talented athlete. Smith looks like he hails from last year’s J15 Ch8 so again is a good athlete but may struggle with the heat of racing up to the extent he will be. In terms of the final crew, it comes under the name of Oakeley who is a J16. In terms of specific results for these names, there is a lack of them, however as a squad Dulwich put in a strong performance most notably at the Pairs Head, and scratched many crews from Wallingford Long Distance Sculls, so I would expect a strong show here from all 3 crews.
RGS High Wycombe
Always a dangerous name to see on an entry list; RGS have a single crew in the mix here under the name of Huntley. He was in the quad that placed 9th in Jun Champ 4x at 4s Head last weekend so one would imagine this double will have some serious speed about it.
Henley
Home club Henley have a crew in this event under the name of Taylor. He was in the Henley quad that placed 5th at the 4s head last week, beating their fellow crew in the process. As well as this, he placed 13th in J17 1x at Wallingford LDS so clearly has the small boat skills as well.
American School in London
American School in London are another club with a single crew in this event and its under the name of Moran. He was a part of the ASL top quad from last year so will no doubt be a proficient sculler and I would expect this crew to be of a good standard.
The other crews in the event are RGS Worcester, Evesham RC, Globe RC, Ryde School BC and Erith RC. Whilst all these crews will no doubt be of a good standard, I don’t think they will be able to contend with some of the crews highlighted.
Predictions
Again, over a short course and with a straightforward stretch to steer small margins could be very important. I would pick Henley to win this, with home water helping them out, with RGS High Wycombe a close second with ASL in 3rd.
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