After Leander’s top performance at Fours Head last weekend, with both their top and second junior quads taking the top two positions in the rankings, the clubs entered in this event will be looking to prove themselves and try and show that they have a chance at contesting with Leander this season. With Leander’s absence in this category, it will be interesting to see whether the likes of Henley and RGS High Wycombe will be able to perform better without the pressure and the stress created by the strong performances from Leander’s junior squad so far this season and the intimidation that these results bring with them.
Henley Rowing Club
Henley Rowing Club started the season off strong, with notable performances at both Reading Small Boats Head and Wallingford Long Distance Sculls. However, their top quad, which is the quad entered in this category under the name “Taylor“, seemed to struggle at Fours Head last weekend, placing 5th in championship quads, whilst being beaten by a number of Challenge quads as well. Henley will now be racing on their home stretch of water and will therefore know the course off by heart, and with hopefully more favourable conditions than on the Tideway last weekend, will be looking to win this category with a considerable margin over the rest of the field.
Royal Grammar School High Wycombe Boat Club
RGS High Wycombe are typically known for being competitive in the junior quads category, with wins at smaller races last season, such as Reading Small Boats Head where they managed to beat some strong clubs, such as Shiplake College. However, RGS have been a way off the pace so far this season, with a 9th place finish in Championship quads at the recent Fours Head last weekend. That being said, following Hammersmith Bridge, the conditions on Saturday were particularly challenging, and therefore RGS will be looking to prove themselves on some calmer water closer to home.
Dulwich College Boat Club
After losing top athlete, Paddy Craig, at the end of last season, who represented Great Britain at Coupe de la Jeunesse over summer, Dulwich have a role model and high standards to live up to and try and replicate the performances of this top athlete this season. However, so far this season, Dulwich have been slightly off the pace as despite placing 2nd in J17 quads at Reading Small Boats head, which was their fastest quad entered of the day, they were over a minute behind the top quad entered from Henley, and they will be facing this same competition this coming weekend.
Wallingford Rowing Club
Wallingford Rowing Club have two quads entered into this category and therefore one of these quads is likely to be a stronger combination, which will be looking to place higher up in the rankings or even win the event. These quads feature athletes such as Ben Sumner who raced in Wallingford’s J16 4x at National Schools Regatta last season, where they put out a respectable performance and finished in the C final. These athletes will therefore be looking to better this performance this weekend and start putting some stronger results out.
We also see a quad entered from Guildford Rowing Club, who are lesser known in the junior rowing scene, however they could surprise us and put out a much stronger performance than expected.
Prediction
Henley Rowing Club to take a commanding win over the rest of the field, with the quads from RGS High Wycombe and Wallingford Rowing Club battling out for 2nd place.
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