Holders: University of London
Entries: 41 – To be reduced to 16 by qualifying races
Watts for Days in these Coxed Fours.
Delftsche Studenten Roeivereeniging Proteus-Eretes, Netherlands
One for the commentators to get their mouths around. This crew has been recently formed having spent time training in numerous locations. It has some high calibre experience on board with a couple of these athletes taking part in Dutch trials. Three of this crew placed second at the Amstel Head of the River in Elite Eights. While I don’t think this crew is final worthy, it’ll certainly catch a couple of boats napping at the end of the island.
Edinburgh University Boat Club ‘A’
The top end of Edinburgh’s squad is quick this season. All of this combination have raced in a first eight that finished 12th at HORR and more recently, they picked up a bronze medal in Championship Coxed Fours at BUCS Regatta. They’re Scottish Champions and they placed second at Marlow, making them arguably one of the domestic favourites, ever so slightly behind Brookes.
Oxford Brookes University Boat Club
Speak of the devil…
This is the second ranked Brookes student crew at this year’s regatta. As such they are rubber-dingy-rapids quick and likely offer the best challenge to the international onslaught that is coming this year. Half of this crew won Championship Coxed Fours at BUCS and this unit is fresh from a clear water win at Marlow Regatta as well as picking up some silverware at Ratzeburg Regatta. Domestically, it’s unlikely anyone can challenge them, but as the old saying goes…anything can happen at Henley…
Imperial College London Boat Club
First up, this is Imperial’s top boat and the Stewards are making it go through qualifiers – pretty savage. That to one side though, they should breeze through and find themselves in the main draw. Imperial last won this event in 2019 and while this crew is not of that calibre, it’s always looking to go deep into the regatta. Sixth in Championship Coxed Fours at the Metropolitan Regatta and fourth at BUCS Regatta shows they’ve still got some speed to be found if they want to even make the weekend.
Newcastle University Boat Club
Another university’s top boat. The Blue Star have three returners from the crew that made the final last year including cox, Sam Shuker and stroke, Bruce Turnell. It’s been a tough year for Newcastle, with fifth-placed finishes at BUCS and Marlow, however, they won the boat race overall against Durham University for the umpteenth time. The crew has beans, make no mistake.
Only a fool writes off a Newcastle crew at Henley; they rowed through Imperial to win this event in 2017 and who can forget their epic comeback against Brown in 2019 in the Temple to reach the semi-finals – a race which Shuker and Turnell won…
University of Bristol Boat Club
Our final home crew of note is Bristol. The majority of their quartet has returned from last year’s boat that made the semi-finals. Since then, they’ve swept up the Intermediate sweep events at BUCS and finished fourth at Marlow Regatta. Serious underdog potential in this crew.
Sydney University Boat Club, Australia
Rumour has it, their plan was to get a Temple eight together but that sadly hasn’t worked out. Sydney University is famed for feeding into the national team and it should be noted that those involved with the contingent that has come over to race bring experience of racing on the world stage at junior level. Similar to Sydney RC, this crew would only come if it has some real speed.
Amsterdamsche Studenten Roeivereeniging Nereus, Netherlands
Another Dutch mouthful. However, the commentators are used to pronouncing this one as they keep coming to Henley year after year. Most recently, Nereus beat IC in last year’s Temple final. Before then, they were famously disqualified in the Ladies Plate finale against Leander.
It’s always exciting to see the Dutch come and race and if they manage to win the whole thing we can expect the boat to sink with the weight of all the swimmers on board.
University of Washington & University of California, Berkeley, USA
It’s Cal and Washington. The Golden Bears and the Huskies. They need no introduction. Expect fireworks from the get go.
Prediction
My Prediction…I honestly haven’t a Scooby. It’s going to be a brilliant four rounds of racing though.
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